Different patterns of cerebral activation in genuine and malingered cognitive effort during performance on the Word Memory Test

Primary objective: The Word Memory Test (WMT) is a popular symptom validity test in which individuals are required to remember and recall semantically-related word pairs. Research shows successful WMT completion employs a wide neural network which is involved in tasks requiring high cognitive effort. The primary purpose of this study was to replicate earlier fMRI findings using a larger sample and extend previous findings by including male and female subjects. The second purpose was to investigate the neural networks involved during intentional malingering on the WMT.Research design: For all trials, a time-series ANCOVA design was implemented using SPM5 software.Methods and procedures: Ten subjects (five male and five female) underwent fMRI imaging while completing the WMT in full-effort and simulated poor effort conditions.Main outcome and results: Full-effort trials found activation peaks in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobe, anterior cingulate, bilateral lingual cortices and anteri...