Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:48:55.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preservation of the Semantic Verbal Fluency Advantage in a Large Population-Based Sample: Normative Data from the TILDA Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Roisin M. Vaughan Open the ORCID record for Roisin M. Vaughan [Opens in a new window] ,
Robert F. Coen ,
RoseAnne Kenny  and
Brian A. Lawlor
Roisin M. Vaughan*
Affiliation:
St. Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Robert F. Coen
Affiliation:
Mercer’s Institute of Research on Ageing, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
RoseAnne Kenny
Affiliation:
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Brian A. Lawlor
Affiliation:
Mercer’s Institute of Research on Ageing, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Roisin M. Vaughan, St. Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, Co. Dublin. E-mail: roisvaughan@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives: It is widely believed that phonemic fluency is more difficult than naming exemplars from a semantic category. Normative data in this regard are scarce, and there is considerable disagreement in the literature regarding the pattern in normal ageing and neurodegenerative conditions. Our objective was to provide normative data for semantic phonemic discrepancy scores from a large sample of older adults. Methods: A total of 5780 community-dwelling older adults were included in this prospective, longitudinal study. Discrepancy scores were calculated by subtracting phonemic fluency score from semantic fluency score for each participant. Quantile regression was used to estimate normative values stratified for age. Results: Subjects did better on testing of semantic fluency. The average discrepancy score was 9.18±6.89 words, (range, −20 to 37; n=5780). At the fiftieth percentile, those in their fifth decade produced 10 more “animals” than “letter F” words. Subjects scored one word less per decade, with an average of seven more “animal” words produced by those in their eighth decade. Conclusions: Our study is the first to provide normative data and confirms that, for animal versus letter F fluency, the semantic advantage persists into later life in a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults. Given that a majority of clinical samples have confirmed a reverse of this pattern in Alzheimer’s dementia (i.e., loss of semantic advantage in Alzheimer’s disease, yielding a phonemic advantage), our findings support the clinical utility of brief fluency tests and encourage further research into their use in diagnosis and prediction of progression to dementia. (JINS, 2016, 22, 1–7)

Keywords

AssessmentCognitionLanguageNeuropsychologicalNormativePhonemic fluencySemantics
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 22 , Issue 5 , May 2016 , pp. 570 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldo, J.V., Schwartz, S., Wilkins, D., & Dronkers, N.F. (2006). Role of frontal versus temporal cortex in verbal fluency as revealed by voxel-based lesion symptom mapping. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(6), 896–900. doi:10.1017/S1355617706061078 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barry, D., Bates, M.E., & Labouvie, E. (2008). FAS and CFL forms of verbal fluency differ in difficulty: A meta-analytic study. Applied Neuropsychology, 15(2), 97–106. doi:10.1080/09084280802083863 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brandt, J., & Manning, K.J. (2009). Patterns of word-list generation in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Clinical Neuropsychology, 23, 870–879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canning, S.J.D., Leach, L., Stuss, D., Ngo, L., & Black, S.E. (2004). Diagnostic utility of abbreviated fluency measures in Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia. Neurology, 62, 556–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cerhan, J.H., Ivnik, R.J., Smith, G.E., Tangalos, E.C., Petersen, R.C., & Boeve, B.F. (2002). Diagnostic utility of letter fluency, category fluency, and fluency difference scores in Alzheimer’s disease. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 16(1), 35–42. doi:10.1076/clin.16.1.35.8326 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coen, R.F., Maguire, C., Swanwick, G.R., Kirby, M., Burke, T., Lawlor, B., &Coakley, D. (1996). Letter and category fluency in Alzheimer’s disease: A prognostic indicator of progression? Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 7(5), 246–250. doi:10.1159/000106887 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottingham, M.E., & Hawkins, K.A. (2010). Verbal fluency deficits co-occur with memory deficits in geriatric patients at risk for dementia: Implications for the concept of mild cognitive impairment. Behavioural Neurology, 22(3-4), 73–79. doi:10.3233/ben-2009-0246 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronin, H., O’Regan, C., Finucane, C., Kearney, P., & Kenny, R.A. (2013). Health and aging: Development of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing health assessment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 61(Suppl. 2), S269–S278. doi:10.1111/jgs.12197 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crum, R.M., Anthony, J.C., Bassett, S.S., & Folstein, M.F. (1993). Population-based Norms for the Mini-Mental State Examination by age and educational level. Journal of the American Medical Association, 269(18), 2386–2391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delis, D.C., Kaplan, E., & Kramer, J.H. (2001). Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Folstein, M.F., Folstein, S.E., McHugh, P.R., & Fanjiang, G. (2001). MMSE. Mini-Mental State Examination. User’s Guide. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Gladsjo, J.A., Schuman, C.C., Evans, J.D., Peavy, G.M., Miller, S.W., & Heaton, R.K. (1999). Norms for letter and category fluency: Demographic corrections for age, education, and ethnicity. Assessment, 6(2), 147–178. doi:10.1177/107319119900600204 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hart, S., Smith, C.M., & Swash, M. (1988). Word fluency in patients with early dementia of Alzheimer type. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27(2), 115–124. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00759.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henry, J.D., & Crawford, J.R. (2004). A meta-analytic review of verbal fluency performance following focal cortical lesions. Neuropsychology, 18(2), 284–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kearney, P.M., Cronin, H., O’Regan, C., Kamiya, Y., Savva, G.M., Whelan, B., &Kenny, R. (2011). Cohort profile: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. International Journal of Epidemiology, 40(4), 877–884. doi:10.1093/ije/dyr116 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenker, R., & Bassett, G. (1978). Regression quantiles. Econometrica, 46(1), 33–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozora, E., & Cullum, C.M. (1995). Generative naming in normal aging: Total output and qualitative changes using phonemic and semantic constraints. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 9(4), 313–320. doi:10.1080/13854049508400495 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lafosse, J.M., Reed, B.R., Mungas, D., Sterling, S.B., Wahbeh, H., & Jagust, W.J. (1997). Fluency and memory differences between ischemic vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology, 11, 514–522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laws, K.R., Duncan, A., & Gale, T.M. (2010). “Normal” semantic-phonemic fluency discrepancy in Alzheimer’s disease? A meta-analytic study. Cortex, 46(5), 595–601. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2009.04.009 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lonie, J.A., Herrmann, L.L., Tierney, K.M., Donaghey, C., O’Carroll, R., Lee, A., &Ebmeier, K.P. (2009). Lexical and semantic fluency discrepancy scores in aMCI and early Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neuropsychology, 3(1), 79–92. doi:10.1348/174866408X289935 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marra, C., Ferraccioli, M., & Gainotti, G. (2007). Gender-related dissociations of categorical fluency in normal subjects and in subjects with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology, 21, 207–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitrushina, M.N., Boone, B.B., & Razani, J. (2005). Handbook of normative data for neuropsychological assessment. Cambridge: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Monsch, A.U., Bondi, M.W., Butters, N., Salmon, D.P., Katzman, R., & Thal, L.J. (1992). Comparisons of verbal fluency tasks in the detection of dementia of the Alzheimer type. Archives of Neurology, 49(12), 1253–1258. doi:10.1001/archneur.1992.00530360051017 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, K.J., Rich, J.B., & Troyer, A.K. (2006). Verbal fluency patterns in amnestic mild cognitive impairment are characteristic of Alzheimer’s type dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(4), 570–574. doi:10.1017/S1355617706060590 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nasreddine, Z.S., Phillips, N.A., Bédirian, V., Charbonneau, S., Whitehead, V., Collin, I., Cummings, J.L., Chertkow, H. (2005). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(4), 695–699. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53221.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, M.P., Blankenship-Reuter, L., Snow-Turek, A.L., & Finch, J. (1995). Influence of depression on verbal fluency performance. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2(3), 206–215. doi:10.1080/13825589508256598 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nutter-Upham, K.E., Saykin, A.J., Rabin, L.A., Roth, R.M., Wishart, H.A., Pare, N., &Flashman, L.A. (2008). Verbal fluency performance in amnestic MCI and older adults with cognitive complaints. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23(3), 229–241. doi:10.1016/j.acn.2008.01.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ober, B.A., Dronkers, N.F., Koss, E., Delis, D.C., & Friedland, R.P. (1986). Retrieval from semantic memory in Alzheimer-type dementia. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 8(1), 75–92. doi:10.1080/01688638608401298 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruff, R.M., Light, R.H., Parker, S.B., & Levin, H.S. (1996). Benton controlled oral word association test: Reliability and updated norms. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(4), 329–338. doi:10.1093/arclin/11.4.329 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teng, E., Leone-Friedman, J., Lee, G.J., Woo, S., Apostolova, L.G., Harrell, S., &Lu, P.H. (2013). Similar verbal fluency patterns in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 28(5), 400–410. doi:10.1093/arclin/act039 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weakley, A., Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., & Anderson, J. (2013). Analysis of verbal fluency ability in amnestic and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 28(7), 721–731. doi:10.1093/arclin/act058 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiss, E.M., Ragland, J.D., Brensinger, C.M., Bilker, W.B., Deisenhammer, E.A., & Delazer, M. (2006). Sex differences in clustering and switching in verbal fluency tasks. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12(04), 502–509. doi:10.1017/S1355617706060656 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Vaughan supplementary material

Vaughan Supplementary Revised

Download Vaughan supplementary material(File)
File 71.7 KB