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Two validation studies of a performance validity test for autistic adults

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [What does this mean?].

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Scheeren, A.
Olde Dubbelink, L.
Lever, A.G.
Geurts, H.M.

Abstract / Description

Lay abstract A diagnosis can have certain benefits. For instance, people may have positive views about a particular diagnosis, or people with a diagnosis can get help or access to medication or financial support. These benefits increase the chance that some people exaggerate or even feign certain traits so that they will be diagnosed. This is a problem as help (money, care) usually is limited. To solve this, tests have been created to determine whether or not people exaggerate or feign specific traits. In the two studies we describe here, we test such a measure called the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT). In Study 1, we asked non-autistic participants to pretend they have autism while they did several tests including the MENT. As expected, they showed many errors on the MENT. In Study 2, actually autistic adults made very few mistakes on the MENT. Thus, the MENT may be good at distinguishing people who are actually autistic from people who exaggerate or feign autistic traits. Future studies are needed to determine whether the MENT is also suitable to be used outside the laboratory.
Scientific abstract In two studies we examined the potential of a simple emotion recognition task, the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT), as a performance validity test (PVT) when assessing autism in adulthood. The aim of a PVT is to indicate underperformance and to increase diagnostic accuracy. There are currently no validated PVT’s for autism in adulthood. In Study 1, non-autistic university students (aged 18-46 years) were instructed to simulate that they were autistic during a neuropsychological assessment (simulation condition; n=26). These students made more errors on the MENT than those instructed to do their best (control condition; n=26). In Study 2, we tested how well autistic adults performed on the MENT. We found that clinically diagnosed autistic adults and non-autistic adults (both n=25; 27-57 years; IQ>80) performed equally well on the MENT. Moreover, autistic adults made significantly fewer errors than the instructed simulators in Study 1. With a cutoff score of seven errors, the MENT reached a specificity of ≥98% and a sensitivity of 96%. Together these findings provide the first empirical evidence for the validity of the MENT as a potential PVT for autism. Further research is required to examine the validity of the MENT as a PVT for autism in a clinical and forensic context.

Keyword(s)

autism aggravation performance validity test

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2022-03-28

Publisher

PsychArchives

Citation

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  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Scheeren, A.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Olde Dubbelink, L.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Lever, A.G.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Geurts, H.M.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-03-28T08:06:01Z
  • Made available on
    2022-03-28T08:06:01Z
  • Date of first publication
    2022-03-28
  • Abstract / Description
    Lay abstract A diagnosis can have certain benefits. For instance, people may have positive views about a particular diagnosis, or people with a diagnosis can get help or access to medication or financial support. These benefits increase the chance that some people exaggerate or even feign certain traits so that they will be diagnosed. This is a problem as help (money, care) usually is limited. To solve this, tests have been created to determine whether or not people exaggerate or feign specific traits. In the two studies we describe here, we test such a measure called the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT). In Study 1, we asked non-autistic participants to pretend they have autism while they did several tests including the MENT. As expected, they showed many errors on the MENT. In Study 2, actually autistic adults made very few mistakes on the MENT. Thus, the MENT may be good at distinguishing people who are actually autistic from people who exaggerate or feign autistic traits. Future studies are needed to determine whether the MENT is also suitable to be used outside the laboratory.
    en
  • Abstract / Description
    Scientific abstract In two studies we examined the potential of a simple emotion recognition task, the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT), as a performance validity test (PVT) when assessing autism in adulthood. The aim of a PVT is to indicate underperformance and to increase diagnostic accuracy. There are currently no validated PVT’s for autism in adulthood. In Study 1, non-autistic university students (aged 18-46 years) were instructed to simulate that they were autistic during a neuropsychological assessment (simulation condition; n=26). These students made more errors on the MENT than those instructed to do their best (control condition; n=26). In Study 2, we tested how well autistic adults performed on the MENT. We found that clinically diagnosed autistic adults and non-autistic adults (both n=25; 27-57 years; IQ>80) performed equally well on the MENT. Moreover, autistic adults made significantly fewer errors than the instructed simulators in Study 1. With a cutoff score of seven errors, the MENT reached a specificity of ≥98% and a sensitivity of 96%. Together these findings provide the first empirical evidence for the validity of the MENT as a potential PVT for autism. Further research is required to examine the validity of the MENT as a PVT for autism in a clinical and forensic context.
    en
  • Publication status
    other
    en
  • Review status
    notReviewed
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5046
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5648
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
    en
  • Is related to
    https://www.psycharchives.org/handle/20.500.12034/5045
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5647
  • Keyword(s)
    autism
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    aggravation
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    performance validity test
    en
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Two validation studies of a performance validity test for autistic adults
    en
  • DRO type
    preprint
    en