Definition
The Word Memory Test (WMT; Green 2003; Green et al. 1996) is a well-validated effort test. It has been employed in many studies with diverse control and clinical samples of children and adults with an emphasis on traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain, and self-reported depression (Dunn et al. 2003; Gervais et al. 2001, 2004; Gorissen et al. 2005; Green 2003, 2007; Green and Flaro 2003; Green and Iverson 2001; Green et al. 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003; Iverson et al. 1999; O’Bryant and Lucas 2006; Rohling et al. 2002a, b; Tan et al. 2002; Williamson et al. 2003). The WMT is a computerized test of the ability to learn a list of 20 word pairs. It takes about 7 min of the tester’s time and about 20 min of the patient’s time. The examinee is instructed to watch and remember a list of 20 semantically related word pairs (e.g., dog/cat, man/woman, pig/bacon, fish/fin). Each word pair is presented for 6 s. The list is presented twice. For immediate recognition (IR), the person is...
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References and Readings
Batt, K., Shores, E. A., & Chekaluk, E. (2008). The effect of distraction on the Word Memory Test and Test of Memory Malingering performance in patients with a severe brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 14(6), 1074–1080.
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Courtney, J. C., Dinkins, J. P., Allen, L. M., 3rd, & Kuroski, K. (2003). Age related effects in children taking the computerized assessment of response bias and word memory test. Neuropsychology, Development, and Cognition. Section C, Child Neuropsychology, 9(2), 109–116.
Dunn, T. M., Shear, P. K., Howe, S., & Ris, M. D. (2003). Detecting neuropsychological malingering: Effects of coaching and information. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 18(2), 121–134.
Flaro, L., Green, P., & Robertson, E. (2007). Word Memory Test failure 23 times higher in mild brain injury than in parents seeking custody: The power of external incentives. Brain Injury, 21(4), 373–383.
Gervais, R. O., Russell, A. S., Green, P., Allen, L. M., 3rd, Ferrari, R., & Pieschl, S. D. (2001). Effort testing in patients with fibromyalgia and disability incentives. Journal of Rheumatology, 28(8), 1892–1899.
Gervais, R. O., Rohling, M. L., Green, P., & Ford, W. (2004). A comparison of WMT, CARB, and TOMM failure rates in non-head injury disability claimants. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19(4), 475–487.
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Green, P. (2007). Spoiled for choice: Making comparisons between forced-choice effort tests. In K. B. Boone (Ed.), Assessment of feigned cognitive impairment: A neuropsychological perspective (pp. 50–77). New York: The Guilford Press.
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Green, P., & Iverson, G. L. (2001). Effects of injury severity and cognitive exaggeration on olfactory deficits in head injury compensation claims. NeuroRehabilitation, 16(4), 237–243.
Green, P., Allen, L. M., & Astner, K. (1996). The Word Memory Test: A user’s guide to the oral and computer-administered forms, US version 1.1. Durham: CogniSyst.
Green, P., Iverson, G. L., & Allen, L. (1999). Detecting malingering in head injury litigation with the Word Memory Test. Brain Injury, 13(10), 813–819.
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Green, P., Rohling, M. L., Iverson, G. L., & Gervais, R. O. (2003). Relationships between olfactory discrimination and head injury severity. Brain Injury, 17(6), 479–496.
Greiffenstein, M. F., Greve, K. W., Bianchini, K. J., & Baker, W. J. (2008). Test of Memory Malingering and Word Memory Test: A new comparison of failure concordance rates. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23(7–8), 801–807.
Greve, K. W., Ord, J., Curtis, K. L., Bianchini, K. J., & Brennan, A. (2008). Detecting malingering in traumatic brain injury and chronic pain: A comparison of three forced-choice symptom validity tests. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 22(5), 896–918.
Iverson, G. L., Green, P., & Gervais, R. (1999). Using the Word Memory Test to detect biased responding in head injury litigation. Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation, 2, 4–8.
O’Bryant, S. E., & Lucas, J. A. (2006). Estimating the predictive value of the Test of Memory Malingering: An illustrative example for clinicians. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 20(3), 533–540.
Rohling, M. L., Allen, L. M., & Green, P. (2002a). Who is exaggerating cognitive impairment and who is not? CNS Spectrums, 7(5), 387–395.
Rohling, M. L., Green, P., Allen, L. M., & Iverson, G. L. (2002b). Depressive symptoms and neurocognitive test scores in patients passing symptom validity tests. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 17(3), 205–222.
Stevens, A., Friedel, E., Mehren, G., & Merten, T. (2008). Malingering and uncooperativeness in psychiatric and psychological assessment: Prevalence and effects in a German sample of claimants. Psychiatry Research, 157(1–3), 191–200.
Sullivan, B. K., May, K., & Galbally, L. (2007). Symptom exaggeration by college adults in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disorder assessments. Applied Neuropsychology, 14(3), 189–207.
Tan, J. E., Slick, D. J., Strauss, E., & Hultsch, D. F. (2002). How’d they do it? Malingering strategies on symptom validity tests. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 16(4), 495–505.
Williamson, D. J. G., Green, P., Allen, L., & Rohling, M. L. (2003). Evaluating effort with the Word Memory Test and Category Test- or not: Inconsistencies in a compensation-seeking sample. Journal of Forensic Neuropsychology, 3(3), 19–44.
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Iverson, G.L. (2018). Word Memory Test. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_218-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_218-2
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