Attention span (Digit Span), verbal list learning, and memory test ... scores were significantly related to Attention Span but independent of List Learning ...
Psychological Assessment 1996, Vol. 8. No. 2. 135-138
In the public domain
MMPI-2 Variables in Attention and Memory Test Performance Carlton S. Gass Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Miami, Florida
Attention span (Digit Span), verbal list learning, and memory test performance (Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised; WMS-R) were examined in relation to Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 (MMPI-2) measures of depression, anxiety, and psychotic thinking in male patients with closed-head injury (« = 48) and with psychiatric disorder (n = 80). In both samples, MMPI-2 scores were significantly related to Attention Span but independent of List Learning performance. MMPI-2 scores correlated with factor scores derived from the Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests of the WMS-R. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis, which examined the relative effects of neurologic and emotional status, support the view that MMPI-2 scores are relevant to the interpretation of performance on neuropsychological tests of attention and memory.
psychological tests as part of a clinical evaluation in the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The PSY sample consisted of patients who had diagnoses of major depression (n = 47), PTSD (n = 16), bipolar disorder (n = 10), generalized anxiety disorder (n = 5), and other (n = 2). These patients had normal computerized tomography scans or magnetic resonance imaging, had normal laboratory findings, and were screened for history of concussion, vascular disease, heart disease, diabetes, HIV, toxic-metabolic disease, seizure, and focal neurologic symptoms. Their average age was 51.8 (SD = 12.8), average years of education were 12.4 (SD = 2.5), and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS-R) IQ was 100.5 (SD = 13.5). Their general level of neuropsychological status, as reflected in the Average Impairment Rating (Russell, Neuringer, & Goldstein, 1970), was borderline (n = 43) and normal range (n =37). Patients in the CHI sample were male veterans who had closed-head injuries involving loss of consciousness and were on average 2.6 years postinjury. They had an average age of 45 (SD = 13), average education of 12.2 years (SD = 2.8), and average IQ of 92.9 (SD = 12.4). Their general level of neuropsychological status was mildly impaired (« = 10), borderline impaired (« = 16), and minimal compromise to normal range (« = 22). In both samples, MMPI-2 profiles met all of the following raw score validity criteria: less than 10 omissions, L < 11, F < 23, K< 22, and Fb < 17. TTWVand VRIN had T scores less than 80. In the PSY and CHI samples, respectively.the mean MMPI-2 T scores on the basic scales and relevant content scales were L = 50 and 53, F = 70 and 67, A: = 40 and 44, Hs = 72 and 65, D = 76 and 68, Hy = 65 and 60, Pd = 67 and 61, Mf= 49 and 46, Pa = 66 and 64, Pt = 73 and 65, Sc = 74 and 70, Ma = 57 and 52, Si = 63 and 57, ANX = 71 and 62, FRS = 57 and 55, OBS = 63 and 57, DEP = 71 and 67, and BIZ = 60 and 62. The composite profile of the PSY sample was significantly higher than that of the CHI group, F(15, 111) = 1.74, p
