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Summaka M, Jebahi F, Al-Thalaya Z, Assaf S, Al-Kammouni Z, Al Zein H, Haidar R, Kresht J, Hassan FEZ, Matar W, Kawtharani H, Kassir H. Verbal fluency in Lebanese children: Preliminary normative data, sociodemographic determinants, and patterns of clustering and switching. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2024; 13:202-214. [PMID: 36441665 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2022.2150551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This study assessed the quantitative and qualitative performance of Lebanese-speaking children on verbal fluency (VF) tasks and investigated the effects of sociodemographic characteristics. This study included 219 Lebanese children aged between 5 and 12 years and 11 months, whose native language is Lebanese-Arabic. Semantic and letter VF tasks were assessed using a range of categories and letters. Switching and clustering strategies were analyzed for 177 Lebanese children. The number of words produced presented a significant increase with age (p < .004) in semantic (SVF), while in letter (LVF), the differences were significant between extreme age groups. Females generated more words in the clothes (p = .003) and household items (p = .002) categories. The total number of switches and clusters showed a significantly increasing pattern with age (p < .05). The number of switches was higher for participants with high maternal (p < .001) and paternal (p < .013) educational levels. Regression analyses showed that the total number of switches and clusters, and the mean cluster size had a significant effect on SVF performance (p < .001). The current study generated preliminary norms for VF tasks for Lebanese-speaking children. The results of the current study have an important contribution to neuropsychology research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwa Summaka
- Department of Speech Therapy, Health, Rehabilitation, Integration and Research Center (HRIR), Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Fatima Jebahi
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Zahra Al-Thalaya
- Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Salma Assaf
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Zeinab Al-Kammouni
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Hanan Al Zein
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Rayan Haidar
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Jana Kresht
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | - Walaa Matar
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Hiba Kawtharani
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Hiba Kassir
- Department of Speech Therapy, Islamic University of Lebanon, Choueifat, Beirut, Lebanon
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Ruffini C, Osmani F, Bigozzi L, Pecini C. Semantic fluency in 3-6 years old preschoolers: which executive functions? Child Neuropsychol 2024; 30:563-581. [PMID: 37401450 DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2023.2230637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Semantic Fluency (SF) increases with age, along with the lexicon and the strategies to access it. Among the cognitive processes involved in controlling lexical access, Executive Functions (EF) play an essential role. Nevertheless, which EF, namely inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, are specifically tapped by SF during preschool years, when these basic EF components are developing and differentiating, is still unknown. The study had a two-fold aim: 1. to analyze in preschoolers the role of EF basic components on SF; 2. to investigate if EF mediated the effect of age on SF. A total of 296 typically developing preschoolers (M age = 57.86; SD = 9.91; month range = 33-74) were assessed with an SF task and EF tasks measuring the main EF basic components. Results showed that during preschool, response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were significant predictors of SF, explaining 27% of its variance. Moreover, the effect of age on the SF task performance correlated with the improvement of these EF components. This study supports the importance of considering cognitive control processes in 3-6 year-old preschoolers as they underline important competencies for the child's development, such as the ability to quickly access vocabulary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Costanza Ruffini
- Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literature and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
| | - Fatbardha Osmani
- Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literature and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
| | - Lucia Bigozzi
- Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literature and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
| | - Chiara Pecini
- Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literature and Psychology (FORLILPSI), University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
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Ren Y, Cui G, Feng K, Zhang X, Yu C, Liu P. A scoping review of utilization of the verbal fluency task in Chinese and Japanese clinical settings with near-infrared spectroscopy. Front Psychiatry 2024; 15:1282546. [PMID: 38525251 PMCID: PMC10957746 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1282546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
This review targets the application of the Verbal Fluency Task (VFT) in conjunction with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for diagnosing psychiatric disorders, specifically in the contexts of China and Japan. These two countries are at the forefront of integrating fNIRS with VFT in clinical psychiatry, often employing this combination as a complementary tool alongside traditional psychiatric examinations. Our study aims to synthesize research findings on the hemodynamic responses elicited by VFT task in clinical settings of the two countries, analyzing variations in task design (phonological versus semantic), stimulus modality (auditory versus visual), and the impact of language typology. The focus on China and Japan is crucial, as it provides insights into the unique applications and adaptations of VFT in these linguistically and culturally distinct environments. By exploring these specific cases, our review underscores the importance of tailoring VFT to fit the linguistic and cultural context, thereby enhancing its validity and utility in cross-cultural psychiatric assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufei Ren
- Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Gang Cui
- Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Kun Feng
- Department of Psychiatry, Yuquan Hospital, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoqian Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, Yuquan Hospital, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | | | - Pozi Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, Yuquan Hospital, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Arán Filippetti V, Gutierrez M, Krumm G. Norms, convergent validity, test-retest reliability, and practice effects for verbal fluency overall performance, clustering, and switching in Spanish-speaking children. Clin Neuropsychol 2024:1-30. [PMID: 38360587 DOI: 10.1080/13854046.2024.2315729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We conducted two empirical studies (in a cross-sectional and a longitudinal design) with the aim at establishing normative data (including norms for strategy use [i.e., clustering and switching strategies] and performance over time), and examining the convergent validity, the test-retest reliability (3-4 wks interval) and the changes in performance with practice (1 year interval) of the different verbal fluency (VF) quantitative and qualitative scores in Spanish-speaking children and adolescents. METHOD In S1 (n = 620 6- to 15-year-old Spanish-speaking children and adolescents), MANCOVA and Pearson's correlations were employed. In S2 (n = 148 6- to 12-year-old Spanish-speaking children), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), paired t-tests, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used. RESULTS S1 results showed an age effect on all VF measures (quantitative and qualitative). The number of switches/clusters was more related to total word productivity and to executive functions (EF) than the mean cluster size. In S2, a significant increase in phonological VF performance was observed on number of switches and word productivity scores from baseline (Time 1) to repeat testing at Time 2. Practice effects were observed at Time 3 on all measures except for semantic and phonological mean cluster size. Test-retest reliability coefficients at Time 2 for number of clusters and switches, but not for mean cluster size, fell in the moderate range, ranging from ICCs .61 to ICCs .81. Test-retest reliability coefficients for total word productivity were higher (ICCs above .80) and stronger when testing as a unity with CFA methods (ϕ=.94, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS These data may be relevant for informing the neuropsychological assessment of spontaneous cognitive flexibility in children with typical development (TD) and those with developmental or acquired disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Arán Filippetti
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud y del Comportamiento (CIICSAC) - Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina
- Facultad de Humanidades, Educación y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Adventista del Plata, Entre Ríos, Argentina
| | - Marisel Gutierrez
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud y del Comportamiento (CIICSAC) - Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina
- Facultad de Humanidades, Educación y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Adventista del Plata, Entre Ríos, Argentina
| | - Gabriela Krumm
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud y del Comportamiento (CIICSAC) - Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina
- Facultad de Humanidades, Educación y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Adventista del Plata, Entre Ríos, Argentina
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Deb P, Basu A. The Role of Verbal Fluency as a Variable in Reading and Comprehension Skills in Bengali. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2024; 53:11. [PMID: 38319444 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10037-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
The study explored the role of verbal fluency in determining reading and comprehension skills in Bengali among 10-year old typically developing Bengali children. Robust correlations were found between semantic fluency and word reading (0.63) as well as semantic fluency and comprehension (0.70). Good correlation was found between letter fluency and comprehension (0.49), and, word reading and comprehension (0.62). The findings suggest that good word storing capacity and executive functions led to enhanced automaticity of retrieval and verbal fluency, which together with improved orthographic and phonological processing led to good word reading scores, contributing to lesser cognitive load thereby easing out the complex text comprehension task. Transcending narrow empirical base of reading theories derived from Western writing typologies delimited to orthographic depth and psycholinguistic grain size, the study contends that verbal fluency is another interesting variable determining the reading and comprehension skills in Bengali along with visuo-spatial complexity and complex phonology-orthography inconsistencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paromita Deb
- Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India.
| | - Anupam Basu
- NIT Durgapur, Durgapur, West Bengal, India
- Computer Science Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India
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Karousou A, Economacou D, Makris N. Clustering and Switching in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Their Development and Relationship with Word Productivity in Typically Developing Greek-Speaking Children and Adolescents. J Intell 2023; 11:209. [PMID: 37998708 PMCID: PMC10671952 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11110209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023] Open
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Karousou
- Department of Education Sciences in Early Childhood, Democritus University of Thrace, 681 00 Alexandroupolis, Greece
| | - Dimitra Economacou
- Department of Primary Education, Democritus University of Thrace, 671 32 Xanthi, Greece; (D.E.); (N.M.)
| | - Nikos Makris
- Department of Primary Education, Democritus University of Thrace, 671 32 Xanthi, Greece; (D.E.); (N.M.)
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Foldager M, Vestergaard M, Lassen J, Petersen LS, Oranje B, Aggernaes B, Simonsen E. Atypical Semantic Fluency and Recall in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Associated with Autism Symptoms and Adaptive Functioning. J Autism Dev Disord 2023; 53:4280-4292. [PMID: 36001194 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-022-05677-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
It is unclear whether children with autism spectrum disorders have atypical semantic fluency and lower memory for the semantics of words. Therefore, we examined semantic typicality, fluency and recall for the categories of fruits and animals in 60 children with autism aged 7-15 years (boys: 48/girls: 12) compared to 60 typically developing controls. Relative to controls, the autism group had reduced animal fluency, fruit typicality and recall for fruits. Notably, these measures were associated with more autistic-like symptoms and/or lower adaptive functioning across the autism and control groups. In conclusion, atypical semantics of fruits in the autism group may reflect development of idiosyncratic semantic networks while their lower semantic fluency and recall suggest impaired executive language functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malene Foldager
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital - Psychiatry Region Zealand, Smedegade 16, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark
| | - Martin Vestergaard
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital - Psychiatry Region Zealand, Smedegade 16, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
| | - Jonathan Lassen
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital - Psychiatry Region Zealand, Smedegade 16, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark
| | - Lea S Petersen
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark
- Psychiatric Research Unit, Region Zealand, Denmark
| | - Bob Oranje
- Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CNSR) & Center for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CINS), Psychiatric Center Glostrup, Copenhagen University Hospital, København, Denmark
| | - Bodil Aggernaes
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Copenhagen University Hospital - Psychiatry Region Zealand, Smedegade 16, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
- PP Clinic Copenhagen, Gentofte, Denmark
| | - Erik Simonsen
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark
- Mental Health Services East, Copenhagen University Hospital, Psychiatry Region Zealand, Region Zealand, Denmark
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AlAhmed F, Rau A, Wallraven C. Visuo-haptic processing of unfamiliar shapes: Comparing children and adults. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286905. [PMID: 37889903 PMCID: PMC10610448 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The question of how our sensory perception abilities develop has been an active area of research, establishing trajectories of development from infancy that last well into late childhood and even adolescence. In this context, several studies have established changes in sensory processing of vision and touch around the age of 8 to 9 years. In this experiment, we explored the visual and haptic perceptual development of elementary school children of ages 6-11 in similarity-rating tasks of unfamiliar objects and compared their performance to adults. The participants were presented with parametrically-defined objects to be explored haptically and visually in separate groups for both children and adults. Our results showed that the raw similarity ratings of the children had more variability compared to adults. A detailed multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that the reconstructed perceptual space of the adult haptic group was significantly closer to the parameter space compared to the children group, whereas both groups' visual perceptual space was similarly well reconstructed. Beyond this, however, we found no clear evidence for an age effect in either modality within the children group. These results suggest that haptic processing of unfamiliar, abstract shapes may continue to develop beyond the age of 11 years later into adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Furat AlAhmed
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Anne Rau
- Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christian Wallraven
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Álvarez Medina MN, Vergara Moragues E, Arango-Lasprilla JC, Restrepo Botero JC, Calderón Chagualá JA, Rivera D, Olabarrieta-Landa L. Phonological and semantic verbal fluency test: Scoring criteria and normative data for clustering and switching strategies for Colombian children and adolescents. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2023; 58:1630-1644. [PMID: 37140195 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Verbal fluency tests (VFT) are highly sensitive to cognitive deficits. Usually, the score on VFT is based on the number of correct words produced, yet it alone gives little information regarding underlying test performance. The implementation of different strategies (cluster and switching) to perform efficiently during the tasks provide more valuable information. However, normative data for clustering and switching strategies are scarce. Moreover, scoring criteria adapted to Colombian Spanish are missing. AIMS (1) To describe the Colombian adaptation of the scoring system guidelines for clustering and switching strategies in VFT; (2) to determine its reliability; and (3) to provide normative data for Colombian children and adolescents aged 6-17 years. METHODS & PROCEDURES A total of 691 children and adolescents from Colombia completed phonological (/f/, /a/, /s/, /m/, /r/ and /p/) and semantic (animals and fruits) VFT, and five scores were calculated: total score (TS), number of clusters (NC), cluster size (CS), mean cluster size (MCS) and number of switches (NS). The intraclass correlation coefficient was used for interrater reliability. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to investigate which strategies were associated with VFT TS. Multiple regressions were conducted for each strategy, including as predictors age, age2 , sex, mean parents' education (MPE), MPE2 and type of school, to generate normative data. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Reliability indexes were excellent. Age was associated with VFT TS, but weakly compared with strategies. For both VFT TS, NS was the strongest variable, followed by CS and NC. Regarding norms, age was the strongest predictor for all measures, while age2 was relevant for NC (/f/ phoneme) and NS (/m/ phoneme). Participants with higher MPE obtained more NC, and NS, and larger CS in several phonemes and categories. Children and adolescents from private school generated more NC, NS and larger CS in /s/ phoneme. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study provides new scoring guidelines and normative data for clustering and switching strategies for Colombian children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. Clinical neuropsychologists should include these measures as part of their everyday practice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject VFT are widely used within the paediatric population due to its sensitivity to brain injury. Its score is based on the number of correct words produced; however, TS alone gives little information regarding underlying test performance. Several normative data for VFT TS in the paediatric population exist, but normative data for clustering and switching strategies are scarce. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The present study is the first to describe the Colombian adaptation of the scoring guidelines for clustering and switching strategies, and provided normative data for these strategies for children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years old. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Knowing VFT's performance, including strategy development and use in healthy children and adolescents, may be useful for clinical settings. We encourage clinicians to include not only TS, but also a careful analysis of strategies that may be more informative of the underlying cognitive processes failure than TS.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Nazaret Álvarez Medina
- Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología en Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad, Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Esperanza Vergara Moragues
- Department of Psychology, University of Cadiz (UCA), Cadiz, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación e Innovación Biomédica de Cádiz (INiBICA), Cadiz, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Diego Rivera
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
| | - Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
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Chami S, Charalambous C, Knijnik SR, Docking K. Language and executive function skills as predictors of semantic fluency performance in pre-school children. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2022; 24:626-635. [PMID: 34866507 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2021.2008005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose: To explore how language and executive function skills of pre-school-aged children contribute to semantic fluency (a form of verbal fluency) performance. This study investigated effect of age and contribution of vocabulary and executive function on qualitative aspects of the semantic fluency task.Method: Forty typically developing Australian-English-speaking pre-school children, aged 4;0-5;11 (mean age = 55.5 months, SD = 5.21) participated. Eight assessment tasks were presented in random order examining semantic fluency, vocabulary knowledge and executive function. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses determined the extent to which measures of executive function and vocabulary accounted for fluency (number of words correctly produced) and qualitative aspects of the semantic fluency task (number of clusters, number of clustered words, number of switches).Result: While executive function and vocabulary were positively correlated with fluency and all qualitative measures of semantic fluency performance, they were not significant predictors of any aspect of task performance. Age and vocabulary were the only significant predictors of fluency, number of words clustered, and number of switches. Performance on these tasks was strongly related to vocabulary and automated retrieval processes.Conclusion: Pre-school children do not predominantly rely on executive function during semantic fluency. The influence that vocabulary has on semantic fluency task performance outweighs that accounted for by age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Chami
- Speech Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Carla Charalambous
- Speech Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Macarthur Children's Developmental Clinic, StarKids Australia, Sydney, Australia
| | - Stefani R Knijnik
- Speech Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Kimberley Docking
- Speech Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Arán Filippetti V, Krumm G, López MB. Clustering and Switching During Verbal Fluency in Typical and Atypical Development: A Systematic Review in Children and Adolescents. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03787-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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12
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Sinha V, Lissemore F, Lerner AJ. Graph Theory Analysis of Semantic Fluency in Russian-English Bilinguals. Cogn Behav Neurol 2022; 35:179-187. [PMID: 35930418 PMCID: PMC10154949 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Semantic category fluency is a widely used task involving language, memory, and executive function. Previous studies of bilingual semantic fluency have shown only small differences between languages. Graph theory analyzes complex relationships in networks, including node and edge number, clustering coefficient, average path length, average number of direct neighbors, and scale-free and small-world properties. OBJECTIVE To shed light on whether the underlying neural processes involved in semantic category fluency testing yield substantially different networks in different languages. METHOD We compared languages and methods using both network analysis and conventional analysis of word production. We administered the animal naming task to 51 Russian-English bilinguals in each language. We constructed network graphs using three methods: (a) simple association of unique co-occurring neighbors, (b) corrected associations between consecutive words occurring beyond chance, and (c) a network community approach using planar maximally filtered graphs. We compared the resultant network analytics as well as their scale-free and small-world properties. RESULTS Participants produced more words in Russian than in English. Small-worldness metrics were variable between Russian and English but were consistent across the three graph theory analytical methods. CONCLUSION The networks had similar graph theory properties in both languages. The optimal methodology for creating networks from semantic category fluency remains to be determined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vidushi Sinha
- University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee
| | - Frances Lissemore
- Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
| | - Alan J. Lerner
- Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
- Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
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Wist S, Carcreff L, Bruijn SM, Allali G, Newman CJ, Fluss J, Armand S. Gait stability in ambulant children with cerebral palsy during dual tasks. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270145. [PMID: 35731795 PMCID: PMC9216605 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Aim
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to measure the effect of dual tasks on gait stability in ambulant children with cerebral palsy (CP) compared to typically developing (TD) children.
Methods
The children of the CP (n = 20) and TD groups (n = 20) walked first without a dual task, then while counting forward and finally while alternatively naming fruits and animals (DTf/a). They then completed the same cognitive exercises while sitting comfortably. We calculated the distance between the foot placement estimator (FPE) and the real foot placement in the anterior direction (DFPEAP) and in the mediolateral direction (DFPEML) as a measure of gait stability, in a gait laboratory using an optoelectronic system. Cognitive scores were computed. Comparisons within and between groups were analysed with linear mixed models.
Results
The dual task had a significant effect on the CP group in DFPEAP and DFPEML. The CP group was more affected than the TD group during dual task in the DFPEML. Children in both groups showed significant changes in gait stability during dual tasks.
Interpretation
The impact of dual task on gait stability is possibly due to the sharing of attention between gait and the cognitive task. All children favoured a ‘posture second’ strategy during the dual task of alternatively naming animals and fruits. Children with CP increased their mediolateral stability during dual task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Wist
- Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, ZHAW, Institut für Physiotherapie, Winterthur, Switzerland
- Kinesiology Laboratory, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - Lena Carcreff
- Kinesiology Laboratory, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Sjoerd M. Bruijn
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Gilles Allali
- Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Leenaards Memory Center, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Christopher J. Newman
- Pediatric Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Joel Fluss
- Pediatric Neurology Unit, Children’s Hospital, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stéphane Armand
- Kinesiology Laboratory, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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14
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Marques PDN, Oliveira RM, Correa J. Contributions of executive functions and linguistic skills to verbal fluency in children. Child Neuropsychol 2022; 28:1031-1051. [DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2022.2042502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Priscila do Nascimento Marques
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
| | - Rosinda Martins Oliveira
- Departamento de Psicometria, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
| | - Jane Correa
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
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15
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Tóth O, Pesthy O, Farkas K, Guttengéber A, Komoróczy E, Réthelyi JM, Szuromi B, Németh D. Intact fluency in autism? A comprehensive approach of verbal fluency task including word imageability and concreteness. Autism Res 2022; 15:677-686. [PMID: 35048566 PMCID: PMC9306917 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Verbal fluency is a cognitive function reflecting executive functions and the ability to retrieve the appropriate information from memory quickly. Previous studies reported conflicting results—impaired and intact verbal fluency—in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most studies concentrate on overall word productivity, errors, perseverations, clustering, or switching. We used a comprehensive approach to evaluate the reported discrepancy in the literature and introduced a new angle using the concept of word abstraction and imageability. Moreover, we analyzed the performance in two‐time intervals (0–30 s and 31–60 s) to assess the temporal dynamics of verbal fluency and a possible activation or initiation deficit in autism. Sixteen adults with ASD and 16 neurotypical control participants, matched by gender, age, and education level, participated in our study. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find a significant difference between groups in word productivity, the number of errors, clustering, or temporal dynamics, neither in semantic nor in phonemic fluency tasks. Surprisingly, the two study groups' performance did not differ in terms of imageability or concreteness characteristics either. Our results raise the possibility that verbal fluency performance is intact in autism. We also suggest using a comprehensive approach when measuring fluency in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Odett Tóth
- Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.,School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Central Campus, Edinburgh, Scotland
| | - Orsolya Pesthy
- Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.,Doctoral School of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Kinga Farkas
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Anna Guttengéber
- Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Eszter Komoróczy
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - János M Réthelyi
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Bálint Szuromi
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Dezső Németh
- Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.,Brain, Memory and Language Research Group, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.,Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Université de Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
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16
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Phonological Priming as a Lens for Phonological Organization in Children With Cochlear Implants. Ear Hear 2022; 43:1355-1365. [PMID: 34923557 PMCID: PMC9203598 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To evaluate the subconscious knowledge of between-word phonological similarities in children with cochlear implants as compared with children with typical hearing. DESIGN Participants included 30 children with cochlear implants between the ages of five and seven who used primarily spoken English to communicate, 30 children matched for chronological age, and 30 children matched for vocabulary size. Participants completed an animacy judgment task in either a (a) neutral condition, (b) a phonological prime condition where the consonant and vowel onset of the pictured word was presented prior to the visual target's appearance, (c) an inhibition prime condition where a consonant and vowel onset not matching the pictured word was presented prior to the target's appearance. Reaction times were recorded. RESULTS Children with cochlear implants reacted differently and more slowly than children with typical hearing in both groups to the primes: children with typical hearing experienced a phonological facilitation effect in the phonological prime condition, whereas children with cochlear implants did not. Children with cochlear implants also had reaction times that, overall, were slower than children matched for chronological age but similar to children matched for vocabulary size. CONCLUSIONS The different experience of children with cochlear implants with phonological facilitation and inhibition effects may indicate children with cochlear implants have phonological organization strategies that are different from those of children with typical hearing.
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17
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Nicoladis E, Dueck BS, Zarezadehkheibari S. Hand preference in referential gestures: Relationships to accessing words for speaking in monolingual and bilingual children. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e02121. [PMID: 34142467 PMCID: PMC8413777 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Infants' right-hand preference for pointing is associated with higher vocabulary. It is not clear whether the link between right-hand preference for gesturing and language persists into the preschool years. The primary purpose of the present study was to test whether preschool children's hand preference for referential gestures was associated with their language abilities. Secondarily, we predicted that the children's right-hand preference would be negatively associated with their visuospatial abilities. We also predicted that monolingual children would show a strong right-hand preference while bilinguals might show a reduced right-hand preference. METHODS Monolingual and bilingual children between the ages of four and six years did a storytelling task. Their referential gestures were coded for hand use (right, left, both). We measured language skills (receptive vocabulary, semantic fluency). RESULTS We found no difference between bilinguals and monolinguals on hand preference. Semantic fluency was a positive predictor and vocabulary a negative predictor of right-hand preference. Children's visuospatial abilities were not a predictor of right-hand preference. CONCLUSION These results suggest that right-hand preference may help children select semantically appropriate words out of their existing vocabulary. In other words, this preference may be related to children's construction of the message that they would like to produce. The association between hand preference and language skills persists into the preschool years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Nicoladis
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Bryce S Dueck
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
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18
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Gonzalez MR, Baaré WFC, Hagler DJ, Archibald S, Vestergaard M, Madsen KS. Brain structure associations with phonemic and semantic fluency in typically-developing children. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 50:100982. [PMID: 34171560 PMCID: PMC8242963 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal fluency is the ability to retrieve lexical knowledge quickly and efficiently and develops during childhood and adolescence. Few studies have investigated associations between verbal fluency performance and brain structural variation in children. Here we examined associations of verbal fluency performance with structural measures of frontal and temporal language-related brain regions and their connections in 73 typically-developing children aged 7-13 years. Tract-based spatial statistics was used to extract fractional anisotropy (FA) from the superior longitudinal fasciculus/arcuate fasciculus (SLF/AF), and the white matter underlying frontal and temporal language-related regions. FreeSurfer was used to extract cortical thickness and surface area. Better semantic and phonemic fluency performance was associated with higher right SLF/AF FA, and phonemic fluency was also modestly associated with lower left SLF/AF FA. Explorative voxelwise analyses for semantic fluency suggested associations with FA in other fiber tracts, including corpus callosum and right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Overall, our results suggest that verbal fluency performance in children may rely on right hemisphere structures, possibly involving both language and executive function networks, and less on solely left hemisphere structures as often is observed in adults. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether these associations are mediated by maturational processes, stable characteristics and/or experience.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William F C Baaré
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Kettegaard Allé 30, DK-2650, Hvidovre, Denmark.
| | - Donald J Hagler
- Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Sarah Archibald
- Center for Human Development, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Martin Vestergaard
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Kettegaard Allé 30, DK-2650, Hvidovre, Denmark; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatry Region Zealand, Ny Østergade 12, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
| | - Kathrine Skak Madsen
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Kettegaard Allé 30, DK-2650, Hvidovre, Denmark; Center for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, Kettegaard Allé 30, DK-2650, Hvidovre, Denmark; Radiography, Department of Technology, University College Copenhagen, Sigurdsgade 26, DK-2200, Copenhagen N., Denmark.
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19
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Ralli AM, Chrysochoou E, Roussos P, Diakogiorgi K, Dimitropoulou P, Filippatou D. Executive Function, Working Memory, and Verbal Fluency in Relation to Non-Verbal Intelligence in Greek-Speaking School-Age Children with Developmental Language Disorder. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11050604. [PMID: 34066872 PMCID: PMC8151609 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11050604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is often associated with impairments in working memory (WM), executive functions (EF), and verbal fluency. Moreover, increasing evidence shows poorer performance of children with DLD on non-verbal intelligence tests relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. Yet, the degree and generality of relevant difficulties remain unclear. The present study aimed at investigating WM capacity, key EFs and verbal fluency in relation to non-verbal intelligence in Greek-speaking school-age children with DLD, compared to TD peers (8–9 years). To our knowledge, the present study is the first to attempt a systematic relevant assessment with Greek-speaking school-age children, complementing previous studies mostly involving English-speaking participants. The results showed that children with DLD scored lower than TD peers on the non-verbal intelligence measure. Groups did not differ in the inhibition measures obtained (tapping resistance to either distractor or proactive interference), but children with DLD were outperformed by TD peers in the WM capacity, updating, monitoring (mixing cost), and verbal fluency (phonological and semantic) measures. The effects showed limited (in the case of backward digit recall) or no dependence on non-verbal intelligence. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications as well as in relation to future lines of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asimina M. Ralli
- Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece; (P.R.); (D.F.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +30-210-7277945
| | - Elisavet Chrysochoou
- School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece;
| | - Petros Roussos
- Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece; (P.R.); (D.F.)
| | | | | | - Diamanto Filippatou
- Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece; (P.R.); (D.F.)
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20
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Brown WD, Baird J, Kriz PK. A Battery of Easily Accessible, Simple Tools for the Assessment of Concussion in Children. J Pediatr 2021; 229:232-239.e1. [PMID: 33068568 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Revised: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine whether a non-proprietary, novel testing battery can identify recently concussed children within 8 weeks of injury. STUDY DESIGN In total, 568 clinic outpatients aged 10-18 years were sorted into 3 groups: 316 had never been concussed, 162 had ever been concussed before 8 weeks earlier, and 90 had been recently concussed within 8 weeks. At initial and any subsequent visits, a neurologic examination and 4 procedures were performed: Stick Drop, Wall Ball, Sharpened Modified Romberg (SMR), and Animal Naming. Analysis included inter-group and intra-person performance differences using a series of t tests on the Stick Drop, Wall Ball, SMR, and Animal Naming. RESULTS The recently concussed group performed worse (P < .01 for all) on Stick Drop, total Wall Ball bounces and drops, and SMR compared with never-concussed and ever-concussed groups. This effect for Stick Drop, SMR, and Wall Ball but not Animal Naming persisted beyond the 4 weeks commonly stated to define recovery. Of 59 recently concussed subjects who returned for ≥1 visit, there were improvements in Stick Drop average (P = .004) and maxima (P = .02) as well as SMR (P = .01) but not Animal Naming between initial and subsequent visits. CONCLUSIONS This novel, rapid testing battery distinguished groups of children ages 10-18 years who had and had not experienced a recent concussion. A view that physical concussion symptoms resolve within a month of injury may be incomplete. Deployment of this readily available, inexpensive and non-proprietary battery should be compared with other tools and studied further in serial assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- William D Brown
- Department of Pediatrics, Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI; Department of Neurology, Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI.
| | - Janette Baird
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI
| | - Peter K Kriz
- Department of Pediatrics, Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI; Department of Orthopedics, Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Providence, RI
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21
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Vicente SG, Benito-Sánchez I, Barbosa F, Gaspar N, Dores AR, Rivera D, Arango-Lasprilla JC. Normative data for Verbal Fluency and Object Naming Tests in a sample of European Portuguese adult population. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-ADULT 2021; 29:1268-1279. [PMID: 33438451 DOI: 10.1080/23279095.2020.1868472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to calculate the construct validity, internal consistency and normative data of the Phonological Verbal Fluency Test (letters F, A, S, and M), Semantic Verbal Fluency Test (Animals, Fruits and Professions categories), and Boston Naming Test (short and standard version), and to generate normative data for these tests after adjusting for age, education, and sex. A sample of 293 European Portuguese adults participated in the study. Results showed adequate construct validity and internal consistency for all of the tests and the final multiple regression models found that age and education were significantly associated with P-VFT (letters F, A, S, and M), S-VFT (Animals, Fruits and Professions categories), and BNT performance. Sex was only found to have an effect on the fruit category, with women scoring higher than men. The normative data provided in this study will contribute to improving the clinical practice of neuropsychology in Portugal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selene G Vicente
- Centre for Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Itziar Benito-Sánchez
- Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain.,Biomedical Research Doctorate Program, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
| | - Fernando Barbosa
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Nuno Gaspar
- Centre for Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Artemisa R Dores
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.,School of Health, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Diego Rivera
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla
- Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.,Department of Cell Biology and Histology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
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22
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Cermak CA, Scratch SE, Kakonge L, Beal DS. The Effect of Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury on Verbal Fluency Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuropsychol Rev 2021; 31:1-13. [PMID: 33398784 DOI: 10.1007/s11065-020-09475-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Verbal fluency is a neuropsychological measure commonly used to examine cognitive-linguistic performance as reported in pediatric TBI literature. We synthesized the scholarly literature of verbal fluency performance in pediatric TBI and estimated the effects of TBI according to: (i) type of verbal fluency task (phonemic or semantic), (ii) severity of TBI, and (iii) time post-injury. Meta-analysis revealed that childhood TBI negatively impacted phonemic fluency and semantic fluency and that effect sizes were larger for children with more severe TBI. The negative effect of TBI was evident across time post injury within each level of severity. Verbal fluency tasks are efficient indicators of potential underlying impairments in lexical knowledge and executive functioning in children with TBI regardless of severity of injury or time post injury. Future research employing verbal fluency tasks are encouraged to explore if age at injury differentiates semantic versus phonemic fluency outcomes across severity levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly A Cermak
- Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada. .,Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | - Shannon E Scratch
- Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Lisa Kakonge
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Deryk S Beal
- Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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23
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Cabré-Riera A, van Wel L, Liorni I, Thielens A, Birks LE, Pierotti L, Joseph W, González-Safont L, Ibarluzea J, Ferrero A, Huss A, Wiart J, Santa-Marina L, Torrent M, Vrijkotte T, Capstick M, Vermeulen R, Vrijheid M, Cardis E, Röösli M, Guxens M. Association between estimated whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic fields dose and cognitive function in preadolescents and adolescents. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2020; 231:113659. [PMID: 33221634 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2020.113659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Revised: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between estimated whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) dose, using an improved integrated RF-EMF exposure model, and cognitive function in preadolescents and adolescents. METHODS Cross-sectional analysis in preadolescents aged 9-11 years and adolescents aged 17-18 years from the Dutch Amsterdam Born Children and their Development Study (n = 1664 preadolescents) and the Spanish INfancia y Medio Ambiente Project (n = 1288 preadolescents and n = 261 adolescents), two population-based birth cohort studies. Overall whole-brain RF-EMF doses (mJ/kg/day) were estimated for several RF-EMF sources together including mobile and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications phone calls (named phone calls), other mobile phone uses than calling, tablet use, laptop use (named screen activities), and far-field sources. We also estimated whole-brain RF-EMF doses in these three groups separately (i.e. phone calls, screen activities, and far-field) that lead to different patterns of RF-EMF exposure. We assessed non-verbal intelligence in the Dutch and Spanish preadolescents, information processing speed, attentional function, and cognitive flexibility in the Spanish preadolescents, and working memory and semantic fluency in the Spanish preadolescents and adolescents using validated neurocognitive tests. RESULTS Estimated overall whole-brain RF-EMF dose was 90.1 mJ/kg/day (interquartile range (IQR) 42.7; 164.0) in the Dutch and Spanish preadolescents and 105.1 mJ/kg/day (IQR 51.0; 295.7) in the Spanish adolescents. Higher overall estimated whole-brain RF-EMF doses from all RF-EMF sources together and from phone calls were associated with lower non-verbal intelligence score in the Dutch and Spanish preadolescents (-0.10 points, 95% CI -0.19; -0.02 per 100 mJ/kg/day increase in each exposure). However, none of the whole-brain RF-EMF doses was related to any other cognitive function outcome in the Spanish preadolescents or adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that higher brain exposure to RF-EMF is related to lower non-verbal intelligence but not to other cognitive function outcomes. Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, the small effect sizes, and the unknown biological mechanisms, we cannot discard that our resultsare due to chance finding or reverse causality. Longitudinal studies on RF-EMF brain exposure and cognitive function are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Cabré-Riera
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Luuk van Wel
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Ilaria Liorni
- IT'IS Foundation, Zeughausstrasse 43, CH-8004 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Arno Thielens
- Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/IMEC, Technologiepark 126, 9052, Gent, Belgium
| | - Laura Ellen Birks
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Livia Pierotti
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Wout Joseph
- Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/IMEC, Technologiepark 126, 9052, Gent, Belgium
| | - Llúcia González-Safont
- Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Epidemiology and Environmental Health Joint Research Unit, FISABIO-Universitat Jaume I-Universitat de València, Avinguda de Cataluya 21, 46020 Valencia, Spain
| | - Jesús Ibarluzea
- Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Department of Health, Public Health Division of Gipuzkoa, 20014, San Sebastian, Spain; BIODONOSTIA Health Research Institute, Avenida de Navarra 4, 20013, San Sebastian, Spain; Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Berio Pasealekua, 20018, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Amparo Ferrero
- Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Epidemiology and Environmental Health Joint Research Unit, FISABIO-Universitat Jaume I-Universitat de València, Avinguda de Cataluya 21, 46020 Valencia, Spain
| | - Anke Huss
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Joe Wiart
- LTCI, Telecom Paris, Chaire C2M France, 19 Place Marguerite Perey, 91120, Palaiseau, France
| | - Loreto Santa-Marina
- Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Department of Health, Public Health Division of Gipuzkoa, 20014, San Sebastian, Spain; BIODONOSTIA Health Research Institute, Avenida de Navarra 4, 20013, San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Maties Torrent
- ib-Salut, Area de Salud de Menorca, Carrer Sant Josep 5, 07720, Santa Ana, Spain
| | - Tanja Vrijkotte
- Department of Public and Occipational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105AZ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Myles Capstick
- IT'IS Foundation, Zeughausstrasse 43, CH-8004 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Roel Vermeulen
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3584 CM Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Martine Vrijheid
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Elisabeth Cardis
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Martin Röösli
- Departement of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4051, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, 4051, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Mònica Guxens
- ISGlobal, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre, Dr. Molenwaterplein 50, 3015GE, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
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Becker N, Piccolo LR, Salles JF. Verbal Fluency Development Across Childhood: Normative Data from Brazilian-Portuguese Speakers and Underlying Cognitive Processes. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2020; 34:1217-1231. [PMID: 31063583 DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acz022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2018] [Revised: 03/01/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Verbal fluency (VF) tasks are widely used to investigate children's lexical knowledge and executive functions skills. Consistency of measurement of the strategic retrieval components is still an issue and performance of Brazilian-Portuguese speaking children are currently not available. A cross-sectional study investigated the effects of age, school type (public × private) and the influence of language, memory and inhibitory control on VF. METHOD We assessed 414 Brazilian children, aged 6-12, in the number of words produced and both clustering and switching components, with two measures of VF: letter (LVF) and semantic (SVF). RESULTS Analysis of the number of words produced showed a significant increase between 6-8-year-olds, 9-10-year-olds and 11-12-year-olds in SVF, while in LVF, the differences were significant only in the later age group. In SVF, the numbers of clusters and switches increased with age, whereas in LVF, the number of switches increased in all age groups, but clusters increased only in the older group. Structural equation model analyses showed that oral and written language, verbal memory and inhibitory control are associated with VF performance and IQ, while age mediated VF performance. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate a different development pattern between LVF and SVF in the number of words produced and in clustering and switching, with the latter predicting VF performance in words produced. VF development is shown to depend on language, memory and inhibitory control. Our results have important implications to clinical neuropsychology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Becker
- Department of Developmental and Personality Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - L R Piccolo
- Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - J F Salles
- Department of Developmental and Personality Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
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Specifying the domain-general resources that contribute to conceptual construction: Evidence from the child’s acquisition of vitalist biology. Cognition 2020; 195:104090. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2018] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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26
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Dubourg L, Maeder J, Pouillard V, Eliez S, Schneider M. Goal-Directed-Behavior in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Implication for Social Dysfunctions and the Emergence of Negative Symptoms. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:230. [PMID: 32296354 PMCID: PMC7139406 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Negative symptoms and social dysfunction are core features of the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Negative symptoms have been conceptualized as pathology of goal-directed-behaviors. Moreover, goal-directed-behaviors also appear to be a crucial step of social interactions. However, in 22q11DS, the extent to which goal-directed-behavior could be linked to social functioning difficulties and negative symptoms has never been examined. METHOD Verbal and nonverbal initiation was measured using the verbal fluency and figural fluency tasks in 93 individuals with 22q11DS and 57 healthy controls aged between 8 and 30 years in order to assess goal-directed-behavior ability. The associations between initiation scores and social functioning/negative symptoms were investigated. In addition, the effect of COMT Val/Met polymorphism on initiation competences was examined. RESULTS Results revealed diminished verbal and nonverbal initiation ability in 22q11DS individuals compared to controls. A positive correlation between verbal initiation and social functioning was found as well as between verbal initiation and negative symptoms, in particular social anhedonia. No differences in terms of initiation scores were found between individuals with 22q11DS carrying Met and Val polymorphism. CONCLUSION Results indicate impaired goal-directed-behavior in the 22q11DS population. These deficits seem to support social functioning impairments frequently observed in the 22q11DS and to a lesser extent the expression of negative symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Dubourg
- Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Johanna Maeder
- Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Virginie Pouillard
- Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stephan Eliez
- Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Maude Schneider
- Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Center for Contextual Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Research Group Psychiatry, KU, Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Blecher T, Miron S, Schneider GG, Achiron A, Ben-Shachar M. Association Between White Matter Microstructure and Verbal Fluency in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1607. [PMID: 31379663 PMCID: PMC6657651 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal fluency refers to the ability to generate words quickly and efficiently according to predefined phonological or semantic criteria. Deficits in verbal fluency limit patients' ability to communicate effectively and to function well in social setups. Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients suffer from various cognitive impairments, and some of them experience language deficits as well. The goal of this study is to examine the contribution of the dorsal and ventral language pathways to verbal fluency in MS patients. All patients (N = 33) underwent diffusion MRI (dMRI) and fluency measurements. Diffusion parameters were calculated along dorsal and ventral language-related pathways and their right-hemispheric homologs, identified individually in each patient. Significant correlations were found between fluency measures and mean fractional anisotropy (FA) in several pathways, including the left fronto-temporal arcuate fasciculus (AFft), bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), and bilateral frontal aslant tract. Along-tract correlations revealed a more selective pattern of associations: letter-based fluency was associated with FA in a segment of the left AFft (dorsal pathway), while category-based fluency was associated with FA in a segment of the right IFOF (ventral pathway). The observed pattern of associations, mapping letter-based fluency to the dorsal stream and category-based fluency to the ventral stream, fits well within the dual stream framework of language processing. Further studies will be necessary to assess whether these associations generalize to the typical adult population or whether they are tied to the clinical state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Blecher
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Shmuel Miron
- Multiple Sclerosis Center, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
| | | | - Anat Achiron
- Multiple Sclerosis Center, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
- Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Michal Ben-Shachar
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Rosqvist I, Sandgren O, Andersson K, Hansson K, Lyberg-Åhlander V, Sahlén B. Children's development of semantic verbal fluency during summer vacation versus during formal schooling. LOGOP PHONIATR VOCO 2019; 45:134-142. [PMID: 31272256 DOI: 10.1080/14015439.2019.1637456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Purpose: Children's results on school-related achievements tests, such as aspects of math, reading and writing, have been shown to decline following a lengthy summer vacation. Few studies have investigated whether this also applies to vocabulary skills. The purpose of this study is to investigate how lexical organization and retrieval, assessed by a semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task, develops during a lengthy summer vacation versus formal schooling.Method: Sixty-eight children with mean age of 7.9 (ranging from 6.5 to 9.1), were assessed pre- and post-summer vacation and post-fall semester using two SVF categories (Animals and Clothes). The number of words produced in both categories gave the total score.Results: The result of the SVF tests decreased following summer vacation. The loss was recouped at the post-fall semester assessment, but no gains compared to initial testing were shown. Neither level of parental education, general language ability, non-verbal IQ, nor bilingualism explained the variance in development during the summer vacation or the fall semester.Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a lengthy summer vacation causes a recess in the expected development of SVF ability and that this recess is recouped after a semester of formal schooling. The findings are in line with previous research indicating that summer vacation may have negative impact on the development of important scholastic abilities in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida Rosqvist
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Olof Sandgren
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Department of School Development & Leadership, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Ketty Andersson
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Kristina Hansson
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Viveka Lyberg-Åhlander
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Birgitta Sahlén
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Taporoski TP, Duarte NE, Pompéia S, Sterr A, Gómez LM, Alvim RO, Horimoto ARVR, Krieger JE, Vallada H, Pereira AC, von Schantz M, Negrão AB. Heritability of semantic verbal fluency task using time-interval analysis. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0217814. [PMID: 31185027 PMCID: PMC6559646 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Individual variability in word generation is a product of genetic and environmental influences. The genetic effects on semantic verbal fluency were estimated in 1,735 participants from the Brazilian Baependi Heart Study. The numbers of exemplars produced in 60 s were broken down into time quartiles because of the involvement of different cognitive processes—predominantly automatic at the beginning, controlled/executive at the end. Heritability in the unadjusted model for the 60-s measure was 0.32. The best-fit model contained age, sex, years of schooling, and time of day as covariates, giving a heritability of 0.21. Schooling had the highest moderating effect. The highest heritability (0.17) was observed in the first quartile, decreasing to 0.09, 0.12, and 0.0003 in the following ones. Heritability for average production starting point (intercept) was 0.18, indicating genetic influences for automatic cognitive processes. Production decay (slope), indicative of controlled processes, was not significant. The genetic influence on different quartiles of the semantic verbal fluency test could potentially be exploited in clinical practice and genome-wide association studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. P. Taporoski
- Institute of Psychiatry (LIM-23), Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Department of Biochemical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - N. E. Duarte
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Departmento de Matemáticas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombia
| | - S. Pompéia
- Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo–Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - A. Sterr
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
| | - L. M. Gómez
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - R. O. Alvim
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Postgraduate Program in Public Health, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil
| | - A. R. V. R. Horimoto
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - J. E. Krieger
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - H. Vallada
- Institute of Psychiatry (LIM-23), Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - A. C. Pereira
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - M. von Schantz
- Institute of Psychiatry (LIM-23), Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Department of Biochemical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - A. B. Negrão
- Institute of Psychiatry (LIM-23), Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Cardiology, Heart Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Verbal Fluency Is Affected by Altered Brain Lateralization in Adults Who Were Born Very Preterm. eNeuro 2019; 6:eN-NWR-0274-18. [PMID: 31001576 PMCID: PMC6469882 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0274-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/25/2018] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Language difficulties have been reported in children and adolescents who were born very preterm (<32 weeks’ gestation) and associated with an atypical lateralization of language processing, i.e., increased right-hemispheric engagement. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and spherical deconvolution tractography to study the hemodynamic responses associated with verbal fluency processing (easy and hard letter trials) and verbal fluency-related white matter fiber tracts in 64 very preterm born adults and 36 adult controls (mean age: 30 years). Tractography of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and frontal aslant tract (FAT) was performed. Tracts were quantified in terms of mean volume, hindrance modulated orientational anisotropy, and lateralization, assessed using a laterality index (LI) to indicate hemispheric dominance. During verbal fluency fMRI, very preterm participants displayed decreased hemodynamic response suppression in both the Easy > Rest and Hard > Rest conditions, compared to controls, in superior temporal gyrus (STG), insula, thalamus, and sensorimotor cortex, particularly in the right hemisphere. At the whole-group level, decreased hemodynamic response suppression in the right sensorimotor cortex was associated with worse on-line performance on the hard letter trials. Increased left-laterality in the AF was present alongside increased right hemispheric hemodynamic response suppression in controls. When only right-handed participants were considered, decreased hemodynamic response suppression in the right STG during hard letter trials was related to weaker left and right FAT white matter integrity in the preterm group only. These results show that verbal fluency is affected by altered functional lateralization in adults who were born very preterm.
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31
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Wass M, Löfkvist U, Anmyr L, Karltorp E, Östlund E, Lyxell B. Correlates of Orthographic Learning in Swedish Children With Cochlear Implants. Front Psychol 2019; 10:143. [PMID: 30881321 PMCID: PMC6405438 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 01/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
This study set out to explore the cognitive and linguistic correlates of orthographic learning in a group of 32 deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants, to better understand the factors that affect the development of fluent reading in these children. To date, the research about the mechanisms of reading fluency and orthographic learning in this population is scarce. The children were between 6:0 and 10:11 years of age and used oral language as their primary mode of communication. They were assessed on orthographic learning, reading fluency and a range of cognitive and linguistic skills including working memory measures, word retrieval and paired associate learning. The results were analyzed in a set of correlation analyses. In line with previous findings from children with typical hearing, orthographic learning was strongly correlated with phonological decoding, receptive vocabulary, phonological skills, verbal-verbal paired-associate learning and word retrieval. The results of this study suggest that orthographic learning in children with CI is strongly dependent on similar cognitive and linguistic skills as in typically hearing peers. Efforts should thus be made to support phonological decoding skill, vocabulary, and phonological skills in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malin Wass
- Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
| | - Ulrika Löfkvist
- Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Lena Anmyr
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.,Department of Social Work in Health, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Eva Karltorp
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.,Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Elisabet Östlund
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Björn Lyxell
- Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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Chou TL, Wong CH, Chen SY, Fan LY, Booth JR. Developmental changes of association strength and categorical relatedness on semantic processing in the brain. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 189:10-19. [PMID: 30593860 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2016] [Revised: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Semantic knowledge has thematic relations of contiguity based on association and taxonomic relations of similarity based on shared features to form categories. It is unknown if there are distinct brain networks between thematic and taxonomic organizations in children and if this distinction is related to changes in specialized brain regions with age and/or skill. We orthogonally manipulated association strength (strong, weak) and categorical relatedness (high, low) to examine 10- to 14-year-old children over a two-year interval. Moreover, we examined whether initial behavioral performance predicted brain activation changes. Weak versus strong association strength produced greater activation over time in left middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. Moreover, high versus low categorical relatedness produced greater activation over time in left occipito-temporal cortex and precuneus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. These developmental findings suggest different organization for thematic and taxonomic relations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.
| | - Ciao-Han Wong
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - Shiou-Yuan Chen
- Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Li-Ying Fan
- Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, USA.
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Pereira AH, Gonçalves AB, Holz M, Gonçalves HA, Kochhann R, Joanette Y, Zimmermann N, Fonseca RP. Influence of age and education on the processing of clustering and switching in verbal fluency tasks. Dement Neuropsychol 2018; 12:360-367. [PMID: 30546845 PMCID: PMC6289476 DOI: 10.1590/1980-57642018dn12-040004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal fluency (VF) is a widely used tool in neuropsychological assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ana Bresolin Gonçalves
- Psychology undergraduate student, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil
| | - Maila Holz
- PhD student, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil
| | | | - Renata Kochhann
- PhD, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil
| | - Yves Joanette
- PhD, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Canada
| | - Nicolle Zimmermann
- PhD, Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
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Chami S, Munro N, Docking K, McGregor K, Arciuli J, Baker E, Heard R. Changes in semantic fluency across childhood: Normative data from Australian-English speakers. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2018; 20:262-273. [PMID: 28084112 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2016.1276214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2016] [Accepted: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Verbal fluency tests are often used as part of an assessment battery to investigate children's lexical knowledge as well as executive function skills. To date, however, issues surrounding consistency of measurement cloud comparisons across studies, with the developmental performance of Australian-English speaking children also currently lacking. This study tracked verbal fluency development as measured by two semantic fluency tasks that included coding of fluency, clustering and switching type responses. METHOD Participants included 355 typically developing Australian-English speaking children (4-10 years) and 46 young adults. Total fluency was determined by the number of words produced for each category (Animals or Food), minus repetitions and rule violations. Semantic clusters (words generated within a subcategory) were coded while switches between single words or subcategories were differentiated and coded as either hard or cluster switches. RESULT Fluency showed consistent improvement over age. Cluster Switches and Hard Switches showed some evidence of a plateau in performance relative to fluency, but in opposite direction. Other measures showed no strong trends over age. Results were similar for both semantic categories. CONCLUSION Our results highlight the rich information available within a semantic fluency task and the importance of differentiating hard and cluster switches in paediatric samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Chami
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
| | - Natalie Munro
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
| | - Kimberley Docking
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
| | - Karla McGregor
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
- b Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and the DeLTA Center , University of Iowa , Iowa City , IA , USA , and
| | - Joanne Arciuli
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
| | - Elise Baker
- a Discipline of Speech Pathology , The University of Sydney , Lidcombe , Australia
| | - Rob Heard
- c Discipline of Behavioural and Social Sciences in Health , The University of Sydney , Sydney , Australia
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Hawks ZW, Strube MJ, Johnson NX, Grange DK, White DA. Developmental Trajectories of Executive and Verbal Processes in Children with Phenylketonuria. Dev Neuropsychol 2018; 43:207-218. [PMID: 29432026 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2018.1438439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary disorder characterized by disrupted phenylalanine metabolism and cognitive impairment. However, the precise nature and developmental trajectory of this cognitive impairment remains unclear. The present study used a verbal fluency task to dissociate executive and verbal processes in children with PKU (n = 23; 7-18 years) and controls (n = 44; 7-19 years). Data were collected at three longitudinal timepoints over a three-year period, and the contributions of age, group, and their interaction to fluency performance were evaluated. Results indicated impairments in executive processes in children with PKU, which were exacerbated by declining metabolic control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë W Hawks
- a Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences , Washington University , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America
| | - Michael J Strube
- a Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences , Washington University , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America
| | - Neco X Johnson
- a Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences , Washington University , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America
| | - Dorothy K Grange
- b Department of Pediatrics , Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America
| | - Desirée A White
- a Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences , Washington University , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America.,b Department of Pediatrics , Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis , Missouri , United States of America
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Memisevic H, Biscevic I, Pasalic A. Developmental trends in semantic fluency in preschool children. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2017.1403064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Haris Memisevic
- Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Skenderija 72, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Inga Biscevic
- Department of Special Education, Herzegovina University, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Gonçalves HA, Cargnin C, Jacobsen GM, Kochhann R, Joanette Y, Fonseca RP. Clustering and switching in unconstrained, phonemic and semantic verbal fluency: the role of age and school type. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2017.1313259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hosana Alves Gonçalves
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Research Group (GNCE), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Caroline Cargnin
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Research Group (GNCE), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Geise Machado Jacobsen
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Research Group (GNCE), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Renata Kochhann
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Research Group (GNCE), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Yves Joanette
- Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Rochele Paz Fonseca
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Research Group (GNCE), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
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Beal-Alvarez JS, Figueroa DM. Generation of Signs Within Semantic and Phonological Categories: Data from Deaf Adults and Children Who Use American Sign Language. JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION 2017; 22:219-232. [PMID: 27881480 DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enw075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2016] [Accepted: 11/01/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Two key areas of language development include semantic and phonological knowledge. Semantic knowledge relates to word and concept knowledge. Phonological knowledge relates to how language parameters combine to create meaning. We investigated signing deaf adults' and children's semantic and phonological sign generation via one-minute tasks, including animals, foods, and specific handshapes. We investigated the effects of chronological age, age of sign language acquisition/years at school site, gender, presence of a disability, and geographical location (i.e., USA and Puerto Rico) on participants' performance and relations among tasks. In general, the phonological task appeared more difficult than the semantic tasks, students generated more animals than foods, age, and semantic performance correlated for the larger sample of U.S. students, and geographical variation included use of fingerspelling and specific signs. Compared to their peers, deaf students with disabilities generated fewer semantic items. These results provide an initial snapshot of students' semantic and phonological sign generation.
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Hall J, McGregor KK, Oleson J. Weaknesses in Lexical-Semantic Knowledge Among College Students With Specific Learning Disabilities: Evidence From a Semantic Fluency Task. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2017; 60:640-653. [PMID: 28267833 PMCID: PMC5544191 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-15-0440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 06/03/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine whether deficits in executive function and lexical-semantic memory compromise the linguistic performance of young adults with specific learning disabilities (LD) enrolled in postsecondary studies. Method One hundred eighty-five students with LD (n = 53) or normal language development (ND, n = 132) named items in the categories animals and food for 1 minute for each category and completed tests of lexical-semantic knowledge and executive control of memory. Groups were compared on total names, mean cluster size, frequency of embedded clusters, frequency of cluster switches, and change in fluency over time. Secondary analyses of variability within the LD group were also conducted. Results The LD group was less fluent than the ND group. Within the LD group, lexical-semantic knowledge predicted semantic fluency and cluster size; executive control of memory predicted semantic fluency and cluster switches. The LD group produced smaller clusters and fewer embedded clusters than the ND group. Groups did not differ in switching or change over time. Conclusions Deficits in the lexical-semantic system associated with LD may persist into young adulthood, even among those who have managed their disability well enough to attend college. Lexical-semantic deficits are associated with compromised semantic fluency, and the two problems are more likely among students with more severe disabilities.
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Becker N, Salles JFD. Methodological Criteria for Scoring Clustering and Switching in Verbal Fluency Tasks. PSICO-USF 2016. [DOI: 10.1590/1413-82712016210301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract The objective of this study was to describe an adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese of the methodological criteria for analysis of clustering and switching in semantic verbal fluency (SVF) and phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) tasks. The adaptation process consisted of six steps, including the selection of the clustering and switching variables based on data from a sample of 419 children and the analysis of inter-rater reliability (six raters). The following variables were scored: the total number of words generated the raw number of clusters, the mean cluster size, and the raw number of switches. There was a significant association between raters (intra-class correlation coefficients between 0.95 and 0.99), showing that the analytical method was reliable. Our study provides an evaluation of SVF and PVF tasks that goes beyond the overall score, making it possible to investigate the cognitive processes underlying this neuropsychological function.
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Intraindividual variability in performance on associative memory tasks is elevated in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychologia 2016; 90:110-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Revised: 04/05/2016] [Accepted: 06/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Olabarrieta-Landa L, Rivera D, Galarza-Del-Angel J, Garza MT, Saracho CP, Rodríguez W, Chávez-Oliveros M, Rábago B, Leibach G, Schebela S, Martínez C, Luna M, Longoni M, Ocampo-Barba N, Rodríguez G, Aliaga A, Esenarro L, García de la Cadena C, Perrin BP, Arango-Lasprilla JC. Verbal fluency tests: Normative data for the Latin American Spanish speaking adult population. NeuroRehabilitation 2016; 37:515-61. [PMID: 26639930 DOI: 10.3233/nre-151279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To generate normative data for the Verbal Fluency Tests across 11 countries in Latin America, with country-specific adjustments for gender, age, and education, where appropriate. METHOD The sample consisted of 3,977 healthy adults who were recruited from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and, Puerto Rico. Each subject was administered the Verbal Fluency Test as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. A standardized five-step statistical procedure was used to generate the norms. RESULTS The final multiple linear regression models for the letter F explained 8-30% of the variance, 7-32% for letter A, 8-32% for the letter S, and 16-43% for the animal category in Verbal Fluency Test scores. Although t-tests showed significant differences between men and women on the Verbal Fluency Test, they did not have an effect size larger than 0.3. As a result, gender-adjusted norms were not generated. CONCLUSIONS This is the first normative multicenter study conducted in Latin America aiming to create norms for the Verbal Fluency Test; this study will have important outcomes for the future of neuropsychology in the region.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - D Rivera
- Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain
| | | | - M T Garza
- Facultad de Psicología Universidad Autónoma de Nueva León, Monterrey, Mexico
| | | | - W Rodríguez
- Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, Puerto Rico
| | - M Chávez-Oliveros
- Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía MVS, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - B Rábago
- Instituto Vocacional Enrique Díaz de León, Guadalajara, Mexico
| | - G Leibach
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - S Schebela
- Instituto de Prevención Social, Asunción, Paraguay
| | - C Martínez
- Departamento de Medicina de Rehabilitación, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
| | - M Luna
- Universidad Dr. José Matías Delgado, San Salvador, El Salvador
| | - M Longoni
- Clínica de rehabilitación Las Araucarias, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - G Rodríguez
- Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Camagüey Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, Camaguey, Cuba
| | - A Aliaga
- Servicio Médico Legal, Ministerio de Justicia, Santiago, Chile
| | - L Esenarro
- Instituto de Neuropsicología y Demencias, Lima, Peru
| | - C García de la Cadena
- Departamento de Psicología, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala
| | - B P Perrin
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
| | - J C Arango-Lasprilla
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.,Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain
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Leite GDL, Pires IAH, Aragão LCL, Paula APD, Gomes ERDO, Garcia D, Barros PM, Alencar JCND, Fichman HC, Oliveira RM. Performance of Children in Phonemic and Semantic Verbal Fluency Tasks. PSICO-USF 2016. [DOI: 10.1590/1413-82712016210207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract This study investigated the performance of children from the Brazilian Northeast region, from 7 to 10 years in phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks. The participants were 102 subjects (62 girls and 40 boys) who performed three phonemic and three semantic fluency tasks. The results were submitted to correlational and variance analysis to investigate the influence of the variables age and gender on the subjects performance. There was no effect of gender on the results. Significant contrasts between age groups were found, and better performance was observed on phonemic tasks. Also, the performance in this task changed along development, in contrast to what happened with the semantic fluency. The findings seem to be in accordance to neurodevelopmental aspects, taken into account that explicit memory systems show more precocious maturational course, with earlier consolidation, in comparison to the executive functions and frontal lobes, which go on developing until adult ages.
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Pastor-Cerezuela G, Fernández-Andrés MI, Feo-Álvarez M, González-Sala F. Semantic Verbal Fluency in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with Chronological Age and IQ. Front Psychol 2016; 7:921. [PMID: 27379002 PMCID: PMC4911419 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2015] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We administered a semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task to two groups of children (age range from 5 to 8): 47 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD Group) and 53 with typical development (Comparison Group), matched on gender, chronological age, and non-verbal IQ. Four specific indexes were calculated from the SVF task, reflecting the different underlying cognitive strategies used: clustering (component of generativity and lexical-semantic access), and switching (executive component, cognitive flexibility). First, we compared the performance of the two groups on the different SVF task indicators, with the ASD group scoring lower than the Comparison Group, although the difference was greater on switching than on clustering. Second, we analyzed the relationships between the different SVF measures and chronological age, verbal IQ and non-verbal IQ. While in the Comparison Group chronological age was the main predictor of performance on the SVF task, in the ASD Group verbal IQ was the best predictor. In the children with ASD, therefore, greater linguistic competence would be associated with better performance on the SVF task, which should be taken into account in speech therapies designed to achieve improvements in linguistic generativity and cognitive flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gemma Pastor-Cerezuela
- Basic Psychology Department, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia Spain
| | | | | | - Francisco González-Sala
- Developmental and Educational Psychology Department, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia Spain
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Lee SH, Booth JR, Chou TL. Temporo-parietal connectivity uniquely predicts reading change from childhood to adolescence. Neuroimage 2016; 142:126-134. [PMID: 27377221 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.06.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2015] [Revised: 06/28/2016] [Accepted: 06/30/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) is a core node in the semantic network, and cross-sectional studies have shown that activation in this region changes developmentally and is related to skill measured concurrently. However, it is not known how functional connectivity with this region changes developmentally, and whether functional connectivity is related to future gains in reading. We conducted a longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in 30 typically developing children (aged 8-15) to examine whether initial brain measures, including activation and connectivity, can predict future behavioral improvement in a semantic judgment task. Participants were scanned on entering the study (time 1, T1) and a follow-up period of 2years (time 2, T2). Character pairs were arranged in a continuous variable according to association strength (i.e. strong versus weak), and participants were asked to determine if these visually presented pairs were related in meaning. Our results demonstrated greater developmental changes from time 1 to time 2 for weaker association pairs in the left pMTG for the children (aged 8-11) as compared to the adolescents (aged 12-15). Moreover, the results showed greater developmental changes from time 1 to time 2 for weaker association pairs in connectivity between the pMTG and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) for the children as compared to the adolescents. Furthermore, a hierarchical stepwise regression model revealed that connectivity between the pMTG and IPL in weak association pairs was uniquely predictive of behavioral improvement from time 1 to time 2 for the children, but not the adolescents. Taken together, the activation results suggest relatively rapid development before adolescence of semantic representations in the pMTG. Moreover, the connectivity results of pMTG with IPL tentatively suggest that early development of semantic representations may be facilitated by enhanced engagement of phonological short-term memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Hui Lee
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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Maeder J, Schneider M, Bostelmann M, Debbané M, Glaser B, Menghetti S, Schaer M, Eliez S. Developmental trajectories of executive functions in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. J Neurodev Disord 2016; 8:10. [PMID: 27018204 PMCID: PMC4807556 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-016-9141-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2015] [Accepted: 03/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is a genetic disorder associated with a specific cognitive profile. Higher-order cognitive skills like executive functions (EF) are reported as a relative weakness in this population. The present study aimed to delineate the developmental trajectories of multiple EF domains in a longitudinal sample using a broader age range than previous studies. Given the high incidence of psychotic symptoms in 22q11.2DS, we also compared the development of EF in participants with/without comorbid psychotic symptoms. Given the importance of EF in daily life, the third aim of the study was to characterize the link between EF and adaptive functioning. Methods The sample consisted of 95 individuals with 22q11.2DS and 100 typically developing controls aged 6–26 years. A large proportion of the sample (55.38 %) had multiple time points available. Between-group differences in the developmental trajectories of three subdomains of EF (verbal fluency, working memory, and inhibition) were examined using mixed models regression analyses. Analyses were repeated comparing only the 22q11.2DS group based on the presence/absence of psychotic symptoms to investigate the influence of executive dysfunction on the emergence of psychotic symptoms. Hierarchical stepwise regression analyses were also conducted to investigate the predictive value of EF on adaptive functioning. Results We observed lower performance on EF domains, as well as atypical development of working memory and verbal fluency. Participants who presented with negative symptoms exhibited different developmental trajectories of inhibition and working memory. Adaptive functioning level was not significantly predicted by EF scores. Conclusions The present study highlighted domain-specific atypical trajectories of EF in individuals with 22q11.DS and explored the link with psychotic symptoms. However, no relation between EF and adaptive functioning was observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Maeder
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Maude Schneider
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland ; Center for Contextual Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mathilde Bostelmann
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Martin Debbané
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland ; Adolescence Clinical Psychology Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland ; Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Bronwyn Glaser
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Menghetti
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marie Schaer
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland ; Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, California, USA
| | - Stephan Eliez
- Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland ; Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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John S, Rajashekhar B, Guddattu V. Word Retrieval Ability on Phonemic Fluency in Typically Developing Children. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-CHILD 2016; 5:252-63. [PMID: 26980155 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2015.1050099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Verbal fluency tasks are simple behavioral measures useful in assessing word retrieval abilities. Among the verbal fluency tasks, the utility of the Phonemic Fluency Task in children has received less attention. As the task is dependent on phonemic characteristics of each language, there is a great need for understanding its developmental trend. The present study, therefore, aims to delineate the performance on phonemic fluency in typically developing Malayalam-speaking children. Verbal fluency performance on 2 tasks of phonemic fluency was tested using a cross-sectional study design among 1,015 school-going Malayalam-speaking typically developing children aged 5 to 15 years old. Performance with respect to word productivity and clustering-switching measures was analyzed. The effect of age, gender, and tasks on the outcome measures were investigated in the present study. Study findings revealed a positive influence of age with no statistically significant gender effects. Children employed both task-discrepant and task-consistent organizational strategies during tasks of phonemic fluency, dependent purely on the Malayalam language. Future research focusing on developmental trends across different languages is vital for enhancing the task's clinical sensitivity and specificity among childhood disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunila John
- a Department of Speech & Hearing, School of Allied Health Sciences , Manipal University , Manipal , Karnataka , India
| | - Bellur Rajashekhar
- a Department of Speech & Hearing, School of Allied Health Sciences , Manipal University , Manipal , Karnataka , India
| | - Vasudeva Guddattu
- b Department of Statistics , Manipal University , Manipal , Karnataka , India
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Jacobsen GM, Prando ML, Moraes AL, Pureza JDR, Gonçalves HA, Siqueira LDS, Joanette Y, Fonseca RP. Effects of age and school type on unconstrained, phonemic, and semantic verbal fluency in children. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-CHILD 2016; 6:41-54. [DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2015.1072535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Lussier-Desrochers D, Sauzéon H, Consel C, Roux J, Balland É, Godin-Tremblay V, N'Kaoua B, Lachapelle Y. Analysis of how people with intellectual disabilities organize information using computerized guidance. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol 2016; 12:290-299. [PMID: 26828224 DOI: 10.3109/17483107.2015.1136000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Access to residential settings for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) contributes to their social participation, but presents particular challenges. Assistive technologies can help people perform activities of daily living. However, the majority of the computerized solutions offered use guidance modes with a fixed, unchanging sequencing that leaves little room for self-determination to emerge. The objective of the project was to develop a flexible guidance mode and to test it with participants, to describe their information organization methods. This research used a descriptive exploratory design and conducted a comparison between five participants with ID and five participants with no ID. The results showed a difference in the information organization methods for both categories of participants. The people with ID used more diversified organization methods (categorical, schematic, action-directed) than the neurotypical participants (visual, action-directed). These organization methods varied depending on the people, but also on the characteristics of the requested task. Furthermore, several people with ID presented difficulties when switching from virtual to real mode. These results demonstrate the importance of developing flexible guidance modes adapted to the users' cognitive strategies, to maximize their benefits. Studies using experimental designs will have to be conducted to determine the impacts of more-flexible guidance modes Implications for rehabilitation Intervention approaches favouring, self-determination, decision making, action analysis and results anticipation must be promoted with people with intellectual disabilities. Fixed and rigid technological guidance mode, like those currently favoured in interventions, is appropriate for only some people's profiles or may depend on the nature of the task. It seems that people with ID use a wide spectrum of organization strategies and that adapting guidance modes to all these strategies is relevant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dany Lussier-Desrochers
- a Département De Psychoéducation , Université Du Québec À Trois-Rivières , Trois-Rivières , QC , Canada
| | - Hélène Sauzéon
- b Phoenix Team , Inria , Talence , France.,c EA4136-Laboratoire "Handicap Et Système Nerveux", Université De Bordeaux , Bordeaux , France
| | - Charles Consel
- b Phoenix Team , Inria , Talence , France.,d Bordeaux Institute of Technology , Talence , France
| | - Jeannie Roux
- e Direction du Programme DI, TSA, DP - CIUSSS MCQ , Québec , Canada
| | | | - Valérie Godin-Tremblay
- a Département De Psychoéducation , Université Du Québec À Trois-Rivières , Trois-Rivières , QC , Canada
| | - Bernard N'Kaoua
- b Phoenix Team , Inria , Talence , France.,c EA4136-Laboratoire "Handicap Et Système Nerveux", Université De Bordeaux , Bordeaux , France
| | - Yves Lachapelle
- a Département De Psychoéducation , Université Du Québec À Trois-Rivières , Trois-Rivières , QC , Canada
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Bellaj T, Salhi I, Le Gall D, Roy A. Development of executive functioning in school-age Tunisian children. Child Neuropsychol 2015; 22:919-54. [DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2015.1058349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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