Ability of the Cognitive Behavioral Driver's Inventory to distinguish malingerers from brain-damaged subjects.

The Cognitive Behavioral Driver's Inventory (CBDI) was analyzed for its ability to discriminate brain-damaged patients from intact subjects who feigned brain-damage. In a sample of 251 neurologically impaired patients and 48 malingering volunteers, the computer-administered distinguished most malingerers from genuine patients. A jackknifed count revealed that the CBDI had 90% sensitivity for detecting malingerers, and 98% specificity for detecting non-malingering brain damaged patients. Success was due to the inability of malingerers to avoid quantitative errors: excessive response latencies, unusual error rates, inflated variability in response latencies, and excessive within-subject, between-item variability. The computer-administered battery may be an effective clinical tool for identifying patients who malinger brain-damage in neuropsychological testing.