Date of Graduation

Spring 2018

Degree

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Steven Capps

Abstract

The Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI) is a self-report questionnaire developed by Paul Green to provide further effort-related evidence in neuropsychiatric practice. It is comprised of nine subscale scores, in addition to the imbedded Plausible and Implausible symptom validity scales. The current study utilized archival MCI scores in dementia populations to determine the presence of, and difference between, genuine memory impairment profiles in separate subgroups of cognitive impairment. The study sample consisted of 244 adults presenting to an outpatient neuropsychology practice for evaluation of memory impairment. The diagnostic categories of the sample consisted of Alzheimer’s Disease (n = 21), Vascular Dementia (n = 33), Mild Cognitive Impairment (n = 53), Pseudodementia (n = 88), and Poor Effort (n = 49). Results indicated significant differences in all twelve one-way ANOVAs to represent differences between subgroups on each memory-related subscale of the MCI, the overall MCI score, and the imbedded Plausible and Implausible validity scales. Post-hoc analyses revealed large differences between the dementia categories and the Poor Effort subgroup, providing further evidence for the use of the MCI as a symptom validity measure due to its ability to differentiate between poor effort and genuine neurological impairment. Further support of the study’s findings would result in reliable genuine memory impairment profiles to provide further diagnostic and prognostic specificity in general medical practice settings.

Keywords

Memory Complaints Inventory (MCI), dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, mild cognitive impairment, pseudodementia, poor effort, validity

Subject Categories

Biological Psychology | Clinical Psychology

Copyright

© Becca Nicole Johnson

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