Performance of forensic and non-forensic adult psychiatric inpatients on the Test of Memory Malingering

This study compared performance on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM [Tombaugh, T. N. (1996). Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM). New York: Multi Health Systems]) between a Forensic Psychiatric group and a Non-forensic Psychiatric group of 20 men each. It was hypothesized that the Forensic group would perform less well on the TOMM due to greater secondary gain for that population. The Forensic group (age, M = 32.65 years; 16/20 were minorities) was composed of inpatients from a forensic psychiatric facility who had been referred for pre-trial evaluations. The Psychiatric group (age, M = 41.00 years; 15/20 were Caucasian) were chosen from an inpatient psychiatric facility and had no pending legal involvement. As hypothesized, the Psychiatric group performed significantly better than the Forensic group on all TOMM trials. A TOMM score of below 45 on Trial 2 or the Retention Trial is consistent with probable response bias. Only one member of the Psychiatric group (the same individual) met this criterion, whereas seven members of the Forensic group met this criterion. The TOMM identified patients with pending legal charges as more likely to exert less effort than those with no obvious secondary gain.