This meta-analysis compares stand-alone and embedded performance and symptom validity tests (PVTs and SVTs) for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) malingering detection in college students. Simulation design studies utilizing college student samples were included (k = 11). Analyses consisted of measures designed or previously used for malingering detection. Random-effects models were constructed to provide aggregated weighted effect sizes (Hedges’ g), indicating the difference between genuine ADHD and simulation groups. Overall PVTs (stand-alone and embedded) produced a large effect size (g = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI; 0.72, 1.13], p < .001), whereas overall SVTs (stand-alone and embedded) produced a medium-effect size (g = 0.54, 95% CI [0.44, 0.65], p < .001). Stand-alone PVTs (g = 0.98, 95% CI [0.84, 1.12], p < .001) outperformed embedded PVTs (g = 0.66, 95% CI [0.51, 0.80], p < .001). The stand-alone SVT (g = 0.66) and embedded SVTs (g = 0.54, 95% CI [0.43, 0.65], p < .001) produced medium-effect sizes. These findings support stand-alone PVTs and suggest that performance-based measures should be included in ADHD evaluation batteries, which may consist solely of symptom self-report measures.

Conflict monitoring is central in cognitive control, as detection of conflict serves as a signal for the need to engage control. This study examined whether (1) midfrontal theta oscillations similarly support conflict monitoring in children and adults, and (2) performance monitoring difficulty influences conflict monitoring and resolution. Children (n = 25) and adults (n = 24) completed a flanker task with fair or rigged response feedback. Relative to adults, children showed a smaller congruency effect on midfrontal theta power, overall lower midfrontal theta power and coherence, and (unlike adults) no correlation between midfrontal theta power and N2 amplitude, suggesting that reduced neural communication efficiency contributes to less efficient conflict monitoring in children than adults. In both age groups, response feedback fairness affected response times and the P3, but neither midfrontal theta oscillations nor the N2, indicating that performance monitoring difficulty influenced conflict resolution but not conflict monitoring.

No abstract

One major obstacle to the accurate diagnosis of ADHD in college students is malingering, although many symptom self-report measures used in the diagnostic process do not contain validity scales to identify feigners. The Infrequency Index (CII) for the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale–Self-Report: Long Version (CAARS-S: L) was developed in response to this concern, although further validation of this index is needed. Another topic of interest in ADHD malingering research is the increasing use of online assessments. However, little is known about how ADHD is malingered in an online format, particularly on the CAARS-S: L. The current study utilized a coached simulation design to examine the feigning detection accuracy of the CII and provide initial results on the effect of administration format (paper vs. online) on CAARS-S: L profiles. Data from 139 students were analyzed. Students with ADHD and students instructed to feign the disorder produced statistically comparable elevations on seven of eight CAARS-S: L clinical scales. Clinical scale elevations were generally comparable between paper and online forms, although some differences in the clinical and simulated ADHD groups suggest the need for further research. The CII demonstrated modest sensitivity (0.36) and adequate specificity (0.85) at the recommended cut score across administration formats. Specificity reached desirable levels (>= .90) at a raised cut score. These values were similar across administration formats. Results support the use of the CII and online CAARS-S: L form

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition resulting in characteristic motor impairments and cognitive changes, including executive functioning (EF) deficits. These cognitive changes worsen for the approximately 30% who develop Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD). Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state between normal cognition and dementia. Although PD‐MCI and its neurocognitive correlates have been increasingly studied as an indicator of risk for PDD, the typical PD‐MCI neurocognitive profile remains undefined. The present meta‐analysis examined cross‐sectional studies administering neuropsychological testing to PD‐MCI and cognitively normal PD to provide aggregated effect sizes of group test performance by neurocognitive domain. Longitudinal studies examining PD‐MCI to PDD progression were subsequently meta‐analyzed. Method Data were coded from 92 cross‐sectional papers for PD‐MCI vs. cognitively normal PD groups. Data were coded from five longitudinal papers for PD‐MCI converting to PDD vs. PD‐MCI not converting to PDD. Random effects meta‐analytic models were conducted to provide aggregated weighted effect sizes (Hedges’ g), indicating the difference between these groups in their respective analyses. Result Cross‐sectional results indicate that overall cognitive measures produced a large effect size (g = 1.07, 95% CI [0.99, 1.14], p < .05) with tests of visual delayed memory producing the largest effect size (g = 1.90, 95% CI [1.03, 2.77], p < .05). Longitudinal results indicate that overall cognitive measures produced a medium effect size (g = 0.48, 95% CI [0.41, 0.55], p < .05) with tests of executive functioning producing the largest effect size (g = 0.70, 95% CI [0.51, 0.89], p < .05). Conclusion Results of the first PD‐MCI meta‐analysis indicate that, across cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies, measures of cognitive performance have value in differentiating PD‐MCI from cognitively normal PD and PD‐MCI and PDD. Within cross‐sectional studies, tests of visual delayed memory produced the largest effect size, with group performance differing by approximately two standard deviations. This result may further reflect EF deficits common in PD, as well as a temporally mediated process classically more characteristic of other dementia syndromes. Longitudinal results further highlight the importance of EF changes in progressing PD and suggest power to predict progression to PDD.