Is the emotional Stroop paradigm sensitive to malingering? A between-groups study with professional actors and actual trauma survivors.

Full Abstract

Six professional actors, trained by psychologists and acting coaches to feign PTSD, were covertly enrolled into a treatment outcome study for PTSD with the aim of investigating malingering. During pretreatment assessment, individuals completed an emotional Stroop task. Vocal response latencies to different classes of stimuli were examined for sensitivity to malingering. Actor response latencies were compared to those of 6 nonlitigant PTSD patients and 6 nonanxiety controls. The actor/dissimulation group was able to feign an overall slowing of response latency across stimulus types, similar to the PTSD group. However, they were unable to modulate response latency as a function of stimulus content, a pattern that characterized the PTSD group. The use of information-processing paradigms to detect dissimulation is discussed.

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Author information

Author/s: Buckley, Todd C (TC); Galovski, Tara (T); Blanchard, Edward B (EB); Hickling, Edward J (EJ);

Affiliation: National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02131-4817, USA. todd.buckley(-atsign-)med.va.gov

Grants: MH-48476 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of traumatic stress (J Trauma Stress), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 16 (issue 1) : pp 59-66

Dates: Created 2003/02/26; Completed 2003/05/13; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12602653, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Malingering - diagnosis; psychology
Mental Processes
Mental Status Schedule - standards
Psychometrics
Reaction Time
Sensitivity and Specificity
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; psychology

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