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Gender and Lateral Dominance Influences Likelihood of Failure
on Performance Validity Tests…
Sanya Sagar1, Jessica Hurtubise1, Carly Charron1, Amina Zougari1, Kristian Seke1,
Robert M. Roth2, Laszlo A. Erdodi1
f
1Department of Psychology, University of Windsor; 2Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 1-4,
2017
Introduction
Methods
! Archival data
! Mixed clinical sample of
220 patients (44.5% male,
89.7% right-handed),
referred for
neuropsychological
assessment
! Mean age: 45.5 years (SD =
15.7)
! Mean level of education:
13.9 years (SD = 2.6)
! Laterality was determined
vial self-report
! Independent t-tests and
likelihood ratios (LR) were
computed for both RMT
and WCT as a function of
gender and lateral
dominance
Results
! To our knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation reporting a
clinically significant relationship between gender, lateral dominance and
PVT failure rate.
! Left-handed patients were more likely to fail the RMT, but not the WCT.
Conversely, women were more likely to fail the WCT, but not RMT.
! If this finding is replicated using different samples and instruments,
cutoffs may need to be adjusted to protect against an inflated false
positive rate. Alternatively, this instrumentation artifact can be prevented
through strategic test selection.
Cutoffs on performance validity
tests (PVT) may have to be
adjusted based on demographic
factors to minimize bias.
Although research in this area is
minimal, previous work found a
gender effect on the Recognition
Memory Test (RMT; Kim et al.,
2010). The current study aimed
to replicate these gender
differences on the WCT, as well
as examine the effect of lateral
dominance on both the WCT
and RMT.
Conclusions
Failure Rates in Right-Handed and Left-Handed Participants across Various RMT and WCT Cutoffs
Lateral Dominance
RIGHT
LEFT
Cutoff
BRFail
Cutoff
BRFail
η
2
p
LR
RMT
≤37
13.3
≤37
28.6
3.49
.06
2.15
≤38
15.5
≤38
28.6
2.31
.13
1.85
≤39
16.0
≤39
33.3
3.85
.05
2.08
≤40
17.7
≤40
38.1
4.94
<.05
2.15
≤41
19.3
≤41
38.1
3.95
<.05
1.97
≤42
22.7
≤42
38.1
2.44
.12
1.68
≤43
26.7
≤43
47.6
4.09
<.05
1.78
WCT
≤41
13.1
≤41
18.2
0.44
.51
1.39
≤42
14.7
≤42
18.2
0.19
.66
1.24
≤43
16.7
≤43
18.2
0.29
.87
1.09
≤44
17.8
≤44
22.7
0.32
.57
1.28
≤45
22.0
≤45
22.7
0.01
.94
1.03
≤46
26.2
≤46
36.4
1.03
.31
1.39
≤47
30.1
≤47
40.1
0.91
.34
1.33
Note. RMT: Warrington’s Recognition Memory Test (Words); WCT: Word Choice Test; BRFail : Base rate of
failure (% of the sample that scored below a given cutoff); LR: Likelihood ratio
Failure Rates in Males and Females across Various RMT and WCT Cutoffs
Gender
MALES
FEMALES
Cutoff
BRFail
Cutoff
BRFail
2
p
LR
RMT
≤37
11.7
≤37
18.4
1.79
.18
1.57
≤38
12.8
≤38
21.1
2.47
.12
1.64
≤39
13.8
≤39
22.8
2.73
.10
1.65
≤40
16.0
≤40
24.6
2.33
.13
1.54
≤41
18.1
≤41
25.4
1.62
.20
1.40
≤42
22.3
≤42
27.2
0.65
.42
1.22
≤43
28.7
≤43
29.8
0.03
.86
1.04
WCT
≤41
8.2
≤41
18.9
5.13
<.05
2.31
≤42
11.2
≤42
18.9
2.42
.12
1.69
≤43
11.2
≤43
22.1
4.52
<.05
1.97
≤44
15.3
≤44
23.0
3.36
.07
1.50
≤45
17.3
≤45
26.2
2.48
.12
1.51
≤46
22.4
≤46
31.1
2.07
.15
1.39
≤47
25.5
≤47
37.7
3.70
.05
1.48
Note. RMT: Warrington’s Recognition Memory Test (Words); WCT: Word Choice Test; BRFail : Base rate of
failure (% of the sample that scored below a given cutoff); LR: Likelihood ratio
! Females were more likely to fail the RMT than males (LR: 1.40-1.65) at more
conservative cutoffs (≤37 – ≤41).
! Failure rates were comparable (LR: 1.04-1.22) at more liberal cutoffs (≤42 – ≤43).
! Gender differences were slightly more pronounced (LR: 1.39-2.31) on the WCT.
! Left-handed patients were about twice more likely to fail the RMT than right-
handed patients (LR: 1.68-2.15).
! No significant difference in failure rates was observed on WCT (LR: 1.03-1.39).