An emotional Stroop effect to malingering-related words.

This study was designed to elicit an emotional Stroop effect in simulators of malingering. Student participants (mostly women) either did or did not feign mild brain trauma. A modified Stroop test was administered, using neutral and "malingering" words. Controls showed no difference on malingering versus neutral words; simulators performed significantly worse on malingering words. Further research must specify the best method of administration to elicit a malingering Stroop effect and assess the additional discriminative power it may provide when combined with other malingering-detection strategies.