Computerized analysis of error patterns in digit span recall

• Published in: Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology 2011-08, Vol.33 (7), p.721-734
• Main Authors: Woods, David L., Herron, T. J., Yund, E. W., Hink, R. F., Kishiyama, M. M., Reed, Bruce
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Factors; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Concussion; Digit span; Educational Status; Female; Humans; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Male; Malingering; Malingering - diagnosis; Mathematics; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Recall - physiology; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Problem Solving; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychophysics; Serial Learning; Sex Factors; Short-term; Techniques and methods; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Traumatic brain injury; Verbal; Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale; Working; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1380-3395; 1744-411X
• DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2010.550602

We analyzed error patterns during digit span (DS) testing in four experiments. In Experiment 1, error patterns analyzed from a community sample of 427 subjects revealed strong primacy and recency effects. Subjects with shorter DSs showed an increased incidence of transposition errors in comparison with other error types and a greater incidence of multiple errors on incorrect trials. Experiment 2 investigated 46 young subjects in three test sessions. The results replicated those of Experiment 1 and demonstrated that error patterns of individual subjects were consistent across repeated test administrations. Experiment 3 investigated 40 subjects from Experiment 2 who feigned symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) with 80% of malingering subjects producing digit spans in the abnormal range. A digit span malingering index (DSMI) was developed to detect atypical error patterns in malingering subjects. Overall, 59% of malingering subjects with abnormal digit spans showed DSMIs in the abnormal range and DSMI values correlated significantly with the magnitude of malingering. Experiment 4 compared 29 patients with TBI with a new group of 38 control subjects. The TBI group showed significant reductions in digit span. Overall, 32% of the TBI patients showed DS abnormalities and 11% showed abnormal DSMIs. Computerized error-pattern analysis improves the sensitivity of DS assessment and can assist in the detection of malingering.