Clustering and Switching During Verbal Fluency in Typical and Atypical Development: A Systematic Review in Children and Adolescents

Filippetti, Vanessa Arán; Krumm, Gabriela Liliana; López, Mariana Beatriz

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03787-4

Cited by 3 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Concerning the results for the two clustering factors studied, the mean cluster size remained practically stable, presenting no significant changes during the entire age span of the present study. Our results, thus, confirmed those of the vast majority of earlier studies (see Arán Filippetti et al 2022), which suggested that clustering-a strategy primarily related to lexico-semantic knowledge-is an easier, perhaps automatic or earlier emerging strategy than switching. Overall, the mean cluster size was found to be the factor with the poorer association with the NCW children managed to produce, significantly predicting only 2.4% of the variance in word productivity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Confirming previous relevant research findings on clustering and switching in children (e.g., Becker et al 2019;Sánchez-López et al 2021), the NCW produced during the task was found to be associated both with the two switching factors and the two clustering factors. However, also in line with the vast majority of relevant studies (for a systematic review, see Arán Filippetti et al 2022), the largest amount of variance in word productivity was found to be attributed to switching, the ability to shift into different semantic subcategories in order to search more effectively for additional items within the semantic network. In line with several other studies (e.g., Arán Filippetti and Allegri 2011;Hurks et al 2010), considering that both the number of clusters and the number of switches may represent indicators of strategic retrieval processes and cognitive flexibility, we used both measures to quantify switching.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…In addition, animal words are among the earliest emerging words in children's vocabularies, irrespective of the language they speak (Frank et al 2017), so using the 'animals' category, unlike other categories, is meaningful for testing young children. Finally, it is the category used by most studies exploring clustering and switching in children, either as a unique measure of verbal fluency (n = 14) or in conjunction with other measures (n = 12) (Arán Filippetti et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Arán Filippetti et al (2022) summarize in their systematic review, most studies found no differences between girls and boys, regardless of country of origin or language. Only two studies reported a sex effect on semantic cluster size, phonemic switches, and the number of switches when interacting with parental education (Arán Filippetti et al 2022).…”

Section: The Effect Of Contextual Factorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Clustering and Switching in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Their Development and Relationship with Word Productivity in Typically Developing Greek-Speaking Children and Adolescents

Karousou,

Economacou,

Makris

2023

J. Intell.

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Performance in semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks, mainly measured by the number of words of a particular semantic category produced within a limited time, is a widely accepted measure of cognitive functioning used in the neuropsychological assessment of children and adults. Two strategic processes, Clustering and Switching (C&S) have been proposed to underlie fluency processes and affect performance in the task. However, few studies have reported on the development of those cognitive strategies and their relationship with word productivity in typically developing children. Even fewer studies have covered a broad developmental period from preschool to adolescence or measured the effect of contextual factors in this relationship. Based on a sample of 472 typically developing Greek-speaking children aged 4;0 to 16;11 years, we investigated the development of SVF performance and reported on the degree to which it is affected by C&S strategies, children’s sex, and level of parental education. Results revealed a large effect of age on word productivity and on the use of C&S strategies. Two switching factors (number of clusters and number of switches) and two clustering factors (mean cluster size and a novel measure, maximum cluster size), appeared to be significantly associated with word productivity, with the largest effect being attributed to the two switching factors. C&S factors, together with children’s age and parental education, predicted 91.7% of the variance in the SVF score. Children’s sex was not found to have a significant effect on either word productivity or C&S strategies. Results are discussed for their theoretical implications on the strategic processes underlying word production in typically developing children.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Effect Of Contextual Factorsmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Clustering and Switching in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Their Development and Relationship with Word Productivity in Typically Developing Greek-Speaking Children and Adolescents

Karousou,

Economacou,

Makris

2023

J. Intell.

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“…A semantic route to reading could be of particular importance for children with dyslexia as semantics, unlike phonology, may not be impaired (Everatt, Weeks, & Brooks, 2007; see Deacon, Tong, & Mimeau, 2016 for a review), and may even represent a strength in dyslexia (Denervaud et al, 2021;van Rijthoven et al, 2018;van Rijthoven et al, 2021). Moreover, most of the identified studies on atypical development utilized small sample sizes, and reported number of words produced per minute (total fluency), yet a recent systematic review (Arán Filippetti et al, 2022) highlights the importance of analyzing psycholinguistic metrics by utilizing a fine-grained approach to measure clustering and switching during verbal fluency tasks (Troyer, 2000;Koren et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic Strength in Dyslexia: neurocognitive correlates of semantic fluency

Lukic¹,

Jiang²,

Mandelli³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Most studies of dyslexia focus on domains of impairment: reading and phonology among others. Few studies on dyslexia examine possible strengths. In the present study, we investigated a cognitive strength in English-speaking children with dyslexia aged 8-13, namely semantic fluency. We adjusted performance for letter fluency and tested the specificity of the semantic fluency strength by relating it to executive functioning measures, examining the psycholinguistic approach to the task, and using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain dynamics that may render an advantage in the task.Ninety-four participants with dyslexia completed tests of letter and semantic verbal fluency, standardized measures of reading and cognitive functions including verbal short-term memory (as measured by CVLT C Trial 1) and cognitive flexibility (as measured by Children’s Colored Trails B), and resting-state fMRI scans. We investigated production abilities in the high and average semantic groups via quantitative measures of semantic fluency performance – i.e., word count, semantic clustering, and number of switches, and determined their relation to neurocognitive mechanisms. Groups were well-matched on demographics and phonological fluency but they showed distinct cognitive and clustering/switching patterns in semantic fluency. The two groups differed on the number of clusters, the max size of cluster, and the number of switches between clustered and/or non-clustered responses. Furthermore, greater cluster size and max cluster size correlated with better executive abilities on the CVLT C Trial 1 specifically in high semantic fluency group, underscoring the interaction between semantic and executive processes. In addition to the cognitive differences, dynamic resting-state functional connectivity differed between the high and average groups in a large-scale bilateral fronto-temporo-occipital network.These data demonstrate that semantic fluency performance is strongly linked to specific executive function subdomains and a semantic resting state brain network, and that inter-individual differences should be taken into account in dyslexia.

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Norms, convergent validity, test–retest reliability, and practice effects for verbal fluency overall performance, clustering, and switching in Spanish-speaking children

Arán Filippetti,

Gutierrez,

Krumm

2024

The Clinical Neuropsychologist

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Clustering and Switching During Verbal Fluency in Typical and Atypical Development: A Systematic Review in Children and Adolescents

Cited by 3 publications

References 68 publications

Clustering and Switching in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Their Development and Relationship with Word Productivity in Typically Developing Greek-Speaking Children and Adolescents

Clustering and Switching in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Their Development and Relationship with Word Productivity in Typically Developing Greek-Speaking Children and Adolescents

Semantic Strength in Dyslexia: neurocognitive correlates of semantic fluency

Norms, convergent validity, test–retest reliability, and practice effects for verbal fluency overall performance, clustering, and switching in Spanish-speaking children

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