Detecting malingering on the WAIS-III - Unusual Digit Span performance patterns in the normal population and in clinical groups

In several studies, suppressed Digit Span performance has been proposed as a potential marker for deliberately poor performance in a neuropsychological evaluation. The purpose of this study was to document Digit Span performance patterns in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III; Wechsler, 1997) standardization sample and selected clinical groups. Base rate tables were generated for the Digit Span scaled score, longest span forward, longest span backward, and the Vocabulary-Digit Span difference score. Cut-off scores for suspecting negative response bias were proposed, and clinical case examples were used to illustrate these scores. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of National Academy of Neuropsychology.