Abstract

In this study we observed differences in four subject groups: mild head injuries, moderate to severe head injuries, malingering simulated head injuries, and normal subjects, using the Korean version of Benton Neuropsychological Assessment. In particular we focused on performance differences between mild head injury subjects, and malingering simulated head injury subjects, which need special care when examined. The traumatic brain injury group is divided into mild head injuries, and moderate to severe head injuries, which depends on loss of consciousness and extent of lesions appearing on the brain images. The subjects of moderate to severe head injuries number 37, and the subjects of mild head injuries number 74. The subjects of malingering simulated injuries number 47 female university students, and the normal group numbers 91. Amongst the four groups, age and years of educations are significantly different. The statistical method used in this study is ANCOVA, and discriminant analysis. The results are that there are significant differences appearing in every subtest and performance of these four groups, descending in order from normal group, to mild head injuries, moderate to severe head injuries, and then to malingering simulated subjects. Malingering simulated subjects and mild head injuries offer significant differences in every subtest except serial number learning. The malingering simulated group offers a significant increase in error rate in contrast with that of mild head injury subjects. The correct rate of discriminant analysis is 97.5%. In conclusion, K-BNA can be used as a neuropsychological tool to discriminate mild head injuries from malingering simulated subjects.