Utility of Green’s Word Memory Test in Postsurgical Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients
Abstract number :
2.345
Submission category :
11. Behavior/Neuropsychology/Language / 11A. Adult
Year :
2018
Submission ID :
502241
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/2/2018 4:04:48 PM
Published date :
Nov 5, 2018, 18:00 PM
Authors :
AmberRose Reale-Caldwell, University of South Florida; Roy Mitchell, University of South Florida; Ruba Rum, University of South Florida; Ryan Sever, University of South Florida; Fernando Vale, University of South Florida; Stephanie MacIver, University of
Rationale: Performance validity tests (PVTs) are recommended for inclusion in comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations, to ensure adequate task engagement and a valid profile. The literature has questioned accuracy of Green’s Word Memory Test (WMT) as a PVT, with little research focusing on use within neurologically impaired samples, specifically temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) post-operative patients. Methods: Green’s WMT performances were evaluated among 85 TLE patients after TLE surgery, including 53 Left TLE (LTLE) and 32 Right TLE (RTLE) patients. Presence of material specific memory deficits were established using Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) performances. Results: Groups did not differ in terms of age (p = 0.83), education(p = 0.95), or gender (p = 0.93). The LTLE group exhibited impaired verbal memory functioning relative to the RTLE group on the immediate (p = .001) and long (p = .01) delay trials of the RAVLT. A between groups analysis of variance was run to compare WMT scores between right and left TLE patients. The WMT subtest scores were significantly less for the LTLE groups compared to the RTLE group, specifically IR (p =.002), DR (p = .005), CNS (p = .003), MC (p = .01), PA (p = .00), and FR (p = .02). Performance differed between TLE patients for RAVLT and WMT, including the three primary effort indices (IR, DR, and CNS), which argues that the WMT effort indices are also impacted by memory deficits. Conclusions: As all PVTs carry some risk of false positives among neurologically impaired samples, free-standing PVTs should incorporate data about the patients’ cognitive abilities into analyses. The genuine memory impairment profile (GMIP) considers performance among neurologically impaired samples who fail one or more of the primary effort subtests while maintaining above-chance scores. Accordingly, the GMIP analysis is important for interpreting WMT performance when used with neurologic populations such as patients with TLE and thus should be included in future research within this population. Additional research analyses for primary effort measures is being conducted using multiple regression, to further assess impact of memory deficits on WMT effort. Funding: Not applicable
