Many people who intend to obtain benefits from an assessment may resort to performing poorly on assessments. Previous literature has found that cognitive deficits and long-term symptomatic complaints are reported by individuals with mild Traumatic Brain Injuries. Limited studies have investigated how brain activity measured via Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG) relates to mental effort during cognitive tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate electrical brain activity, as measured by Peak (PK) frequency, on frontal brain areas (i.e. locations F3-F4) in individuals giving poor mental effort. Measures of effort, in this study, include the Test of Memory Malingering, Rey 15-Item Test, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure. A significant difference was found for the Rey-15 task in F4-F3 Beta PK Frequency asymmetry, indicating that groups differed in the asymmetry scores at the frontal areas. The results suggest that PK was only able to be related to effort when participants completed relatively easy tasks, and this was represented by asymmetry on PK Frequency for Beta on the Frontal Lobe
