Unconstrained, phonemic and semantic verbal fluency: age and education effects, norms and discrepancies

Abstract

Objective: To present performance norms and discrepancy score of three one-minute verbal fl uency tasks (VFTs); to investigate age and education effects; to analyze the differences between time intervals; and to investigate whether these differences varied according to age and education. Method: Three hundred adults divided into three age groups (19-39; 40-59; 60-75) and two groups of educational level (2 to 7 years; 8 years or more) performed unconstrained, semantic, and phonemic VFTs. We compared the performance of the groups using two-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni test. The depression scale score was covariate. The time interval of verbal fl uency was the variable used for subjects' comparison (repeated measures ANOVA). Results and conclusions: Our results suggest that there are age and education effects on phonemic and unconstrained VFTs. We also found an interaction between those variables in the semantic VFT (time intervals and total time) and in the differences between semantic and phonemic tasks. The repeated measures analysis revealed age effects on semantic VFTs and education effects on the phonemic and semantic VFTs. Such fi ndings are relevant for clinical neuropsychology, contributing to avoid false-positive or false-negative interpretation. Keywords: Neuropsychology, psychological tests, age groups, educational level, cognition. ResumoObjetivo: Esse estudo teve como objetivo apresentar normas de desempenho e discrepância em três tarefas de fl uência verbal de um minuto e investigar os efeitos de idade e escolaridade. Além disso, investigamos as diferenças entre os intervalos de tempo e se essas diferenças variaram em função da idade e escolaridade. Método: Participaram 300 adultos divididos em três grupos de idade (19-39; 40-59; 60-75) e anos de escolaridade (2 a 7; 8 ou mais), avaliados com tarefas de fl uência verbal livre, fonêmica ou semântica. O desempenho entre grupos foi comparado por uma two-way ANOVA com post-hoc Bonferroni, com o escore da escala de depressão como co-variável. A variável de comparação intragrupos foi o tempo da fl uência verbal (ANOVA medidas repetidas). Resultados e conclusões: Os resultados indicaram efeitos principais de idade e escolaridade nas tarefas ortográfi ca e livre, e uma interação entre essas variáveis na tarefa semântica (intervalos e total), e na discrepância entre as tarefas semântica e ortográfi ca. A análise de medidas repetidas demonstrou efeitos principais de idade na tarefa semântica e de educação nas tarefas semântica e ortográfi ca. Tais achados são relevantes para futuras interpretações de dados clínicos, evitando assim falsos positivos ou negativos. Palavras-chave: Neuropsicologia, testes psicológicos, grupos de idade, escolaridade, cognição.Verbal fl uency tasks (VFT) are a traditional paradigm for neuropsychological assessment. Performance on cognitive tasks may vary depending on socio-demographic and cultural factors, like age and education. In this context,

The Relationship Between Executive Functions and Flow in Learning

“…Also, there are age and education effects on phonemic VF (Pendleton, Heaton, Lehman, & Hulihan, 1982;Zimmermann, Parente, Joanette, & Fonseca, 2014), although some studies did not reveal age effect on VF in adult population (e.g., Cauthen, 1978;Cohen, 2000). To control for these factors, the participants of the same sex, age, and education level were included in the study.…”

Deep Brain Stimulation Frequency of the Subthalamic Nucleus Affects Phonemic and Action Fluency in Parkinson’s Disease

“…The action fluency task appears to be an important task for evaluating PD, as studies have shown that the action fluency task may be more sensitive to cognitive impairment in PD patients compared to other VF tasks [16, 19]. Currently, little is known regarding the neural and cognitive substrates of unconstrained VF because the few studies that have used this VF task only verified the influence of demographic factors on its performance [20, 21]. The absence of a retrieval criterion, as in the unconstrained VF task, may reinforce the need for inhibitory capacity, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and planning.…”

Methodological Criteria for Scoring Clustering and Switching in Verbal Fluency Tasks

“…Most Brazilian studies on VF include SVF tasks using the animal category (Araujo et al, 2011;Brucki, Malheiros, Okamoto, & Bertolucci, 1997;Brucki & Rocha, 2004;Caramelli, Carthery-Goulart, Porto, CharchatFichman, & Nitrini, 2007;Lopes et al, 2009;Silva, Yassuda, Guimarães, & Florindo, 2011). There is a small number of studies using fruits (Paula et al, 2010), body parts (Malloy-Diniz et al, 2007), and clothes (Fonseca, Parente, Côté, Ska, & Joanette, 2008;Moraes et al, 2014;Zimmermann, Parente, Joanette, & Fonseca, 2014). PVF tasks are also mentioned in national studies using the letters F, A, and S (Charchat-Fichman et al, 2011;Fonseca, Salles, & Parente, 2009;Machado et al, 2009), the letter P (Fonseca et al, 2008;Moraes et al, 2014;Zimmermann et al, 2014), and the letter M (Charchat-Fichman et al, 2011;Salles et al, in press).…”

“…There is a small number of studies using fruits (Paula et al, 2010), body parts (Malloy-Diniz et al, 2007), and clothes (Fonseca, Parente, Côté, Ska, & Joanette, 2008;Moraes et al, 2014;Zimmermann, Parente, Joanette, & Fonseca, 2014). PVF tasks are also mentioned in national studies using the letters F, A, and S (Charchat-Fichman et al, 2011;Fonseca, Salles, & Parente, 2009;Machado et al, 2009), the letter P (Fonseca et al, 2008;Moraes et al, 2014;Zimmermann et al, 2014), and the letter M (Charchat-Fichman et al, 2011;Salles et al, in press).…”