Paul Green, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist Have you tried the Advanced Interpretation program? |
We produce effort tests which help in discriminating between genuine memory impairment versus feigned memory impairment or results that are unreliable for some other reason (e.g. lack of engagement in testing).
These tests are used by neuro-psychologists in 24 countries and all 50 States of the USA.They are available in many different languages. The author, Dr. Paul Green, has published many papers in professional journals, reporting the extensive research on which the tests are based. In keeping with the fact that this is science, not religion, there are many independent replication studies, spanning several different countries, as shown under the “References” button above and under “News” on the bar at the left of this page. |
High specificity even in dementia and mentally handicapped children
People with dementia are of major importance in studying effort tests. The reason is that they are more cognitively impaired than almost all other groups. Therefore, they face the highest risk of being classified as poor effort when they are actually trying their best. Children with a FSIQ below 70 are also important to study for the same reasons. If we can achieve extremely few false positives for poor effort in these samples, then it follows that those groups with less impairment will also have very few false positives (e.g. adults with mild brain injury).
Q) Which effort tests can achieve 95% or 100% specificity in dementia and also in developmentally disabled children?
A) Most effort tests cannot do so. The outcome of such tests (e.g. TOMM, CARB, ASTM) is only a pass or a fail and many people with dementia cannot pass. Lowering the cut-off does not solve the problem. However, the WMT, MSVT & NV-MSVT produce specific profiles in dementia, which are not the same as those arising from poor effort in people feigning dementia. As a result, all three tests can each achieve 95% or 100% specificity in dementia and also in developmentally disabled children, including those with mental retardation. Using the WMT, MSVT and NV-MSVT in combination does not lower specificity in those with genuine very severe impairment (e.g. dementia) but it enhances sensitivity to poor effort. If we know that a test has extremely high specificity in very impaired people, then when someone fails it, they are either very severely impaired, which will usually be obvious, well documented and clinically evident, or their effort is poor. The emphasis within this approach is in avoiding false positives at all costs. For more details please see these papers:-
1) NV-MSVT DISCUSSIONS/abstract_Henry_et_al_NV-MSVT.doc
2) MSVT & NV-MSVT DISCUSSIONS/MSVT_Singhal_et_al_abstract_only_2009.doc
3) WMT DISCUSSIONS/RECENT_PAPERS_2010/WMT_in_dementia_abstract_only.doc
If you are a psychology or medical professional, ask Dr. Green for other relevant references via email.
The Advanced Interpretation (AI) program
The AI program automatically extracts all data from the WMT, the MSVT and the NV-MSVT. It lays out in an automated way and also applies the principles used to interpret data from these tests. Those who are very experienced in using these tests find the AI program helpful because it does all the little calculations for them and saves the professional a lot of time. Newcomers find that the AI program puts them on a fast learning curve, giving them added confidence. Using a simple flow chart, it shows and applies the steps in interpreting results from the WMT, MSVT and NV-MSVT. Thus, rules of interpretation are operationalized and objective. Various graph options are available, including one that searches all comparison groups to find the groups with test curves most similar to the current case. The AI also helps to interpret results from the Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI).
Languages
The WMT may be given in any of 13 languages; English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Mainland Portuguese, Danish, Hebrew, Turkish and Russian with Mandarin, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese as additional oral form options. In the WMT program, just choose OPTIONS, CHANGE LANGUAGE.
The MSVT is in 10 languages: English, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and “Nonsense language”.
The NV-MSVT may be given in any language. It is a nonverbal task and there are only images on screen (no words). This 6 minute computerized test is more sensitive than the TOMM. Nearly everyone who fails TOMM will also fail the NV-MSVT.
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Many people will pass TOMM but fail the NV-MSVT and we can prove that these are not false positives for the NV-MSVT. See this link:- TOMM_vs_NV-MSVT_abstract only.doc The latter study has already been independently replicated by Dr. Jehle, using data from Dr. Gervais. Dr. Jehle is a U.S. Army Neuropsychologist, who is totally independent of both Dr. Gervais and Dr. Green. Neither Dr. Jehle nor Dr. Gervais have any vested interests in the NV-MSVT or other Green’s Publishing tests. |
Note that all test manuals are in English only. Apologies to those from other countries but resources are limited.
Click for more information about languages.
Time zones
We are in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Before you call, find out what time it is in our office using this world time clock:-
http://www.worldtimeserver.com/worldclock.aspx
Comparison groups
The WMT program includes data from more than 90 comparison groups. The program makes it easy for you to contrast scores in a single case with any of the comparison groups, using graphs and report tables.
If you want to know whether the WMT Free Recall score in a single case, for example, is significantly different from the mean score from a particular group of interest, you may use SINGLIMS.EXE. Professor Crawford from the University of Aberdeen has kindly allowed me to list the link to his program called SINGLIMS.EXE. Click here to download and run SINGLIMS.EXE (452KB).