The emotion word fluency test as an embedded performance validity indicator - Alone and in a multivariate validity composite.

This project was designed to cross-validate existing performance validity cutoffs embedded within measures of verbal fluency (FAS and animals) and develop new ones for the Emotion Word Fluency Test (EWFT), a novel measure of category fluency. The classification accuracy of the verbal fluency tests was examined in two samples (70 cognitively healthy university students and 52 clinical patients) against psychometrically defined criterion measures. A demographically adjusted Results help resolve the inconsistency in previous reports, and confirm the overall utility of existing verbal fluency tests as embedded validity indicators. Multivariate models of performance validity assessment are superior to single indicators. The clinical utility and limitations of the EWFT as a novel measure are discussed.