Department of Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Gaußstr. 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2020 Dec;158:190-200. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.10.003. Epub 2020 Oct 18.
Strategies of malingering detection have brought about a wealth of neuropsychological studies in the last decades. However, the investigation of physiological measures to reliably differentiate between authentic and manipulated symptom presentations is still in its infancy. The present study examined event-related potentials (ERP) to identify feigned memory impairment. We tested instructed malingerers (n = 25) and control participants (n = 22) with a recognition task similar to the Test of Memory Malingering. No differences between groups were found for P1 (70-110 ms) but for N1 (120-170 ms) and P300 components, with lower amplitudes for instructed malingerers. Behavioral data showed a typical pattern of unrealistically high errors in a forced-choice recognition task and less overall recalled stimuli in instructed malingerers. We also found study-phase repetition and old/new effects in the P300, but no interactions with groups (control vs. malingering). Post-hoc analyses revealed that the P300 effect is greater when participants reported an attention-based faking strategy, as opposed to response-based malingerers and controls. The employment of physiological measures can yield additional information on the validity of test data without the need to perform additional tests.
在过去的几十年里，测谎策略带来了大量的神经心理学研究。然而，调查可靠地区分真实和人为症状表现的生理措施仍处于起步阶段。本研究通过事件相关电位（ERP）来识别人为的记忆障碍。我们使用类似于记忆欺骗测试的识别任务测试了指令性伪装者（n=25）和对照组参与者（n=22）。对于 P1（70-110ms），但对于 N1（120-170ms）和 P300 成分，指令性伪装者的振幅较低，两组之间没有差异。行为数据显示，在强制选择识别任务中，指令性伪装者的错误率非常高，且整体回忆的刺激物较少，表现出典型的模式。我们还在 P300 中发现了研究阶段重复和新旧效应，但与组（对照组与伪装者）之间没有相互作用。事后分析表明，当参与者报告基于注意力的伪装策略时，P300 效应更大，而不是基于反应的伪装者和对照组。生理措施的使用可以在不需要进行额外测试的情况下，提供有关测试数据有效性的额外信息。
