Detection of Malingering through the Use of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices

Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) has been suggested to assist in the detection of malingering, and a putatively validated formula method for defining genuine and fake performances is available In the present study, 47 normal individuals were asked to fake cognitive impairment on the SPM; a day later, their genuine performances were obtained. As expected, the genuine performances were significantly superior to the faked performances: however, the formula method failed to distinguish between the two. The present study used logistic regression analysis to model genuine and faked performances; the method resulted in a 74.5% accurate classification. It is concluded that, while the SPM may be useful in certain cases, it cannot reliably detect malingering.