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Memory Complaints Inventory
Why rely on subjective judgment of what the patient says about memory in the interview, when you can have standardized data on memory complaints with norms to aid interpretation?
- Use of the MCI will let you view memory complaints objectively.
- Green’s MCI for Windows is a computerized inventory of memory problems.
- MCI uses the same powerful and user friendly interface as the WMT & MSVT
- Testing takes most people one minute (short form, 4 scales) or 3 minutes (long form, 9 scales)
- The MCI lets you compare the person’s self-rated memory complaints with those from comparison groups, both by diagnostic group and also by WMT effort level.
- It contains normative data from over 2,000 patients, accessible via graphs or numerical tables.
- Patients with depression (who are quite genuine and not grossly exaggerating) have far more memory complaints than those with definite neurological disease.
- It is important to note, however, that MCI scores increase systematically and very significantly, as effort on the WMT decreases. This has been shown in two large independent samples:
SAMPLE 1
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In over 1,000 patients in one sample, as WMT or MSVT measured effort decreased, MCI memory complaints steadily increased
- This is an important finding. What is the underlying common variable?
- The mean scores on WMT IR, DR & consistency have a striking negative correlation with memory complaints on all nine scales
SAMPLE 2
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This effect from over 1,000 outpatients was replicated in an independent sample of more than 900 cases tested by Dr. R. Gervais
- We need to ask what is the underlying variable linking declining WMT effort scores and increasing memory complaints? It is undoubtedly symptom exaggeration
- The MCI also allows you to compare your patient’s memory complaints with those of people with various diagnoses. For example, the next graph shows that people with chronic pain have more memory complaints than people with brain disease or trauma
SAMPLE 4
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Memory Complaints Inventory scores do not correlate with actual memory impairment
If the past two decades of effort test research have taught us anything, it is that our subjective impressions can often be badly wrong.
Why rely on subjective judgment of what the patient says about memory in the interview, when you can have standardized data on memory complaints with norms to aid interpretation? Use of the MCI will help you to view memory complaints objectively.
This will undoubtedly assist psychologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and others in interpreting memory complaints in a new perspective.
The MCI is the only memory self-rating scale validated on groups known to have displayed good effort versus poor effort on SVTs.
Drs. Patrick Armistead-Jehle and Robert D. Shura have written a Published Paper in 2021 which reviews the Psychometric Properties of the MCI. The Paper also provides an overview of the MCI. You can download the paper by clicking here.