PSYCH 105 DWCL

Pwede pang Continuing Professional Education content ito: a test of malingering

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=122110756779092788&id=61582783648128&mibextid=wwXIfr

I’ll be honest: before this week, I had never heard of the Coin in the Hand Test.

Coin test? Parang magic trick? Yun agad pumasok sa utak ko.

Then I saw it mentioned in the ICC documents on Rodrigo Duterte, and that one line made me go down the rabbit hole.

What is this test? How does it work? And how on earth do you “fail” something that sounds so simple?

While waiting for my flight, I started reading about it.

🟥 So, what is this coin test?

Apparently, the Coin in the Hand Test is a very simple task used in neuropsychology.

It looks like a memory test on the surface, but it is actually designed to check if someone is faking or exaggerating cognitive problems, like memory loss or confusion.

They call it a “symptom validity” or “performance validity” test.

Ang arte ng term, pero simple lang siya: it helps doctors see if the patient is really impaired, or just pretending to be.

And the wild part?

Even people with real dementia can usually do it.

🟥 How it’s actually done

The procedure is almost insultingly simple.

- An examiner shows you a coin in, say, the right hand. You see it clearly.

- Then they close both hands and ask you to close your eyes and count backward from 10 to 1, or do some small distraction task.

- When you open your eyes, they ask: “Which hand has the coin?” You point.

- Important detail: the coin does not move from hand to hand during the sequence. The examiner tells you this from the start.

That’s one trial.

They repeat this around ten times, alternating which hand they show the coin in at the beginning, but always keeping it in that same hand for that trial.

If your memory is genuinely poor, or you’re anxious, or distracted, you might miss a few. But across ten trials, you should still get a decent number correct, even by random guessing, because it’s always a 50/50 choice.

🟥 What it’s really measuring

The test is not mainly about how sharp your memory is. Apparently, it’s more about effort and honesty.

What they’ve seen in studies is this:

- People with real cognitive disorders, including mild to moderate dementia, tend to perform at or above chance, sometimes even near-perfect, on this task.

- People who are pretending to have very bad memory often “overact” and do worse than chance, picking the wrong hand more often than a random guesser would.

Doing worse than chance on a coin test that simple is already a red flag.

If you were just confused and guessing, you’d still land somewhere near 5 out of 10 right. To do significantly worse than that, you basically have to be subconsciously or consciously avoiding the correct answer.

That’s why this tool is used as one of several ways to detect malingering: pretending to be more impaired than you really are.

🟥 Where Duterte comes in

So when I read that the ICC medical panel used the Coin in the Hand Test on Rodrigo Duterte, my first reaction was: “Talaga? That simple?” Then again, hindi ito parlor trick. It’s a trap for people who think they can game the system.

Three independent experts examined Duterte: a forensic psychiatrist, a neuropsychologist, and a geriatric/behavioral neurologist. They ran a series of tests to see if he was mentally fit to stand trial at the ICC.

The prosecutors later told the court that Duterte’s performance on the Coin in the Hand Test fit a pattern of someone feigning cognitive problems to avoid trial.

The medical panel concluded that he is, in fact, fit to participate in the proceedings and can understand the charges against him.

Put it this way:

The coin test helped expose that his supposed “cognitive impairment” did not match how real impairment behaves on an objective, very low-level test.

What gets me is how small the test is.

Isang coin lang. Left or right. Ten tries.

And yet, that tiny setup can help answer a very big question: is this powerful man truly too impaired to face the people whose lives he changed forever, or is he pretending?

I had never heard of the Coin in the Hand Test until now. But once you understand what it’s for, it becomes hard to unsee.

It’s a mirror. Not of memory, but of intent.

🟥 Sources:

1. The coin-in-the-hand test: a new “bed-side” test for the detection of malingering in patients with suspected memory disorder – PubMed
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8158200/

2. The coin-in-the-hand test: a new “bed-side” test for the detection of malingering in patients with suspected memory disorder – full text (PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1072844/

3. The Coin-in-the-Hand Test and dementia: more evidence for a screening test for neurocognitive symptom exaggeration – PubMed
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22960438/

4. The Coin-in-the-Hand Test and Dementia – PDF (cut-off scores and interpretation) https://neuropsychologyresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Coin-in-the-Hand-test-cut-off-scores-2012.pdf

5. Coin in the Hand Test for detection of malingering memory impairment in patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment – Česká a Slovenská Neurologie a Neurochirurgie
https://www.csnn.eu/en/journals/czech-and-slovak-neurology-and-neurosurgery/2019-3-3/coin-in-the-hand-test-for-detection-of-malingering-memory-deficit-in-patients-with-dementia-and-mild-cognitive-impairment-66383

6. Detection of malingering in the memory of patients with dementia: A pilot study on coin‑in‑the‑hand test in a Northern Taiwan Memory Clinic
https://www.airitilibrary.com/Article/Detail/10114564-201904-201904150014-201904150014-81-89

7. Validation of the Coin in Hand–Extended Version among older adults (performance validity) – PDF https://www.psicologia.ulisboa.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2022-Validation-of-the-Coin-in-Hand-Extended-Version-Among-Older-Adults.pdf

8. Coin-in-the-Hand Test – summary of procedure and use
https://befund.net/coin-in-the-hand-test/

9. Effectiveness of the forced‑choice coin test for detecting malingering during forensic psychiatric examinations
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pcn5.87

10. Evaluating malingering in cognitive and memory examinations – overview of performance validity tests
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/evaluating-malingering-in-cognitive-and-memory-examinations/61F7D6A0BA53E6B0F4B89B2713F653D1

11. Review of brief cognitive tests for patients with suspected dementia – International Psychogeriatrics
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-psychogeriatrics/article/review-of-brief-cognitive-tests-for-patients-with-suspected-dementia/EF9AB6A829EFB7D1E946BFD8A03B29BD

12. Assessment of cognition in early dementia – PMC
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3613863/

13. Performance validity and symptom validity tests – overview (NIH/PMC)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8405123/

14. Effort, symptom validity testing, performance validity testing, and malingering – PMC
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4673569/

15. Symptom Validity Test Performance in the Huntington Disease Clinic – PMC
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8629023/

16. The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM): normative data from cognitively intact, cognitively impaired, and elderly patients with dementia
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887617703000787

17. BBC News – Coins used “to diagnose” dementia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/817558.stm

18. Coin Test: A Complementary Examination for Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Dementia (general “coin test” dementia assessment)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11582992/

19. ICC medical panel finds Duterte fit to stand trial – Philstar.com
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/12/19/2495473/icc-medical-panel-finds-duterte-fit-stand-trial

20. Why ICC’s prosecutor believes Rody Duterte was caught faking cognitive impairment – Philstar.com
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/12/19/2495480/why-iccs-prosecutor-believes-rody-duterte-was-caught-faking-cognitive-impairment

21. ICC says Rodrigo Duterte is fit for trial – Philstar Life
https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/925617-icc-says-rodrigo-duterte-is-fit-for-trial

22. ICC medical team finds Duterte fit for proceedings – Philstar.com
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/12/20/2495564/icc-medical-team-finds-duterte-fit-proceedings

23. ICC prosecutors say Duterte is “feigning cognitive impairment” to avoid trial – ABS-CBN News
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/12/19/icc-prosecutors-say-duterte-is-feigning-cognitive-impairment-to-avoid-trial-1206

24. ICC medical panel “unanimously finds Duterte fit to stand trial” – Cebu Daily News / Inquirer
https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/680548/icc-medical-panel-unanimously-finds-duterte-fit-to-stand-trial

25. ICC Urged To Resume Duterte Trial After Medical Panel Clears Fitness – Evrim Ağacı summary
https://evrimagaci.org/gpt/icc-urged-to-resume-duterte-trial-after-medical-panel-clears-fitness-520555

26. Rodrigo Duterte Can Participate In Pre-Trial Proceedings, Medical Experts Tell ICC Judges – OneNews
https://www.onenews.ph/rodrigo-duterte-can-participate-in-pre-trial-proceedings-medical-experts-tell-icc-judges

27. Duterte can undergo trial, medical experts tell ICC – MEXC News
https://www.mexc.co/en-IN/news/304059

28. ICC: Duterte fit for trial – Philstar Life social post (context, headline & framing)
https://www.facebook.com/philstarlife/posts/icc-duterte-fit-for-trial-an-independent-medical-panel-appointed-by-the-internat/1308497387314210/

29. ICC: Duterte fit for trial – Instagram post (Philstar Life)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSd-Vl9E-r9/

30. ICC Medical Panel Declares Former President Rodrigo Duterte Fit for Trial – EMEC
https://www.emec.org.uk/?s-news-22953816-2025-12-19-icc-medical-panel-declares-ex-president-duterte-fit-for-trial

This seems apt here no? How are you doing guys? Long time no hear. Just comment and keep the engagement pls. Tnx and God bless

Thanks be to God! I got back my yahoo. email account. Whoever helped out, thank you very much. You should see my smile! A thankful heart is a happy heart.

The owner of these two numbers must change ways:
0994-918-8488, and
0994-919-5046.

There are better ways to live. The experience was a lesson on taking thought before simply following. God bless