Personality traits prospectively predict verbal fluency in a lifespan sample.

PubMed

Sutin, Angelina R; Terracciano, Antonio; Kitner-Triolo, Melissa H; Uda, Manuela; Schlessinger, David; Zonderman, Alan B

2011-12-01

In a community-dwelling sample (N = 4,790; age range 14-94), we examined whether personality traits prospectively predicted performance on a verbal fluency task. Open, extraverted, and emotionally stable participants had better verbal fluency. At the facet level, dispositionally happy and self-disciplined participants retrieved more words; those prone to anxiety and depression and those who were deliberative retrieved fewer words. Education moderated the association between conscientiousness and fluency such that participants with lower education performed better on the fluency task if they were also conscientious. Age was not a moderator at the domain level, indicating that the personality-fluency associations were consistent across the life span. A disposition toward emotional vulnerability and being less open, less happy, and undisciplined may be detrimental to cognitive performance.

Personality Traits Prospectively Predict Verbal Fluency in a Lifespan Sample

PubMed Central

Sutin, Angelina R.; Terracciano, Antonio; Kitner-Triolo, Melissa H.; Uda, Manuela; Schlessinger, David; Zonderman, Alan B.

2011-01-01

In a community-dwelling sample (N=4,790; age range 14–94), we examined whether personality traits prospectively predicted performance on a verbal fluency task. Open, extraverted, and emotionally stable participants had better verbal fluency. At the facet level, dispositionally happy and self-disciplined participants retrieved more words; those prone to anxiety and depression and those who were deliberative retrieved fewer words. Education moderated the association between Conscientiousness and fluency such that participants with lower education performed better on the fluency task if they were also conscientious. Age was not a moderator at the domain level, indicating that the personality-fluency associations were consistent across the lifespan. A disposition towards emotional vulnerability and being less open, less happy, and undisciplined may be detrimental to cognitive performance. PMID:21707179

The Relationship Between Educational Years and Phonemic Verbal Fluency (PVF) and Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) Tasks in Spanish Patients Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Psychotic Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

García-Laredo, Eduardo; Maestú, Fernando; Castellanos, Miguel Ángel; Molina, Juan D.; Peréz-Moreno, Elisa

2015-01-01

Abstract Semantic and verbal fluency tasks are widely used as a measure of frontal capacities. It has been well described in literature that patients affected by schizophrenic and bipolar disorders present a worse execution in these tasks. Some authors have also noted the importance of educational years. Our objective is to analyze whether the effect of cognitive malfunction caused by apathology is superior to the expected effect of years of education in phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) and semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task execution. A total of 62 individuals took part in this study, out of which 23 were patients with schizophrenic paranoid disorder, 11 suffered from bipolar disorder with psychotic symptomatology, 13 suffered from bipolar disorder without psychotic symptomatology, and 15 participants were nonpathological individuals. All participants were evaluated with the PVF and SVF tests (animals and tools). The performance/execution results were analyzed with a mixed-model ANCOVA, with educational years as a covariable. The effect of education seems to be more determined by PVF FAS tests than by SVF. With PVF FAS tasks, the expected effect of pathology disappears when the covariable EDUCATION is introduced. With SVF tasks, the effect continues to be significant, even though the EDUACTION covariable dims such effect. These results suggest that SVF tests (animals category) are better evaluation tools as they are less dependent on the patients’ education than PVF FAS tests. PMID:26426640

The Relationship Between Educational Years and Phonemic Verbal Fluency (PVF) and Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) Tasks in Spanish Patients Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Psychotic Bipolar Disorder.

PubMed

García-Laredo, Eduardo; Maestú, Fernando; Castellanos, Miguel Ángel; Molina, Juan D; Peréz-Moreno, Elisa

2015-09-01

Semantic and verbal fluency tasks are widely used as a measure of frontal capacities. It has been well described in literature that patients affected by schizophrenic and bipolar disorders present a worse execution in these tasks. Some authors have also noted the importance of educational years. Our objective is to analyze whether the effect of cognitive malfunction caused by apathology is superior to the expected effect of years of education in phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) and semantic verbal fluency (SVF) task execution. A total of 62 individuals took part in this study, out of which 23 were patients with schizophrenic paranoid disorder, 11 suffered from bipolar disorder with psychotic symptomatology, 13 suffered from bipolar disorder without psychotic symptomatology, and 15 participants were nonpathological individuals. All participants were evaluated with the PVF and SVF tests (animals and tools). The performance/execution results were analyzed with a mixed-model ANCOVA, with educational years as a covariable. The effect of education seems to be more determined by PVF FAS tests than by SVF. With PVF FAS tasks, the expected effect of pathology disappears when the covariable EDUCATION is introduced. With SVF tasks, the effect continues to be significant, even though the EDUACTION covariable dims such effect. These results suggest that SVF tests (animals category) are better evaluation tools as they are less dependent on the patients' education than PVF FAS tests.

Estimating verbal fluency and naming ability from the test of premorbid functioning and demographic variables: Regression equations derived from a regional UK sample.

PubMed

Jenkinson, Toni-Marie; Muncer, Steven; Wheeler, Miranda; Brechin, Don; Evans, Stephen

2018-06-01

Neuropsychological assessment requires accurate estimation of an individual's premorbid cognitive abilities. Oral word reading tests, such as the test of premorbid functioning (TOPF), and demographic variables, such as age, sex, and level of education, provide a reasonable indication of premorbid intelligence, but their ability to predict other related cognitive abilities is less well understood. This study aimed to develop regression equations, based on the TOPF and demographic variables, to predict scores on tests of verbal fluency and naming ability. A sample of 119 healthy adults provided demographic information and were tested using the TOPF, FAS, animal naming test (ANT), and graded naming test (GNT). Multiple regression analyses, using the TOPF and demographics as predictor variables, were used to estimate verbal fluency and naming ability test scores. Change scores and cases of significant impairment were calculated for two clinical samples with diagnosed neurological conditions (TBI and meningioma) using the method in Knight, McMahon, Green, and Skeaff (). Demographic variables provided a significant contribution to the prediction of all verbal fluency and naming ability test scores; however, adding TOPF score to the equation considerably improved prediction beyond that afforded by demographic variables alone. The percentage of variance accounted for by demographic variables and/or TOPF score varied from 19 per cent (FAS), 28 per cent (ANT), and 41 per cent (GNT). Change scores revealed significant differences in performance in the clinical groups, particularity the TBI group. Demographic variables, particularly education level, and scores on the TOPF should be taken into consideration when interpreting performance on tests of verbal fluency and naming ability. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

A normative study of lexical verbal fluency in an educationally-diverse elderly population.

PubMed

Kim, Bong Jo; Lee, Cheol Soon; Oh, Byoung Hoon; Hong, Chang Hyung; Lee, Kang Soo; Son, Sang Joon; Han, Changsu; Park, Moon Ho; Jeong, Hyun-Ghang; Kim, Tae Hui; Park, Joon Hyuk; Kim, Ki Woong

2013-12-01

Lexical fluency tests are frequently used to assess language and executive function in clinical practice. We investigated the influences of age, gender, and education on lexical verbal fluency in an educationally-diverse, elderly Korean population and provided its' normative information. We administered the lexical verbal fluency test (LVFT) to 1676 community-dwelling, cognitively normal subjects aged 60 years or over. In a stepwise linear regression analysis, education (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506) and age (B=-0.10, SE=0.01, standardized B=-0.15) had significant effects on LVFT scores (p<0.001), but gender did not (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506, p>0.05). Education explained 28.5% of the total variance in LVFT scores, which was much larger than the variance explained by age (5.42%). Accordingly, we presented normative data of the LVFT stratified by age (60-69, 70-74, 75-79, and ≥80 years) and education (0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and ≥13 years). The LVFT norms should provide clinically useful data for evaluating elderly people and help improve the interpretation of verbal fluency tasks and allow for greater diagnostic accuracy.

Verbal and Non-verbal Fluency in Adults with Developmental Dyslexia: Phonological Processing or Executive Control Problems?

PubMed

Smith-Spark, James H; Henry, Lucy A; Messer, David J; Zięcik, Adam P

2017-08-01

The executive function of fluency describes the ability to generate items according to specific rules. Production of words beginning with a certain letter (phonemic fluency) is impaired in dyslexia, while generation of words belonging to a certain semantic category (semantic fluency) is typically unimpaired. However, in dyslexia, verbal fluency has generally been studied only in terms of overall words produced. Furthermore, performance of adults with dyslexia on non-verbal design fluency tasks has not been explored but would indicate whether deficits could be explained by executive control, rather than phonological processing, difficulties. Phonemic, semantic and design fluency tasks were presented to adults with dyslexia and without dyslexia, using fine-grained performance measures and controlling for IQ. Hierarchical regressions indicated that dyslexia predicted lower phonemic fluency, but not semantic or design fluency. At the fine-grained level, dyslexia predicted a smaller number of switches between subcategories on phonemic fluency, while dyslexia did not predict the size of phonemically related clusters of items. Overall, the results suggested that phonological processing problems were at the root of dyslexia-related fluency deficits; however, executive control difficulties could not be completely ruled out as an alternative explanation. Developments in research methodology, equating executive demands across fluency tasks, may resolve this issue. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Recall strategies for the verbal fluency test in patients with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Velázquez-Cardoso, J; Marosi-Holczberger, E; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Yañez-Tellez, G; Chávez-Oliveros, M

2014-04-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by inflammation and demyelination. It generates irreversible myelin changes, which in turn give rise to physical and cognitive disorders. The verbal fluency test (VF) has been shown to be a sensitive tool for detecting cognitive impairment in these patients. To compare quantitative and qualitative aspects of performance on semantic and phonological fluency tests between MS patients and healthy controls by analysing total words produced and strategies used (clusters and switching). We evaluated 46 patients with MS and 33 healthy controls using the VF test. The semantic VF task revealed no significant differences between groups; for the phonological task, patients demonstrated reduced word production (F [77]=2.286 P<.001) and poorer use of grouping strategies, resulting in more frequent switching (F [77]=3.808 P<.005). These results support using qualitative analysis for recall strategies, since the technique provides data about which components of the task are affected by brain damage. Clusters depend on the integrity of semantic memory, while switching has to do with developing effective search strategies, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to modify responses. Frontal lobe damage has been reported in MS, and this is consistent with results from the phonological VF test. Copyright © 2012 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Emotional verbal fluency: a new task on emotion and executive function interaction.

PubMed

Sass, Katharina; Fetz, Karolina; Oetken, Sarah; Habel, Ute; Heim, Stefan

2013-09-01

The present study introduces "Emotional Verbal Fluency" as a novel (partially computerized) task, which is aimed to investigate the interaction between emotionally loaded words and executive functions. Verbal fluency tasks are thought to measure executive functions but the interaction with emotional aspects is hardly investigated. In the current study, a group of healthy subjects (n = 21, mean age 25 years, 76% females) were asked to generate items that are either part of a semantic category (e.g., plants, toys, vehicles; standard semantic verbal fluency) or can trigger the emotions joy, anger, sadness, fear and disgust. The results of the task revealed no differences between performance on semantic and emotional categories, suggesting a comparable task difficulty for healthy subjects. Hence, these first results on the comparison between semantic and emotional verbal fluency seem to highlight that both might be suitable for examining executive functioning. However, an interaction was found between the category type and repetition (first vs. second sequence of the same category) with larger performance decrease for semantic in comparison to emotional categories. Best performance overall was found for the emotional category "joy" suggesting a positivity bias in healthy subjects. To conclude, emotional verbal fluency is a promising approach to investigate emotional components in an executive task, which may stimulate further research, especially in psychiatric patients who suffer from emotional as well as cognitive deficits.

Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy.

PubMed

Opasso, Patrícia Romano; Barreto, Simone Dos Santos; Ortiz, Karin Zazo

2016-01-01

To establish normative parameters for the F-A-S form of the phonemic verbal fluency test, in a population of Brazilian Portuguese speaking adults with high-level literacy. The sample comprised 40 male and female volunteers aged 19 to 59 years, and at least 8 years of formal education. Volunteers were first submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing cognitive screening tests, then to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test; in this test, examinees were given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible beginning with each of the three test letters. The means for number of words beginning the letters F, A and S and for total number of words beginning with either letter generated per minute corresponded to 15.3, 14.4, 13.9 and 43.5, respectively. Reference values obtained from young adults with high levels of literacy submitted to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test in this study were similar to those reported in the international literature. These reference values can be used for clinical assessment of language disorder and neuropsychological evaluation. Obter parâmetros de normalidade na tarefa de fluência verbal fonêmica, versão F-A-S, em uma população de alto letramento de adultos falantes do português brasileiro. A amostra foi constituída por 40 voluntários, de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 19 e 59 anos, e com mais de 8 anos de estudo. Todos os voluntários foram inicialmente submetidos ao Miniexame do Estado Mental e ao Teste do Desenho do Relógio, para fins de rastreio cognitivo, e, então, ao Teste de Fluência Verbal Fonêmica F-A-S. Neste último, os indivíduos foram orientados a produzirem o maior número de palavras que conseguissem, iniciadas com cada uma das três letras ditas pelo examinador, em um intervalo de 60 segundos cada. As médias das palavras produzidas com as letras F-A-S foram as seguintes: "F" = 15,3 palavras por minuto; "A" = 14,4 palavras por minuto; e "S" = 13,9 palavras por minuto. A m

Lexical factors and cerebral regions influencing verbal fluency performance in MCI.

PubMed

Clark, D G; Wadley, V G; Kapur, P; DeRamus, T P; Singletary, B; Nicholas, A P; Blanton, P D; Lokken, K; Deshpande, H; Marson, D; Deutsch, G

2014-02-01

To evaluate assumptions regarding semantic (noun), verb, and letter fluency in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD) using novel techniques for measuring word similarity in fluency lists and a region of interest (ROI) analysis of gray matter correlates. Fifty-eight individuals with normal cognition (NC, n=25), MCI (n=23), or AD (n=10) underwent neuropsychological tests, including 10 verbal fluency tasks (three letter tasks [F, A, S], six noun categories [animals, water creatures, fruits and vegetables, tools, vehicles, boats], and verbs). All pairs of words generated by each participant on each task were compared in terms of semantic (meaning), orthographic (spelling), and phonemic (pronunciation) similarity. We used mixed-effects logistic regression to determine which lexical factors were predictive of word adjacency within the lists. Associations between each fluency raw score and gray matter volumes in sixteen ROIs were identified by means of multiple linear regression. We evaluated causal models for both types of analyses to specify the contributions of diagnosis and various mediator variables to the outcomes of word adjacency and fluency raw score. Semantic similarity between words emerged as the strongest predictor of word adjacency for all fluency tasks, including the letter fluency tasks. Semantic similarity mediated the effect of cognitive impairment on word adjacency only for three fluency tasks employing a biological cue. Orthographic similarity was predictive of word adjacency for the A and S tasks, while phonemic similarity was predictive only for the S task and one semantic task (vehicles). The ROI analysis revealed different patterns of correlations among the various fluency tasks, with the most common associations in the right lower temporal and bilateral dorsal frontal regions. Following correction with gray matter volumes from the opposite hemisphere, significant associations persisted for animals, vehicles, and a composite

Exploring depression, self-esteem and verbal fluency with different degrees of internet addiction among Chinese college students.

PubMed

Nie, Jia; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Ying

2017-01-01

The aims of this study were to explore depression, self-esteem and verbal fluency functions among normal internet users, mild internet addictions and severe internet addictions. The survey sample consisted of 316 college students, and their internet addiction symptoms, depression and self-esteem symptoms were assessed using the Revised Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), respectively. From this sample, 16 students with non-addictions, 19 students with mild internet addiction (sub-MIA) and 15 students with severe internet addiction (sub-SIA) were recruited and subjected to the classical verbal fluency tests, including the semantic and phonemic fluency task. The results indicated that severe internet addiction in the survey sample showed the highest tendency towards depressive symptoms and lowest self-esteem scores, and sub-SIA showed poor performance on the semantic fluency task. In conclusion, severe internet addiction was significantly associated with depression, low self-esteem and semantic verbal fluency problems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Semantic Verbal Fluency in Two Contrasting Languages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pekkala, Seija; Goral, Mira; Hyun, JungMoon; Obler, Loraine K.; Erkinjuntti, Timo; Albert, Martin L.

2009-01-01

This cross-linguistic study investigated Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) performance in 30 American English-speaking and 30 Finnish-speaking healthy elderly adults with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Despite the different backgrounds of the participant groups, remarkable similarities were found between the groups in the overall SVF…

Reduced verbal fluency for proper names in nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease: a quantitative and qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Fine, Eric M; Delis, Dean C; Paul, Brianna M; Filoteo, J Vincent

2011-02-01

There has been an increasing interest within neuropsychology in comparing verbal fluency for different grammatical classes (e.g., verb generation vs. noun generation) in neurological populations, including Parkinson's disease (PD). However, to our knowledge, few studies have compared verbal fluency for common nouns and proper names in PD. Common nouns and proper names differ in terms of their semantic characteristics, as categories of common nouns are organized hierarchically based on semantics, while categories of proper nouns lack a well-defined semantic organization. In addition, there is accumulating evidence that the retrieval of these distinct grammatical classes are subserved by somewhat distinct neural systems. Given that verbal fluency deficits are among the first impairments to emerge in PD, and that such deficits are predictors of future cognitive decline, it is important to examine all aspects of verbal fluency in this population. For the current study, we compared the performance of a group of 32 nondemented PD patients with 32 healthy participants (HP) on verbal fluency tasks for common nouns (animals) and proper names (boys' first names). A significant interaction between verbal fluency task and diagnostic status emerged, as the PD group performed significantly worse on only the proper name fluency task. This finding may reflect the absence of well-defined semantic organization that structures the verbal search for first names, thus placing a greater onus on strategic or "executive" verbal retrieval processes.

A coordinate-based ALE functional MRI meta-analysis of brain activation during verbal fluency tasks in healthy control subjects

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The processing of verbal fluency tasks relies on the coordinated activity of a number of brain areas, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere. Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural networks subserving verbal fluency functions have yielded divergent results especially with respect to a parcellation of the inferior frontal gyrus for phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. We conducted a coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on brain activation during the processing of phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks involving 28 individual studies with 490 healthy volunteers. Results For phonemic as well as for semantic verbal fluency, the most prominent clusters of brain activation were found in the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus (LIFG/MIFG) and the anterior cingulate gyrus. BA 44 was only involved in the processing of phonemic verbal fluency tasks, BA 45 and 47 in the processing of phonemic and semantic fluency tasks. Conclusions Our comparison of brain activation during the execution of either phonemic or semantic verbal fluency tasks revealed evidence for spatially different activation in BA 44, but not other regions of the LIFG/LMFG (BA 9, 45, 47) during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency processing. PMID:24456150

Emotional Verbal Fluency: A New Task on Emotion and Executive Function Interaction

PubMed Central

Sass, Katharina; Fetz, Karolina; Oetken, Sarah; Habel, Ute; Heim, Stefan

2013-01-01

The present study introduces “Emotional Verbal Fluency” as a novel (partially computerized) task, which is aimed to investigate the interaction between emotionally loaded words and executive functions. Verbal fluency tasks are thought to measure executive functions but the interaction with emotional aspects is hardly investigated. In the current study, a group of healthy subjects (n = 21, mean age 25 years, 76% females) were asked to generate items that are either part of a semantic category (e.g., plants, toys, vehicles; standard semantic verbal fluency) or can trigger the emotions joy, anger, sadness, fear and disgust. The results of the task revealed no differences between performance on semantic and emotional categories, suggesting a comparable task difficulty for healthy subjects. Hence, these first results on the comparison between semantic and emotional verbal fluency seem to highlight that both might be suitable for examining executive functioning. However, an interaction was found between the category type and repetition (first vs. second sequence of the same category) with larger performance decrease for semantic in comparison to emotional categories. Best performance overall was found for the emotional category “joy” suggesting a positivity bias in healthy subjects. To conclude, emotional verbal fluency is a promising approach to investigate emotional components in an executive task, which may stimulate further research, especially in psychiatric patients who suffer from emotional as well as cognitive deficits. PMID:25379243

Effects of hormonal contraceptives on mental rotation and verbal fluency.

PubMed

Griksiene, Ramune; Ruksenas, Osvaldas

2011-09-01

Cognitive abilities, such as verbal fluency and mental rotation, are most sensitive to changes in sex steroids but poorly studied in the context of hormonal contraceptive usage. Therefore, we investigated the performance of mental rotation and verbal fluency in young (21.5±1.8 years) healthy oral contraceptive (OC) users (23 women) and non-users (20 women) during the follicular, ovulatory and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Salivary 17β-estradiol, progesterone and testosterone levels were assayed to evaluate hormonal differences between groups and the phases of the menstrual cycle. To assess the effects of progestins having androgenic/anti-androgenic properties, OC users were subdivided into the third and new generation OC users. In addition, positive and negative affects as factors possibly affecting cognitive performance were evaluated. Salivary 17β-estradiol and progesterone levels were significantly lower in hormonal contraception users. Level of salivary testosterone was slightly lower in the OC users group with significant difference only during ovulatory phase. Naturally cycling women performed better on verbal fluency task as compared to OC users. Subjects who used the third generation (androgenic) OCs generated significantly fewer words as compared to new generation (anti-androgenic) OC users and non-users. The third generation OC users demonstrated significantly longer RT in MRT task as compared to non-users. The MRT, verbal fluency and mood parameters did not depend on the phase of menstrual cycle. The parameters of the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) scales did not differ between OC users and non-users. Our findings show that hormonal contraception has an impact on verbal and spatial abilities. Different performances between users of oral contraceptives with androgenic and anti-androgenic properties suggest an essential role for the progestins contained in OCs on cognitive performance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Sex Differences and Autism: Brain Function during Verbal Fluency and Mental Rotation

PubMed Central

Minati, Ludovico; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Lombardo, Michael V.; Lai, Meng-Chuan; Walker, Anne; Howard, Dawn; Gray, Marcus A.; Harrison, Neil A.; Critchley, Hugo D.

2012-01-01

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect more males than females. This suggests that the neurobiology of autism: 1) may overlap with mechanisms underlying typical sex-differentiation or 2) alternately reflect sex-specificity in how autism is expressed in males and females. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test these alternate hypotheses. Fifteen men and fourteen women with Asperger syndrome (AS), and sixteen typically developing men and sixteen typically developing women underwent fMRI during performance of mental rotation and verbal fluency tasks. All groups performed the tasks equally well. On the verbal fluency task, despite equivalent task-performance, both males and females with AS showed enhanced activation of left occipitoparietal and inferior prefrontal activity compared to controls. During mental rotation, there was a significant diagnosis-by-sex interaction across occipital, temporal, parietal, middle frontal regions, with greater activation in AS males and typical females compared to AS females and typical males. These findings suggest a complex relationship between autism and sex that is differentially expressed in verbal and visuospatial domains. PMID:22701630

Sex differences and autism: brain function during verbal fluency and mental rotation.

PubMed

Beacher, Felix D C C; Radulescu, Eugenia; Minati, Ludovico; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Lombardo, Michael V; Lai, Meng-Chuan; Walker, Anne; Howard, Dawn; Gray, Marcus A; Harrison, Neil A; Critchley, Hugo D

2012-01-01

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect more males than females. This suggests that the neurobiology of autism: 1) may overlap with mechanisms underlying typical sex-differentiation or 2) alternately reflect sex-specificity in how autism is expressed in males and females. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test these alternate hypotheses. Fifteen men and fourteen women with Asperger syndrome (AS), and sixteen typically developing men and sixteen typically developing women underwent fMRI during performance of mental rotation and verbal fluency tasks. All groups performed the tasks equally well. On the verbal fluency task, despite equivalent task-performance, both males and females with AS showed enhanced activation of left occipitoparietal and inferior prefrontal activity compared to controls. During mental rotation, there was a significant diagnosis-by-sex interaction across occipital, temporal, parietal, middle frontal regions, with greater activation in AS males and typical females compared to AS females and typical males. These findings suggest a complex relationship between autism and sex that is differentially expressed in verbal and visuospatial domains.

Frontal and temporal lobe involvement on verbal fluency measures in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Lepow, Lauren; Van Sweringen, James; Strutt, Adriana M; Jawaid, Ali; MacAdam, Claire; Harati, Yadollah; Schulz, Paul E; York, Michele K

2010-11-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been associated with changes in frontal and temporal lobe-mediated cognitive and behavioral functions. Verbal fluency, a sensitive measure to these changes, was utilized to investigate phonemic and semantic abilities in 49 ALS patients and 25 healthy controls (HCs). A subset of the ALS patients was classified as ALS-intact, ALS with mild cognitive impairments (ALS-mild), and ALS with fronto-temporal dementia (ALS-FTD) based on a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Clustering and switching, the underlying component processes of verbal fluency, were analyzed using Troyer's (Troyer, Moscovitch, & Winocur, 1997) and Abwender's (Abwender, Swan, Bowerman, & Connolly, 2001) scoring systems. ALS patients exhibited decreased fluency versus HCs. For phonemic fluency, the intact ALS sample generated fewer clusters and more switches than the ALS-mild and ALS-FTD patients using both scoring systems. This suggests temporal involvement in ALS patients, with increasing frontal lobe involvement in patients with greater cognitive dysfunction. For semantic fluency, similar results were obtained with a greater emphasis on declines in clustering or increased temporal lobe dysfunction. These results suggest that verbal fluency measures identify frontal and temporal lobe involvement in the cognitive decline associated with ALS, particularly when the component processes are evaluated. The clinical utility of these scoring systems with ALS patients is also discussed.

Functional connectivity during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency test: a multi-channel near infrared spectroscopy study (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chun-Jung; Sun, Chia-Wei; Chou, Po-Han; Chuang, Ching-Cheng

2016-03-01

Verbal fluency tests (VFT) are widely used neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe and have been frequently used in various functional brain mapping studies. There are two versions of VFT based on the type of cue: the letter fluency task (LFT) and the category fluency task (CFT). However, the fundamental aspect of the brain connectivity across spatial regions of the fronto-temporal regions during the VFTs has not been elucidated to date. In this study we hypothesized that different cortical functional connectivity over bilateral fronto-temporal regions can be observed by means of multi-channel fNIRS in the LFT and the CFT respectively. Our results from fNIRS (ETG-4000) showed different patterns of brain functional connectivity consistent with these different cognitive requirements. We demonstrate more brain functional connectivity over frontal and temporal regions during LFT than CFT, and this was in line with previous brain activity studies using fNIRS demonstrating increased frontal and temporal region activation during LFT and CFT and more pronounced frontal activation by the LFT.

Performance of Brazilian children on phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks

PubMed Central

Charchat-Fichman, Helenice; Oliveira, Rosinda Martins; da Silva, Andreza Morais

2011-01-01

The most used verbal fluency paradigms are semantic and letter fluency tasks. Studies suggest that these paradigms access semantic memory and executive function and are sensitive to frontal lobe disturbances. There are few studies in Brazilian samples on these paradigms. Objective The present study investigated performance, and the effects of age, on verbal fluency tasks in Brazilian children. The results were compared with those of other studies, and the consistency of the scoring criteria data is presented. Methods A sample of 119 children (7 to 10 years old) was submitted to the three phonemic fluency (F, A, M) tasks and three semantic fluency (animals, clothes, fruits) tasks. The results of thirty subjects were scored by two independent examiners. Results A significant positive correlation was found between the scores calculated by the two independent examiners. Significant positive correlations were found between performance on the semantic fluency task and the phonemic fluency task. The effect of age was significant for both tasks, and a significant difference was found between the 7- and 9-year-old subjects and between the 7- and 10-year-old subjects. The 8-year-old group did not differ to any of the other age groups. Conclusion The pattern of results was similar to that observed in previous Brazilian and international studies. PMID:29213727

Cognitive correlates of verbal memory and verbal fluency in schizophrenia, and differential effects of various clinical symptoms between male and female patients.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Villalta-Gil, Victoria; Autonell, Jaume; Cervilla, Jorge; Dolz, Montserrat; Foix, Alexandrina; Haro, Josep Maria; Usall, Judith; Vilaplana, Miriam; Ochoa, Susana

2013-06-01

Impairment of higher cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia might stem from perturbation of more basic functions, such as processing speed. Various clinical symptoms might affect cognitive efficiency as well. Notably, previous research has revealed the role of affective symptoms on memory performance in this population, and suggested sex-specific effects. We conducted a post-hoc analysis of an extensive neuropsychological study of 88 patients with schizophrenia. Regression analyses were conducted on verbal memory and verbal fluency data to investigate the contribution of semantic organisation and processing speed to performance. The role of negative and affective symptoms and of attention disorders in verbal memory and verbal fluency was investigated separately in male and female patients. Semantic clustering contributed to verbal recall, and a measure of reading speed contributed to verbal recall as well as to phonological and semantic fluency. Negative symptoms affected verbal recall and verbal fluency in the male patients, whereas attention disorders affected these abilities in the female patients. Furthermore, depression affected verbal recall in women, whereas anxiety affected it in men. These results confirm the association of processing speed with cognitive efficiency in patients with schizophrenia. They also confirm the previously observed sex-specific associations of depression and anxiety with memory performance in these patients, and suggest that negative symptoms and attention disorders likewise are related to cognitive efficiency differently in men and women. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-Term Effect of Prefrontal Lobotomy on Verbal Fluency in Patients with Schizophrenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stip, Emmanuel; Bigras, Marie-Josee.; Mancini-Marie, Adham; Cosset, Marie-Eve.; Black, Deborah; Lecours, Andre-Roch

2004-01-01

Objective: This study investigated the long-term effects of bilateral prefrontal leukotomy on lexical abilities in schizophrenia subjects. Method: We compared performances of leukotomized (LSP), non-leukotomized schizophrenia patients (NLSP) and normal controls, using a test of verbal fluency. Multiple case and triple comparison design were…

Mental health symptoms and verbal fluency in elderly people: Evidence from the Spanish longitudinal study of aging.

PubMed

Simpson, Ian Craig; Dumitrache, Cristina Gabriela; Calet, Nuria

2018-04-10

Depression and loneliness are highly prevalent in old age. Moreover these mental health symptoms adversely affect the verbal fluency of the elderly. We examined the relationship between depression and loneliness with verbal fluency in people aged 50 years or older. Research data were collected during the pilot study of the Longitudinal Aging Study in Spain (ELES) in which a representative sample of non-institutionalized Spanish older people was assessed. Here, the cross-sectional data for 962 participants were analysed using hierarchical regressions, controlling for age, education level, overall cognitive functioning, social networks and satisfaction with family. Higher levels of cognitive functioning were associated with higher verbal fluency. Females showed higher levels of phonological fluency. Neither depression nor loneliness were significant predictors of phonological fluency but loneliness was a significant predictor of semantic fluency. For mild levels of loneliness, the rate of decline in semantic fluency slows in the oldest ages. In contrast, for severe loneliness the rate of decline in semantic fluency increases in the oldest ages. Depressive symptoms, loneliness and cognitive impairment are all prominent in ageing and therefore their impact on ageing needs to be better understood. Early detection of loneliness, along with the implementation of intervention for individuals diagnosed with loneliness is advisable in order to avoid negative repercussions for the verbal fluency of these individuals.

Interacting effects of age and time of day on verbal fluency performance and intraindividual variability.

PubMed

Iskandar, Sam; Murphy, Kelly J; Baird, Anne D; West, Robert; Armilio, Maria; Craik, Fergus I M; Stuss, Donald T

2016-01-01

We explored the effects of age and time of day (TOD) on verbal fluency ability with respect to performance level and intraindividual variability (IIV). Verbal fluency, which involves complex cognitive operations, was examined in 20 older (mean age = 72.8 years) and 20 younger (mean age = 24.2 years) adults with test start time alternating between morning and evening across four days. Older adults generated more words in the morning and younger adults more in the evening, corresponding with self-report peak TOD. Age by TOD interactions were also observed across fluency tasks on the number of switches among subcategory exemplars during word generation and on the IIV observed in switching behavior. Older adults exhibited greater variability in switching in the evening than in the morning, whereas younger adults showed the opposite pattern. These findings demonstrate that processes involving energization (initiating and sustaining) and attentional control may be particularly sensitive to age differences in TOD influences on cognition.

[Semantic verbal fluency of animals in amnesia-type mild cognitive impairment].

PubMed

Lopez-Higes, Ramón; Prados, José M; del Rio, David; Galindo-Fuentes, Marta; Reinoso, Ana Isabel; Lozano-Ibanez, Montserrat

2014-06-01

The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the semantic verbal fluency task has revealed that people with dementia produced fewer words and smaller semantic clustering than people without dementia. However, in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), research has shown conflicting results regarding the amount and number of semantic clusters that are made. The aim of this study was to provide new data to this controversial issue. Twenty-two older adults diagnosed with aMCI (8 men and 14 women) and 43 older adults (7 men and 36 women) with normal cognitive functioning that served as control group, participated in this study. All patients were evaluated at the Center for Prevention of Cognitive Decline of Madrid (Spain), completing the verbal fluency test (animals) besides other neuropsychological tests. As expected, animal production was lower in the aMCI group than in the control group, but no differences were observed either in the average size of the semantic clusters or the number of switches between them. The results are consistent with previous research suggesting aMCI is not only characterized by episodic memory and working memory deficits. Semantic memory decline is also present. However, the data do not clarify how strategic executive processes are involved, as seems to be in Alzheimer's disease.

Is semantic verbal fluency impairment explained by executive function deficits in schizophrenia?

PubMed

Berberian, Arthur A; Moraes, Giovanna V; Gadelha, Ary; Brietzke, Elisa; Fonseca, Ana O; Scarpato, Bruno S; Vicente, Marcella O; Seabra, Alessandra G; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Lacerda, Acioly L

2016-04-19

To investigate if verbal fluency impairment in schizophrenia reflects executive function deficits or results from degraded semantic store or inefficient search and retrieval strategies. Two groups were compared: 141 individuals with schizophrenia and 119 healthy age and education-matched controls. Both groups performed semantic and phonetic verbal fluency tasks. Performance was evaluated using three scores, based on 1) number of words generated; 2) number of clustered/related words; and 3) switching score. A fourth performance score based on the number of clusters was also measured. SZ individuals produced fewer words than controls. After controlling for the total number of words produced, a difference was observed between the groups in the number of cluster-related words generated in the semantic task. In both groups, the number of words generated in the semantic task was higher than that generated in the phonemic task, although a significant group vs. fluency type interaction showed that subjects with schizophrenia had disproportionate semantic fluency impairment. Working memory was positively associated with increased production of words within clusters and inversely correlated with switching. Semantic fluency impairment may be attributed to an inability (resulting from reduced cognitive control) to distinguish target signal from competing noise and to maintain cues for production of memory probes.

Verbal fluency in male and female schizophrenia patients: Different patterns of association with processing speed, working memory span, and clinical symptoms.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Stephan-Otto, Christian; Ochoa, Susana; Nieto, Lourdes; Contel, Montserrat; Usall, Judith

2018-01-01

Decreased processing speed in schizophrenia patients has been identified as a major impairment factor in various neuropsychological domains. Working memory span has been found to be involved in several deep or effortful cognitive processes. We investigated the impact that these 2 cognitive functions may have on phonological and semantic fluency in schizophrenia patients and healthy participants. Fifty-five patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy participants were administered a neuropsychological battery including phonological and semantic fluency, working memory, and cognitive and motor speed. Regression analyses revealed that motor speed was related to phonological fluency in female patients, whereas cognitive speed was related to semantic fluency in male patients. In addition, working memory span was related to verbal fluency in women from both the patient and the healthy control groups. Decreased processing speed, but not decreased working memory span, accounted for the verbal fluency deficit in patients. Verbal fluency was inversely related to attention deficit in female patients and to negative symptoms in male patients. Decreased processing speed may be the main factor in verbal fluency impairment of patients. Further, the cognitive and clinical predictors of verbal fluency efficiency are different in men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Valence of Affective Verbal Fluency: fMRI Studies on Neural Organization of Emotional Concepts "Joy" and "Fear"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gawda, Barbara; Szepietowska, Ewa; Soluch, Pawel; Wolak, Tomasz

2017-01-01

The present study was designed to examine the underlying brain mechanisms of positive and negative emotional verbal fluency. Three verbal fluency tasks (one non-emotional phonemic task, two emotional tasks: "Joy" and "Fear") were used in this study. The results were analyzed for 35 healthy, Polish-speaking, right-handed adults…

The effects of age, education, and ethnicity on verbal fluency.

PubMed

Kempler, D; Teng, E L; Dick, M; Taussig, I M; Davis, D S

1998-11-01

A group of 317 healthy participants between 54 and 99 years of age performed a verbal fluency task. The participants included Chinese, Hispanic, and Vietnamese immigrants, as well as White and African American English speakers. They were given 1 min to name as many animals as possible in their native language. The results showed that more animal names were produced by younger people and those with more education. Language background was also an important factor: The Vietnamese produced the most animal names and the Spanish speakers produced the fewest. The exaggerated difference between these two groups is attributed to the fact that Vietnamese animal names are short (predominantly 1 syllable) while the Spanish animal names are longer than any other language in this study (2 and 3 syllables per word). Finally, although the ethnic groups named different animals, and appeared to vary in the variety of animal names they used, these factors did not affect overall verbal fluency performance.

Alternating verbal fluency performance following bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Marshall, D F; Strutt, A M; Williams, A E; Simpson, R K; Jankovic, J; York, M K

2012-12-01

Despite common occurrences of verbal fluency declines following bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD), alternating fluency measures using cued and uncued paradigms have not been evaluated. Twenty-three STN-DBS patients were compared with 20 non-surgical PD patients on a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, including cued and uncued intradimensional (phonemic/phonemic and semantic/semantic) and extradimensional (phonemic/semantic) alternating fluency measures at baseline and 6-month follow-up. STN-DBS patients demonstrated a greater decline on the cued phonemic/phonemic fluency and the uncued phonemic/semantic fluency tasks compared to the PD patients. For STN-DBS patients, verbal learning and information processing speed accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in declines in alternating phonemic/phonemic and phonemic/semantic fluency scores, respectively, whilst only naming was related to uncued phonemic/semantic performance for the PD patients. Both groups were aided by cueing for the extradimensional task at baseline and follow-up, and the PD patients were also aided by cueing for the phonemic/phonemic task on follow-up. These findings suggest that changes in alternating fluency are not related to disease progression alone as STN-DBS patients demonstrated greater declines over time than the PD patients, and this change was related to declines in information processing speed. © 2012 The Author(s) European Journal of Neurology © 2012 EFNS.

The differing roles of the frontal cortex in fluency tests

PubMed Central

Shallice, Tim; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa

2012-01-01

Fluency tasks have been widely used to tap the voluntary generation of responses. The anatomical correlates of fluency tasks and their sensitivity and specificity have been hotly debated. However, investigation of the cognitive processes involved in voluntary generation of responses and whether generation is supported by a common, general process (e.g. fluid intelligence) or specific cognitive processes underpinned by particular frontal regions has rarely been addressed. This study investigates a range of verbal and non-verbal fluency tasks in patients with unselected focal frontal (n = 47) and posterior (n = 20) lesions. Patients and controls (n = 35) matched for education, age and sex were administered fluency tasks including word (phonemic/semantic), design, gesture and ideational fluency as well as background cognitive tests. Lesions were analysed by standard anterior/posterior and left/right frontal subdivisions as well as a finer-grained frontal localization method. Thus, patients with right and left lateral lesions were compared to patients with superior medial lesions. The results show that all eight fluency tasks are sensitive to frontal lobe damage although only the phonemic word and design fluency tasks were specific to the frontal region. Superior medial patients were the only group to be impaired on all eight fluency tasks, relative to controls, consistent with an energization deficit. The most marked fluency deficits for lateral patients were along material specific lines (i.e. left—phonemic and right—design). Phonemic word fluency that requires greater selection was most severely impaired following left inferior frontal damage. Overall, our results support the notion that frontal functions comprise a set of specialized cognitive processes, supported by distinct frontal regions. PMID:22669082

Strategy Effects on Word Searching in Japanese Letter Fluency Tests: Evidence from the NIRS Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatta, Takeshi; Kanari, Ayano; Mase, Mitsuhito; Nagano, Yuko; Shirataki, Tatsuaki; Hibino, Shinji

2009-01-01

Strategy effects on word searching in the Japanese letter fluency test were investigated using the Near-infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). Participants were given a Japanese letter fluency test and they were classified into two types of strategy users, based on analysis of their recorded verbal responses. One group, AIUEO-order strategy users, employed…

Top-Down Computerized Cognitive Remediation in Schizophrenia: A Case Study of an Individual with Impairment in Verbal Fluency

PubMed Central

Masson, Marjolaine; Wykes, Til; Maziade, Michel; Reeder, Clare; Gariépy, Marie-Anne; Roy, Marc-André; Ivers, Hans; Cellard, Caroline

2015-01-01

The objective of this case study was to assess the specific effect of cognitive remediation for schizophrenia on the pattern of cognitive impairments. Case A is a 33-year-old man with a schizophrenia diagnosis and impairments in visual memory, inhibition, problem solving, and verbal fluency. He was provided with a therapist delivered cognitive remediation program involving practice and strategy which was designed to train attention, memory, executive functioning, visual-perceptual processing, and metacognitive skills. Neuropsychological and clinical assessments were administered at baseline and after three months of treatment. At posttest assessment, Case A had improved significantly on targeted (visual memory and problem solving) and nontargeted (verbal fluency) cognitive processes. The results of the current case study suggest that (1) it is possible to improve specific cognitive processes with targeted exercises, as seen by the improvement in visual memory due to training exercises targeting this cognitive domain; (2) cognitive remediation can produce improvements in cognitive processes not targeted during remediation since verbal fluency was improved while there was no training exercise on this specific cognitive process; and (3) including learning strategies in cognitive remediation increases the value of the approach and enhances participant improvement, possibly because strategies using verbalization can lead to improvement in verbal fluency even if it was not practiced. PMID:25949840

Picture Naming and Verbal Fluency in Children with Cochlear Implants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wechsler-Kashi, Deena; Schwartz, Richard G.; Cleary, Miranda

2014-01-01

Purpose: In the present study, the authors examined lexical naming in children with cochlear implants (CIs). The goal was to determine whether children with CIs have deficits in lexical access and organization as revealed through reaction time in picture-naming and verbal fluency (VF) experiments. Method: Children with CIs (n = 20, ages 7-10) were…

Computerized Analysis of Verbal Fluency: Normative Data and the Effects of Repeated Testing, Simulated Malingering, and Traumatic Brain Injury

PubMed Central

Wyma, John M.; Herron, Timothy J.; Yund, E. William

2016-01-01

In verbal fluency (VF) tests, subjects articulate words in a specified category during a short test period (typically 60 s). Verbal fluency tests are widely used to study language development and to evaluate memory retrieval in neuropsychiatric disorders. Performance is usually measured as the total number of correct words retrieved. Here, we describe the properties of a computerized VF (C-VF) test that tallies correct words and repetitions while providing additional lexical measures of word frequency, syllable count, and typicality. In addition, the C-VF permits (1) the analysis of the rate of responding over time, and (2) the analysis of the semantic relationships between words using a new method, Explicit Semantic Analysis (ESA), as well as the established semantic clustering and switching measures developed by Troyer et al. (1997). In Experiment 1, we gathered normative data from 180 subjects ranging in age from 18 to 82 years in semantic (“animals”) and phonemic (letter “F”) conditions. The number of words retrieved in 90 s correlated with education and daily hours of computer-use. The rate of word production declined sharply over time during both tests. In semantic conditions, correct-word scores correlated strongly with the number of ESA and Troyer-defined semantic switches as well as with an ESA-defined semantic organization index (SOI). In phonemic conditions, ESA revealed significant semantic influences in the sequence of words retrieved. In Experiment 2, we examined the test-retest reliability of different measures across three weekly tests in 40 young subjects. Different categories were used for each semantic (“animals”, “parts of the body”, and “foods”) and phonemic (letters “F”, “A”, and “S”) condition. After regressing out the influences of education and computer-use, we found that correct-word z-scores in the first session did not differ from those of the subjects in Experiment 1. Word production was uniformly greater

Finger tapping and verbal fluency post-tap test improvement in INPH: its value in differential diagnosis and shunt-treatment outcomes prognosis.

PubMed

Liouta, Evangelia; Gatzonis, Stylianos; Kalamatianos, Theodosis; Kalyvas, Aristotelis; Koutsarnakis, Christos; Liakos, Faidon; Anagnostopoulos, Christos; Komaitis, Spyridon; Giakoumettis, Dimitris; Stranjalis, George

2017-12-01

Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) diagnosis is challenging as it can be mimicked by other neurological conditions, such as neurodegenerative dementia and motor syndromes. Additionally, outcomes after lumbar puncture (LP) tap test and shunt treatment may vary due to the lack of a common protocol in INPH assessment. The present study aimed to assess whether a post-LP test amelioration of frontal cognitive dysfunctions, characterizing this syndrome, can differentiate INPH from similar neurological conditions and whether this improvement can predict INPH post-shunt outcomes. Seventy-one consecutive patients referred for INPH suspicion and LP testing, were enrolled. According to the consensus guidelines criteria, 29 patients were diagnosed as INPH and 42 were assigned an alternative diagnosis (INPH-like group) after reviewing clinical, neuropsychological and imaging data, and before LP results. A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment for frontal executive, upper extremity fine motor functions, aphasias, apraxias, agnosias and gait evaluation were administered at baseline. Executive, fine motor functions and gait were re-examined post-LP test in all patients and post-shunt placement in INPH patients. Of the INPH patients, 86.2% showed cognitive amelioration in the post-LP test; in addition, all but one (97%) presented with neurocognitive and gait improvement post-shunt. Verbal phonological fluency and finger tapping task post-LP improvement predicted positive clinical outcome post-shunt. None of the INPH-like group presented with neurocognitive improvement post-LP. Post-LP amelioration of verbal fluency and finger tapping deficits can differentiate INPH from similar disorders and predict positive post-shunt clinical outcome in INPH. This becomes of great importance when gait assessment is difficult to perform in clinical practice.

[Spanish verbal fluency. Normative data in Argentina].

PubMed

Butman, J; Allegri, R F; Harris, P; Drake, M

2000-01-01

Letter and category fluency tasks are used to assess semantic knowledge, retrieval ability, and executive functioning. The original normative data have been obtained mainly from English speaking populations; there are few papers on norms in other languages. The purpose of this study was to collect normative scores in Argentina and to evaluate the effects of sex, age, education and cognitive status on the letter and category fluency tasks, in 266 healthy Spanish-speaking participants (16 to 86 years). Mean education span was 12.8 +/- 4 years. In each subject a neuropsychological battery (Minimental State Exam, Signoret Memory Battery, Boston Naming Test and Trail Making Test) was carried out as well as category fluency (naming animals in one minute) and letter fluency (words beginning with letter "p" in one minute). The sample was arranged into a group of subjects with less than 45 years and further groups up to 10 more years, until 75 years (or more) with three different levels of education. Significant effects were found for age, education, and Minimental State Exam on performance of both fluencies. Mean performance scores are presented for each group to be used in Argentina.

Verbal fluency and positron emission tomographic mapping of regional cerebral glucose metabolism.

PubMed

Boivin, M J; Giordani, B; Berent, S; Amato, D A; Lehtinen, S; Koeppe, R A; Buchtel, H A; Foster, N L; Kuhl, D E

1992-06-01

Impairment in verbal fluency (VF) has been a consistently reported clinical feature of focal cerebral deficits in frontal and temporal regions. More recent behavioral activation studies with healthy control subjects using positron emission tomography (PET), however, have noted a negative correlation between performance on verbal fluency tasks and regional cortical activity. To see if this negative relationship extends to steady-state non-activation PET measures, thirty-three healthy adults were given a VF task within a day of their 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose PET scan. VF was found to correlate positively with left temporal cortical region metabolic activity but to correlate negatively with right and left frontal activity. VF was not correlated significantly with right temporal cortical metabolic activity. Some previous studies with normals using behavioral activation paradigms and PET have reported negative correlations between metabolic activity and cognitive performance similar to that reported here. An explanation for the disparate relationships that were observed between frontal and temporal brain areas and VF might be found in the mediation of different task demands by these separate locations, i.e., task planning and/or initiation by frontal regions and verbal memory by the left temporal area.

Differential Prefrontal and Frontotemporal Oxygenation Patterns during Phonemic and Semantic Verbal Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tupak, Sara V.; Badewien, Meike; Dresler, Thomas; Hahn, Tim; Ernst, Lena H.; Herrmann, Martin J.; Fallgatter, Andreas J.; Ehlis, Ann-Christine

2012-01-01

Movement artifacts are still considered a problematic issue for imaging research on overt language production. This motion-sensitivity can be overcome by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). In the present study, 50 healthy subjects performed a combined phonemic and semantic overt verbal fluency task while frontal and temporal cortex…

Effects of testosterone on visuospatial function and verbal fluency in postmenopausal women: results from a functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study.

PubMed

Davis, Susan R; Davison, Sonia L; Gavrilescu, Maria; Searle, Karissa; Gogos, Andrea; Rossell, Susan L; Egan, Gary F; Bell, Robin J

2014-04-01

This study aims to investigate the effects of testosterone on cognitive performance during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy estrogen-treated postmenopausal women. This was an open-label study in which postmenopausal women on nonoral estrogen therapy were treated with transdermal testosterone for 26 weeks. Women performed tests of verbal fluency (number of words) and mental rotation (reaction time and accuracy) during pretreatment and posttreatment fMRI. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity was measured during fMRI tasks. Nine women with a mean (SD) age of 55.4 (3.8) years completed the study. Twenty-six weeks of testosterone therapy was associated with significant decreases in BOLD intensity during the mental rotation task in the right superior parietal, left inferior parietal, and left precuneus regions, and during the verbal fluency task in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, and medial frontal gyrus (all P < 0.05), with no change in task performance, accuracy, or speed. Testosterone therapy is associated with reduced BOLD signal activation in key anatomical areas during fMRI verbal fluency and visuospatial tasks in healthy estrogen-treated postmenopausal women. Our interpretation is that testosterone therapy facilitates preservation of cognitive function with less neuronal recruitment.

Verbal Fluency in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Clustering and Switching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Begeer, Sander; Wierda, Marlies; Scheeren, Anke M.; Teunisse, Jan-Pieter; Koot, Hans M.; Geurts, Hilde M.

2014-01-01

This study highlights differences in cognitive strategies in children and adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorders (n = 52) on a verbal fluency task (naming as many words as possible (e.g. animals) within 60 s). The ability to form clusters of words (e.g. farm animals like "cow-horse-goat") or to switch between unrelated…

Verbal fluency, clustering, and switching in patients with psychosis following traumatic brain injury (PFTBI).

PubMed

Batty, Rachel; Francis, Andrew; Thomas, Neil; Hopwood, Malcolm; Ponsford, Jennie; Johnston, Lisa; Rossell, Susan

2015-06-30

Verbal fluency in patients with psychosis following traumatic brain injury (PFTBI) has been reported as comparable to healthy participants. This finding is counterintuitive given the prominent fluency impairments demonstrated post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in psychotic disorders, e.g. schizophrenia. We investigated phonemic (executive) fluency (3 letters: 'F' 'A' and 'S'), and semantic fluency (1 category: fruits and/or vegetables) in four matched groups; PFTBI (N=10), TBI (N=10), schizophrenia (N=23), and healthy controls (N=23). Words produced (minus perseverations and errors), and clustering and switching scores were compared for the two fluency types across the groups. The results confirmed that PFTBI patients do show impaired fluency, aligned with existing evidence in TBI and schizophrenia. PFTBI patients produced the least amount of words on the phonemic fluency ('A') trial and total score, and demonstrated reduced switching on both phonemic and semantic tasks. No significant differences in clustering performance were found. Importantly, the pattern of results suggested that PFTBI patients share deficits with their brain-injured (primarily executive), and psychotic (executive and semantic), counterparts, and that these are exacerbated by their dual-diagnosis. These findings add to a very limited literature by providing novel evidence of the nature of fluency impairments in dually-diagnosed PFTBI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential effects of deep brain stimulation on verbal fluency.

PubMed

Ehlen, Felicitas; Schoenecker, Thomas; Kühn, Andrea A; Klostermann, Fabian

2014-07-01

We aimed at gaining insights into principles of subcortical lexical processing. Therefore, effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in different target structures on verbal fluency (VF) were tested. VF was assessed with active vs. inactivated DBS in 13 and 14 patients with DBS in the vicinity of the thalamic ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) and, respectively, of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Results were correlated to electrode localizations in postoperative MRI, and compared to those of 12 age-matched healthy controls. Patients' VF performance was generally below normal. However, while activation of DBS in the vicinity of VIM provoked marked VF decline, it induced subtle phonemic VF enhancement in the vicinity of STN. The effects correlated with electrode localizations in left hemispheric stimulation sites. The results show distinct dependencies of VF on DBS in the vicinity of VIM vs. STN. Particular risks for deterioration occur in patients with relatively ventromedial thalamic electrodes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differences in the verbal fluency, working memory and executive functions in alcoholics: Short-term vs. long-term abstainers.

PubMed

Nowakowska-Domagała, Katarzyna; Jabłkowska-Górecka, Karolina; Mokros, Łukasz; Koprowicz, Jacek; Pietras, Tadeusz

2017-03-01

The aim of the study was to assess differences in verbal fluency, working memory and executive functions in two subgroups of alcohol-dependent patients, those undergoing short-term abstinence (STA) and those undergoing long-term abstinence (LTA), and to compare the level of cognitive functions in patients after long-term abstinence with healthy subjects. The study group consisted of 106 alcohol-dependent patients (53 immediately after drinking at least 3 days and 53 after at least one-year abstinence). The control group comprised 53 subjects, whose age, sex and education levels matched those of the patients in the experimental group. The dependence intensity was assessed using SADD and MAST scales. The neuropsychological assessment was based on the FAS Test, Stroop Test and TMT A&B Test. The results obtained for alcohol-dependent patients revealed significant disturbances of cognitive functions. Such results indicate the presence of severe frontal cerebral cortex dysfunctions. Frontal cortex dysfunctions affecting the verbal fluency and working memory subsystems and the executive functions also persisted during long-term abstinence periods. No significant correlations between the duration of dependence, quantity of alcohol consumed and efficiency of the working memory and executive functions were observed in alcohol-dependent subjects after short-term or long-term abstinence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Verbal fluency in research conducted with PET technique under conditions of extended cognitive activation with the use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) tracer.

PubMed

Zając-Lamparska, Ludmiła; Wiłkość, Monika; Markowska, Anita; Laskowska-Levy, Ilona Paulina; Wróbel, Marek; Małkowski, Bogdan

2017-08-29

Functional neuroimaging of the brain is a widely used method to study cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to compare the activity of the brain during performance of the tasks of phonemic and semantic fluency with the paced-overt technique in terms of prolonged activation of the brain. The study included 17 patients aged 20-40 years who were treated in the past for Hodgkin'slymphoma, now in remission. Due to the type of task, the subjectswere divided into two groups. Nine people performed the phonemic fluency task, and eight semantic. Due to the disease, all subjects were subject to neuropsychological diagnosis. The diagnosis of any cognitive impairment was an exclusion criterion. Neuroimaging was performed using PET technique with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) tracer. Performance of a verbal fluency test, regardless of the version of the task, was associated with greater activity of the left hemisphere of the brain. The most involved areas compared with other areas of key importance for the performance of verbal fluency tasks were frontal lobes. An increased activity of parietal structures was also shown. The study did not reveal differences in brain activity depending on the type of task. Performing the test in both phonemic and semantic form for a long time, in terms of increased cognitive control resulting from the test procedure, could result in significant advantage of prefrontal lobe activityin both types of tasks and made it impossible to observe the processes specific to each of them.

The Effects of Divided Attention on Speech Motor, Verbal Fluency, and Manual Task Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dromey, Christopher; Shim, Erin

2008-01-01

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate aspects of the "functional distance hypothesis," which predicts that tasks regulated by brain networks in closer anatomic proximity will interfere more with each other than tasks controlled by spatially distant regions. Speech, verbal fluency, and manual motor tasks were examined to ascertain whether…

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of semantic verbal fluency in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Jaimes-Bautista, A G; Rodríguez-Camacho, M; Martínez-Juárez, I E; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y

2017-08-29

Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) perform poorly on semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks. Completing these tasks successfully involves multiple cognitive processes simultaneously. Therefore, quantitative analysis of SVF (number of correct words in one minute), conducted in most studies, has been found to be insufficient to identify cognitive dysfunction underlying SVF difficulties in TLE. To determine whether a sample of patients with TLE had SVF difficulties compared with a control group (CG), and to identify the cognitive components associated with SVF difficulties using quantitative and qualitative analysis. SVF was evaluated in 25 patients with TLE and 24 healthy controls; the semantic verbal fluency test included 5 semantic categories: animals, fruits, occupations, countries, and verbs. All 5 categories were analysed quantitatively (number of correct words per minute and interval of execution: 0-15, 16-30, 31-45, and 46-60seconds); the categories animals and fruits were also analysed qualitatively (clusters, cluster size, switches, perseverations, and intrusions). Patients generated fewer words for all categories and intervals and fewer clusters and switches for animals and fruits than the CG (P<.01). Differences between groups were not significant in terms of cluster size and number of intrusions and perseverations (P>.05). Our results suggest an association between SVF difficulties in TLE and difficulty activating semantic networks, impaired strategic search, and poor cognitive flexibility. Attention, inhibition, and working memory are preserved in these patients. Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The reliability and convergent and divergent validity of the Ruff Figural Fluency Test in healthy young adults.

PubMed

Ross, Thomas P

2014-12-01

The reliability and validity of standard and qualitative scores for the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT; Ruff, 1988) was examined in 102 healthy undergraduates. Participants (M age = 21.79; SD = 3.7; age = 80% Caucasian) were administered the RFFT and measures assessing executive functions (EF) and other cognitive domains. Inter-scorer reliability was excellent (0.9 range) for most RFFT indices. Test-retest coefficients (M interval = 7 weeks) ranged from 0.64 for the error ratio score to 0.87 for unique designs. RFFT indices correlated with Block Design performance and nonverbal measures of working memory, but were unrelated to measures of verbal fluency, verbal learning, or working memory for verbal material. RFFT novel design output correlated with most measures of EF supporting the convergent validity of this measure. In contrast, correlations between measures of EF and qualitative scores were absent or weak. RFFT score interpretation is discussed in light of relevant models of EF and directions for future research are presented. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Spin exercise improves semantic fluency in previously sedentary older adults.

PubMed

Nocera, Joe R; McGregor, Keith M; Hass, Chris J; Crosson, Bruce

2015-01-01

Studies suggest improvements of neurocognitive function among older adults who undergo aerobic exercise training. This study sought to examine the impact of an aerobic exercise intervention on verbal fluency in sedentary older adults. Twenty community-dwelling older adults were recruited and enrolled in either a spin exercise group or a control condition. Participants were evaluated with an estimated V02max test and on measures of letter, category, and switching verbal fluency both before and after a 12-week intervention period. Spin exercise resulted in a significant improvement in category (semantic) verbal fluency when compared with the control group (15% vs. 2% increase, respectively; P = .001). Spin exercise also resulted in a significant improvement in estimated V02max (P = .005). Also important, the spin exercise group demonstrated a high level of adherence (mean adherence = 82.5%). Spin exercise can be an effective mode of aerobic exercise to improve semantic fluency in previously sedentary older adults.

Characterizing Cognitive Performance in a Large Longitudinal Study of Aging with Computerized Semantic Indices of Verbal Fluency

PubMed Central

Pakhomov, Serguei VS; Eberly, Lynn; Knopman, David

2016-01-01

A computational approach for estimating several indices of performance on the animal category verbal fluency task was validated, and examined in a large longitudinal study of aging. The performance indices included the traditional verbal fluency score, size of semantic clusters, density of repeated words, as well as measures of semantic and lexical diversity. Change over time in these measures was modeled using mixed effects regression in several groups of participants, including those that remained cognitively normal throughout the study (CN) and those that were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia at some point subsequent to the baseline visit. The results of the study show that, with the exception of mean cluster size, the indices showed significantly greater declines in the MCI and AD dementia groups as compared to CN participants. Examination of associations between the indices and cognitive domains of memory, attention and visuospatial functioning showed that the traditional verbal fluency scores were associated with declines in all three domains, whereas semantic and lexical diversity measures were associated with declines only in the visuospatial domain. Baseline repetition density was associated with declines in memory and visuospatial domains. Examination of lexical and semantic diversity measures in subgroups with high vs. low attention scores (but normal functioning in other domains) showed that the performance of individuals with low attention was influenced more by word frequency rather than strength of semantic relatedness between words. These findings suggest that various automatically semantic indices may be used to examine various aspects of cognitive performance affected by dementia. PMID:27245645

[Effect of mental arithmetic and verbal fluency on blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral arteries].

PubMed

Amrein, Ilona; Pálvölgyi, László; Debreczeni, Róbert; Kamondi, Anita; Szirmai, Imre

2004-01-20

Using transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD), changes in blood flow velocity (BFV) can be measured in the Medial Cerebral Artery (MCA) during cognitive effort. Our goal was to define the time-course and laterality of BFV in healthy volunteers during arithmetic and verbal fluency tasks according to handedness. Twelve subjects (8 right-handed, 4 left-handed) were assessed. The TCD registered BFV in both MCA simultaneously. Heart rate was also recorded using TCD. Finally we included a 16-channel EEG. BFV laterality index (LI) was calculated. Participants were asked to count silently and generate words beginning with a specified letter. To estimate hemispheric differences in BFV, two-tailed Wilcoxon tests were utilized along with correlational analyses. During cognitive effort the BFV changed in a tri-phasic manner in all participants. A 6-8% elevation of BFV was observed in MCAs without latency at the time of the evoking signal. Laterality of BFV developed after 5-13 seconds during cognitive effort in right-, and several seconds later in left-handed subjects. During tasks the BFV increased in the dominant hemisphere up to 2.6-4.7% compared to the subdominant one. We also calculated the LI. During the verbal task the LI agreed with the handedness in 9 out of 12 subjects. During the mental arithmetic task, agreement was found in 6 out of 12 subjects. According to LI results we found a discrepancy between verbal and arithmetic tests in 3 out of 12 subjects. Cognitive effort elicites significant bilateral BFV increases in the MCAs, which suggests fast neurogenic regulation. The course of BFV during mental arithmetic proved to be different from course BFV assessed during the word fluency task. Based on the laterality of the BFV, the word-generation task was more sensitive in determining the dominant hemisphere when compared to the mental arithmetic task. The use of LI may help to estimate hemispheric functions even in pathologic circumstances.

Characterizing cognitive performance in a large longitudinal study of aging with computerized semantic indices of verbal fluency.

PubMed

Pakhomov, Serguei V S; Eberly, Lynn; Knopman, David

2016-08-01

A computational approach for estimating several indices of performance on the animal category verbal fluency task was validated, and examined in a large longitudinal study of aging. The performance indices included the traditional verbal fluency score, size of semantic clusters, density of repeated words, as well as measures of semantic and lexical diversity. Change over time in these measures was modeled using mixed effects regression in several groups of participants, including those that remained cognitively normal throughout the study (CN) and those that were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia at some point subsequent to the baseline visit. The results of the study show that, with the exception of mean cluster size, the indices showed significantly greater declines in the MCI and AD dementia groups as compared to CN participants. Examination of associations between the indices and cognitive domains of memory, attention and visuospatial functioning showed that the traditional verbal fluency scores were associated with declines in all three domains, whereas semantic and lexical diversity measures were associated with declines only in the visuospatial domain. Baseline repetition density was associated with declines in memory and visuospatial domains. Examination of lexical and semantic diversity measures in subgroups with high vs. low attention scores (but normal functioning in other domains) showed that the performance of individuals with low attention was influenced more by word frequency rather than strength of semantic relatedness between words. These findings suggest that various automatically semantic indices may be used to examine various aspects of cognitive performance affected by dementia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age and Vascular Burden Determinants of Cortical Hemodynamics Underlying Verbal Fluency.

PubMed

Heinzel, Sebastian; Metzger, Florian G; Ehlis, Ann-Christine; Korell, Robert; Alboji, Ahmed; Haeussinger, Florian B; Wurster, Isabel; Brockmann, Kathrin; Suenkel, Ulrike; Eschweiler, Gerhard W; Maetzler, Walter; Berg, Daniela; Fallgatter, Andreas J

2015-01-01

Aging processes and several vascular burden factors have been shown to increase the risk of dementia including Alzheimer's disease. While pathological alterations in dementia precede diagnosis by many years, reorganization of brain processing might temporarily delay cognitive decline. We hypothesized that in healthy elderly individuals both age-related neural and vascular factors known to be related to the development of dementia impact functional cortical hemodynamics during increased cognitive demands. Vascular burden factors and cortical functional hemodynamics during verbal fluency were assessed in 1052 non-demented elderly individuals (51 to 83 years; cross-sectional data of the longitudinal TREND study) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The prediction of functional hemodynamic responses by age in multiple regressions and the impact of single and cumulative vascular burden factors including hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking and atherosclerosis were investigated. Replicating and extending previous findings we could show that increasing age predicted functional hemodynamics to be increased in right prefrontal and bilateral parietal cortex, and decreased in bilateral inferior frontal junction during phonological fluency. Cumulative vascular burden factors, with hypertension in particular, decreased left inferior frontal junction hemodynamic responses during phonological fluency. However, age and vascular burden factors showed no statistical interaction on functional hemodynamics. Based on these findings, one might hypothesize that increased fronto-parietal processing may represent age-related compensatory reorganization during increased cognitive demands. Vascular burden factors, such as hypertension, may contribute to regional cerebral hypoperfusion. These neural and vascular hemodynamic determinants should be investigated longitudinally and combined with other markers to advance the prediction of future cognitive decline and dementia.

Reduced white matter integrity and verbal fluency impairment in young adults with bipolar disorder: a diffusion tensor imaging study

PubMed Central

Bauer, Isabelle E.; Ouyang, Austin; Mwangi, Benson; Sanches, Marsal; Zunta-Soares, Giovana B.; Keefe, Richard S. E.; Huang, Hao; Soares, Jair C.

2015-01-01

Background Clinical evidence shows that bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by white matter (WM) microstructural abnormalities. However, little is known about the biological mechanisms associated with these abnormalities and their relationship with cognitive functioning. Methods 49 adult BD patients ((M±SD): 29.27 ± 7.92 years; 17 males, 32 females; 34 BD-I, 10 BD-II, and 5 BD-NOS) and 28 age-matched normal subjects ((M±SD): 29.19 ± 7.35 years; 10 males and 18 females) underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) imaging. DTI metrics were computed using whole-brain tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) as part of the FMRIB Software Library. Measures of WM coherence (fractional anisotropy - FA) and axonal structure (mean, axial and radial diffusivity - MD, AD and RD) were employed to characterize the microstructural alterations in the limbic, commissural, association and projection fiber tracts. All participants performed the Brief Assessment of Cognition for Affective disorders (BAC-A). Results BD patients performed poorly on verbal fluency tasks and exhibited large clusters of altered FA, RD and MD values within the retrolenticular part of the internal capsule, the superior and anterior corona radiata, and the corpus callosum. Increased FA values in the left IFOF and the forceps minor correlated positively with verbal fluency scores. Altered RD parameters in the corticospinal tract and the forceps minor were associated with reduced visuomotor abilities. Conclusions The reported verbal fluency deficits and FA, RD and MD alterations in WM structures are potential cognitive and neural markers of BD. Abnormal RD values may be associated with progressive demyelination. PMID:25684152

Genetic architecture of verbal abilities in children and adolescents.

PubMed

Hoekstra, Rosa A; Bartels, Meike; van Leeuwen, Marieke; Boomsma, Dorret I

2009-11-01

The etiology of individual differences in general verbal ability, verbal learning and letter and category fluency were examined in two independent samples of 9- and 18-year-old twin pairs and their siblings. In both age groups, we observed strong familial resemblance for general verbal ability and moderate familial resemblance for verbal learning, letter and category fluency. All familial resemblance was explained by genetic factors. There was significant covariance among the tests, which was stronger in magnitude in the adolescent cohort. The covariance was mainly explained by genetic effects shared by subtests, both in middle childhood and in late adolescence. In addition to a shared set of genes that influenced all phenotypes, there were also genetic influences specific to the different verbal phenotypes.

Dissociative semantic breakdown in Alzheimer's disease: evidence from multiple category fluency test.

PubMed

Ting, Simon Kang Seng; Hameed, Shahul; Earnest, Arul; Tan, Eng-King

2013-07-01

Category-specific semantic dissociation particularly in terms of biological and non-biological dichotomy has been described in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We re-examine above finding by performing multiple superordinate category verbal fluency test in AD patients. We analyze the baseline neuropsychological assessment performance of food and animal fluency test of AD patients from a tertiary hospital that collected prospectively over 5 years period and correlation was calculated by Kappa test. The analysis is stratified according to literacy level (primary: 0-6 years education and secondary: >6 years education) and disease severity (MMSE score: mild 19-24, moderate 13-18 and severe <13). A total of 296 AD patients were analyzed and only fair to moderate agreement between food and animal category fluency test was found especially in the mild AD cases (primary: kappa 0.42; secondary: kappa 0.40). Kappa agreement level increases when disease progress especially in the secondary education group. Food category, which is a more relevant semantic knowledge to Singapore population, is generally more affected. Higher educated subjects appeared to have less semantic dissociation effect when disease progress. Despite less primed in daily life, biological category of semantic knowledge appears to be affected less during AD process in highly urbanized Singapore society. Brain appears to have special protective mechanism towards living things. However, education level seems have a modulation effect towards the biological protective mechanism. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Standardisation of a battery of tests to evaluate language comprehension, verbal fluency and naming skills in Brazilian children between 7 and 10 years of age: preliminary findings].

PubMed

Malloy-Diniz, L Fernandes; Bentes, R C; Figuereido, P M; Brandao-Bretas, D; da Costa-Abrantes, S; Parizzi, A M; Borges-Leite, W; Salgado, J V

The neuropsychological assessment of language requires instruments that evaluate its receptive and expressive aspects. Due to cultural discrepancies, the use of neuropsychological tests demands normalization studies to the population in which they will be used. To provide normative data for Brazilian schoolchildren in relation to the Token Test, Semantic Verbal Fluency Test and the Minas Gerais Naming Test (animals, body parts and food categories). 101 children (51 males, 50 females) with ages between 7 to 10 years (mean: 8 years and 8 months), with 2 to 4 years of formal education. Exclusion criteria included score below 25 percentile in the Raven Test. RESULTS. There were no differences between male and female performance. Age was significantly related to performance in all tests. The results are compatible to the literature and, thought preliminary, they may be used as reference in research and clinical settings in our country.

Comparison of Animal, Action and Phonemic Fluency in Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Milman, Lisa

2018-01-01

Background: The ability to generate words that follow certain constraints, or verbal fluency, is a sensitive indicator of neurocognitive impairment, and is impacted by a variety of variables. Aims: To investigate the effect of post-stroke aphasia, elicitation category and linguistic variables on verbal fluency performance. Methods &…

Elevated peripheral cytokines characterize a subgroup of people with schizophrenia displaying poor verbal fluency and reduced Broca's area volume

PubMed Central

Fillman, S G; Weickert, T W; Lenroot, R K; Catts, S V; Bruggemann, J M; Catts, V S; Weickert, C S

2016-01-01

Previous studies on schizophrenia have detected elevated cytokines in both brain and blood, suggesting neuroinflammation may contribute to the pathophysiology in some cases. We aimed to determine the extent to which elevated peripheral cytokine messenger RNA (mRNA) expression: (1) characterizes a subgroup of people with schizophrenia and (2) shows a relationship to cognition, brain volume and/or symptoms. Forty-three outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and matched healthy controls were assessed for peripheral cytokine mRNAs (interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-18), intelligence quotient, memory and verbal fluency, symptom severity and cortical brain volumes integral to language (that is, Broca's and Wernicke's areas). IL-1β mRNA levels were 28% increased in schizophrenia compared with controls (t(82)=2.64, P<0.01). Using a two-step clustering procedure, we identified a subgroup of people displaying relatively elevated cytokine mRNA levels (17/43 people with schizophrenia and 9/42 controls). Individuals with schizophrenia in the elevated cytokine subgroup performed significantly worse than the low-cytokine subgroup on verbal fluency (F(1,40)=15.7, P<0.001). There was a 17% volume reduction of the left pars opercularis (POp) (Broca's area) in patients with elevated cytokines compared with patients with lower cytokines (F(1,29)=9.41, P=0.005). Negative linear relationships between IL-1β mRNA levels and both verbal fluency and left POp volume were found in schizophrenia. This study is among the first to link blood biomarkers of inflammation with both cognitive deficits and brain volume reductions in people with schizophrenia, supporting that those with elevated cytokines represent a neurobiologically meaningful subgroup. These findings raise the possibility that targeted anti-inflammatory treatments may ameliorate cognitive and brain morphological abnormalities in some people with schizophrenia. PMID:26194183

Phonological fluency strategy of switching differentiates relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients.

PubMed

Messinis, L; Kosmidis, M H; Vlahou, C; Malegiannaki, A C; Gatzounis, G; Dimisianos, N; Karra, A; Kiosseoglou, G; Gourzis, P; Papathanasopoulos, P

2013-01-01

The strategies used to perform a verbal fluency task appear to be reflective of cognitive abilities necessary for successful daily functioning. In the present study, we explored potential differences in verbal fluency strategies (switching and clustering) used to maximize word production by patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) versus patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). We further assessed impairment rates and potential differences in the sensitivity and specificity of phonological versus semantic verbal fluency tasks in discriminating between those with a diagnosis of MS and healthy adults. We found that the overall rate of impaired verbal fluency in our MS sample was consistent with that in other studies. However, we found no differences between types of MS (SPMS, RRMS), on semantic or phonological fluency word production, or the strategies used to maximize semantic fluency. In contrast, we found that the number of switches differed significantly in the phonological fluency task between the SPMS and RRMS subtypes. The clinical utility of semantic versus phonological fluency in discriminating MS patients from healthy controls did not indicate any significant differences. Further, the strategies used to maximize performance did not differentiate MS subgroups or MS patients from healthy controls.

Semantic Verbal Fluency in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: Relationship with Chronological Age and IQ

PubMed Central

Pastor-Cerezuela, Gemma; Fernández-Andrés, Maria-Inmaculada; Feo-Álvarez, Mireia; González-Sala, Francisco

2016-01-01

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. PMID:27379002

Fully Automatic Speech-Based Analysis of the Semantic Verbal Fluency Task.

PubMed

König, Alexandra; Linz, Nicklas; Tröger, Johannes; Wolters, Maria; Alexandersson, Jan; Robert, Phillipe

2018-06-08

Semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tests are routinely used in screening for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this task, participants name as many items as possible of a semantic category under a time constraint. Clinicians measure task performance manually by summing the number of correct words and errors. More fine-grained variables add valuable information to clinical assessment, but are time-consuming. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether automatic analysis of the SVF could provide these as accurate as manual and thus, support qualitative screening of neurocognitive impairment. SVF data were collected from 95 older people with MCI (n = 47), Alzheimer's or related dementias (ADRD; n = 24), and healthy controls (HC; n = 24). All data were annotated manually and automatically with clusters and switches. The obtained metrics were validated using a classifier to distinguish HC, MCI, and ADRD. Automatically extracted clusters and switches were highly correlated (r = 0.9) with manually established values, and performed as well on the classification task separating HC from persons with ADRD (area under curve [AUC] = 0.939) and MCI (AUC = 0.758). The results show that it is possible to automate fine-grained analyses of SVF data for the assessment of cognitive decline. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Sex and performance level effects on brain activation during a verbal fluency task: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Gauthier, Christophe T; Duyme, Michel; Zanca, Michel; Capron, Christiane

2009-02-01

Neuroimaging studies investigating the neural correlates of verbal fluency (VF) focused on sex differences without taking into account behavioural variation. Nevertheless, group differences in this verbal ability might account for neurocognitive differences elicited between men and women. The aim of this study was to test sex and performance level effects and the combination of these on cerebral activation. Four samples of 11 healthy students (N=44) selected on the basis of sex and contrasted VF scores, high fluency (HF) versus low fluency (LF), performed a covert phonological VF task during scans. Within- and between-group analyses were conducted. Consistent with previous studies, for each sample, the whole-group analysis reported activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial frontal gyrus (mFG), superior (SPL) and inferior parietal lobules (IPL), inferior visual areas, cerebellum, thalamus and basal ganglia. Between-group analyses showed an interaction between sexes and performances in the right precuneus, left ACC, right IFG and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). HF men showed more activation than LF ones in the right precuneus and left dlPFC. LF men showed more activation in the right IFG than HF ones and LF women elicited more activation in the left ACC than HF ones. A sex main effect was found regardless of performance in the left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), cerebellum, anterior and posterior cingulate cortexes and in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and dlPFC, lingual gyrus and ACC, with men eliciting significantly greater activations than women. A performance main effect was found for the left ACC and the left cerebellum regardless of sex. LF subjects had stronger activations than HF ones in the ACC whereas HF subjects showed stronger activations in the cerebellum. Activity in three discrete subregions of the ACC is related to sex, performance and their interaction, respectively. Our

The absoluteness of semantic processing: lessons from the analysis of temporal clusters in phonemic verbal fluency.

PubMed

Vonberg, Isabelle; Ehlen, Felicitas; Fromm, Ortwin; Klostermann, Fabian

2014-01-01

For word production, we may consciously pursue semantic or phonological search strategies, but it is uncertain whether we can retrieve the different aspects of lexical information independently from each other. We therefore studied the spread of semantic information into words produced under exclusively phonemic task demands. 42 subjects participated in a letter verbal fluency task, demanding the production of as many s-words as possible in two minutes. Based on curve fittings for the time courses of word production, output spurts (temporal clusters) considered to reflect rapid lexical retrieval based on automatic activation spread, were identified. Semantic and phonemic word relatedness within versus between these clusters was assessed by respective scores (0 meaning no relation, 4 maximum relation). Subjects produced 27.5 (±9.4) words belonging to 6.7 (±2.4) clusters. Both phonemically and semantically words were more related within clusters than between clusters (phon: 0.33±0.22 vs. 0.19±0.17, p<.01; sem: 0.65±0.29 vs. 0.37±0.29, p<.01). Whereas the extent of phonemic relatedness correlated with high task performance, the contrary was the case for the extent of semantic relatedness. The results indicate that semantic information spread occurs, even if the consciously pursued word search strategy is purely phonological. This, together with the negative correlation between semantic relatedness and verbal output suits the idea of a semantic default mode of lexical search, acting against rapid task performance in the given scenario of phonemic verbal fluency. The simultaneity of enhanced semantic and phonemic word relatedness within the same temporal cluster boundaries suggests an interaction between content and sound-related information whenever a new semantic field has been opened.

Interference control, working memory, concept shifting, and verbal fluency in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

PubMed

Marchetta, Natalie D J; Hurks, Petra P M; Krabbendam, Lydia; Jolles, Jelle

2008-01-01

In this study, the authors aimed to examine 4 domains of executive functioning in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)--namely interference control, concept shifting, verbal fluency, and verbal working memory. Four groups of participants were included: (a) adults diagnosed with ADHD (ADHD-super(-); n = 20), (b) adults diagnosed with both ADHD and 1 or more comorbid disorder(s) (ADHD-super(+); n = 22), (c) adults referred for ADHD because of ADHD symptomatology but not diagnosed as such (non-ADHD; n = 34), and (d) healthy controls (n = 136). ADHD-related deficits (independent of comorbidity) were revealed for concept shifting and verbal working memory. In addition, the ADHD-super(+) and non-ADHD groups displayed deficits in terms of general processing speed. Given that these deficits were not found in the ADHD-super(-) group, the authors contend that these deficits are likely attributable to comorbidity rather than ADHD itself. Contrary to the authors' expectations, these findings do not correspond with the cognitive subtype hypothesis.

Neural correlates of rhyming vs. lexical and semantic fluency.

PubMed

Kircher, Tilo; Nagels, Arne; Kirner-Veselinovic, André; Krach, Sören

2011-05-19

Rhyming words, as in songs or poems, is a universal feature of human language across all ages. In the present fMRI study a novel overt rhyming task was applied to determine the neural correlates of rhyme production. Fifteen right-handed healthy male volunteers participated in this verbal fluency study. Participants were instructed to overtly articulate as many words as possible either to a given initial letter (LVF) or to a semantic category (SVF). During the rhyming verbal fluency task (RVF), participants had to generate words that rhymed with pseudoword stimuli. On-line overt verbal responses were audiotaped in order to correct the imaging results for the number of generated words. Fewer words were generated in the rhyming compared to both the lexical and the semantic condition. On a neural level, all language tasks activated a language network encompassing the left inferior frontal gyrus, the middle and superior temporal gyri as well as the contralateral right cerebellum. Rhyming verbal fluency compared to both lexical and semantic verbal fluency demonstrated significantly stronger activation of left inferior parietal region. Generating novel rhyme words seems to be mainly mediated by the left inferior parietal lobe, a region previously found to be associated with meta-phonological as well as sub-lexical linguistic processes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gender effects of the COMT Val 158 Met genotype on verbal fluency in healthy adults.

PubMed

Soeiro-De-Souza, Marcio Gerhardt; Bio, Danielle Soares; David, Denise Petresco; Missio, Giovani; Lima, Bruno; Fernandes, Fernando; Machado-Vieira, Rodrigo; Moreno, Ricardo Alberto

2013-09-01

Cognitive performance in healthy individuals is associated with gender differences in specific tests; a female advantage has been demonstrated in language tests, whereas a male advantage has been demonstrated in spatial relation examinations. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediates important cognitive domains and is influenced by dopamine (DA) activity. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4680 in the catechol‑O‑methyltransferase (COMT) gene results in an amino acid substitution from valine (Val) to methionine (Met). The Met allele has been demonstrated to decrease COMT enzyme activity and improve PFC cognitive function. COMT regulates DA activity in the PFC and exhibits gender effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the gender‑specific effects of the COMT genotype on cognition in healthy young adults. Seventy‑six healthy subjects were genotyped for COMT rs4680 and submitted to an extensive range of neuropsychological tests assessing aspects of PFC function. The COMT Met allele influenced the performance of executive function. The results revealed gender effects of the COMT rs4680 Met allele on verbal fluency, with positive effects in males and negative effects in females. This suggested that DA activity affects cognitive function in different ways, according to gender.

Linguistic and Cultural Factors Associated with Phonemic Fluency Performance in Bilingual Hispanics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Jennifer

2012-01-01

Verbal fluency tasks are used extensively in clinical settings because of their sensitivity to a wide variety of disorders, including cognitive decline and dementia, and their usefulness in differential diagnoses. However, the effects of bilingualism on neuropsychological assessment, and verbal fluency in particular, are currently not completely…

Second language as a compensatory resource for maintaining verbal fluency in bilingual immigrants with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Smirnova, D; Walters, J; Fine, J; Muchnik-Rozanov, Y; Paz, M; Lerner, V; Belmaker, R H; Bersudsky, Y

2015-08-01

Due to the large migrations over the past three decades, large numbers of individuals with schizophrenia are learning a second language and being seen in clinics in that second language. We conducted within-subject comparisons to clarify the contribution of clinical, linguistic and bilingual features in the first and second languages of bilinguals with schizophrenia. Ten bilingual Russian(L1) and Hebrew(L2) proficient patients, who developed clinical schizophrenia after achieving proficiency in both languages, were selected from 60 candidates referred for the study; they were resident in Israel 7-32 years with 3-10 years from immigration to diagnosis. Clinical, linguistic and fluency markers were coded in transcripts of clinical interviews. There was a trend toward more verbal productivity in the first language (L1) than the second language (L2). Clinical speech markers associated with thought disorder and cognitive impairment (blocking and topic shift) were similar in both languages. Among linguistic markers of schizophrenia, Incomplete syntax and Speech role reference were significantly more frequent in L2 than L1; Lexical repetition and Unclear reference demonstrated a trend in the same direction. For fluency phenomena, Discourse markers were more prevalent in L1 than L2, and Codeswitching was similar across languages, showing that the patients were attuned to the socio-pragmatics of language use. More frequent linguistic markers of schizophrenia in L2 show more impairment in the syntactic/semantic components of language, reflecting greater thought and cognitive dysfunction. Patients are well able to acquire a second language. Nevertheless, schizophrenia finds expression in that language. Finally, more frequent fluency markers in L1 suggests motivation to maintain fluency, evidenced in particular by codeswitched L2 lexical items, a compensatory resource. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual perception can account for the close relation between numerosity processing and computational fluency.

PubMed

Zhou, Xinlin; Wei, Wei; Zhang, Yiyun; Cui, Jiaxin; Chen, Chuansheng

2015-01-01

Studies have shown that numerosity processing (e.g., comparison of numbers of dots in two dot arrays) is significantly correlated with arithmetic performance. Researchers have attributed this association to the fact that both tasks share magnitude processing. The current investigation tested an alternative hypothesis, which states that visual perceptual ability (as measured by a figure-matching task) can account for the close relation between numerosity processing and arithmetic performance (computational fluency). Four hundred and twenty four third- to fifth-grade children (220 boys and 204 girls, 8.0-11.0 years old; 120 third graders, 146 fourth graders, and 158 fifth graders) were recruited from two schools (one urban and one suburban) in Beijing, China. Six classes were randomly selected from each school, and all students in each selected class participated in the study. All children were given a series of cognitive and mathematical tests, including numerosity comparison, figure matching, forward verbal working memory, visual tracing, non-verbal matrices reasoning, mental rotation, choice reaction time, arithmetic tests and curriculum-based mathematical achievement test. Results showed that figure-matching ability had higher correlations with numerosity processing and computational fluency than did other cognitive factors (e.g., forward verbal working memory, visual tracing, non-verbal matrix reasoning, mental rotation, and choice reaction time). More important, hierarchical multiple regression showed that figure matching ability accounted for the well-established association between numerosity processing and computational fluency. In support of the visual perception hypothesis, the results suggest that visual perceptual ability, rather than magnitude processing, may be the shared component of numerosity processing and arithmetic performance.

Semantic Fluency in Aphasia: Clustering and Switching in the Course of 1 Minute

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bose, Arpita; Wood, Rosalind; Kiran, Swathi

2017-01-01

Background: Verbal fluency tasks are included in a broad range of aphasia assessments. It is well documented that people with aphasia (PWA) produce fewer items in these tasks. Successful performance on verbal fluency relies on the integrity of both linguistic and executive control abilities. It remains unclear if limited output in aphasia is…

Visual perception can account for the close relation between numerosity processing and computational fluency

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xinlin; Wei, Wei; Zhang, Yiyun; Cui, Jiaxin; Chen, Chuansheng

2015-01-01

Studies have shown that numerosity processing (e.g., comparison of numbers of dots in two dot arrays) is significantly correlated with arithmetic performance. Researchers have attributed this association to the fact that both tasks share magnitude processing. The current investigation tested an alternative hypothesis, which states that visual perceptual ability (as measured by a figure-matching task) can account for the close relation between numerosity processing and arithmetic performance (computational fluency). Four hundred and twenty four third- to fifth-grade children (220 boys and 204 girls, 8.0–11.0 years old; 120 third graders, 146 fourth graders, and 158 fifth graders) were recruited from two schools (one urban and one suburban) in Beijing, China. Six classes were randomly selected from each school, and all students in each selected class participated in the study. All children were given a series of cognitive and mathematical tests, including numerosity comparison, figure matching, forward verbal working memory, visual tracing, non-verbal matrices reasoning, mental rotation, choice reaction time, arithmetic tests and curriculum-based mathematical achievement test. Results showed that figure-matching ability had higher correlations with numerosity processing and computational fluency than did other cognitive factors (e.g., forward verbal working memory, visual tracing, non-verbal matrix reasoning, mental rotation, and choice reaction time). More important, hierarchical multiple regression showed that figure matching ability accounted for the well-established association between numerosity processing and computational fluency. In support of the visual perception hypothesis, the results suggest that visual perceptual ability, rather than magnitude processing, may be the shared component of numerosity processing and arithmetic performance. PMID:26441740

Analysis of Speech Fluency in Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossi, Natalia Freitas; Sampaio, Adriana; Goncalves, Oscar F.; Giacheti, Celia Maria

2011-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder, often referred as being characterized by dissociation between verbal and non-verbal abilities, although the number of studies disputing this proposal is emerging. Indeed, although they have been traditionally reported as displaying increased speech fluency, this topic has not been…

Clustering and switching processes in semantic verbal fluency in the course of Alzheimer's disease subjects: results from the PAQUID longitudinal study.

PubMed

Raoux, Nadine; Amieva, Hélène; Le Goff, Mélanie; Auriacombe, Sophie; Carcaillon, Laure; Letenneur, Luc; Dartigues, Jean-François

2008-10-01

Reduced semantic fluency performances have been reported in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To investigate the cognitive processes underlying this early deficit, this study analyzed the verbal production of predemented subjects for the animals category with the qualitative parameters related to clustering (i.e. the ability to generate words belonging to semantic subcategories of animals) and switching (i.e. the ability to shift from one subcategory to another) proposed by Troyer. This qualitative analysis was applied to the PAQUID (Personnes Agées QUID) cohort, a 17-year longitudinal population-based study. The performances on the animal verbal fluency task of 51 incident cases of possible and probable AD were analyzed at the onset of dementia, 2 years and 5 years before dementia onset. Each case was matched for age, sex and education to two control subjects leading to a sample of 153 subjects. The mean cluster size and the raw number of switches were compared in the two samples. The results revealed a significantly lower switching index in the future AD subjects than in the elderly controls including 5 years before dementia incidence. A significant decline in this parameter was evidenced all along the prodromal phase until the clinical diagnosis of dementia. In contrast, the mean cluster size could not discriminate the two groups. Therefore the results support the hypothesis that impaired shifting abilities - rather than semantic memory storage degradation - could explain the early decline in semantic fluency performance occurring in the predementia phase of AD.

Concurrent Validity of the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Sherry Mee; McCallum, R. Steve; Burton, Bobbie; Gray, Rebecca; Windingstad, Sunny; Moore, Jessica

2006-01-01

Relationships between the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Hammill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004), a recently developed measure of fluency, and other operationalizations of reading, including subtests from the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS; 1996), and the Woodcock-Johnson-III Tests of Achievement, (WJ-III; Woodcock,…

A neuropsychological study of personality: trait openness in relation to intelligence, fluency, and executive functioning.

PubMed

Schretlen, David J; van der Hulst, Egberdina-Józefa; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Gordon, Barry

2010-12-01

Openness is a personality trait that has been linked to intelligence and divergent thinking. DeYoung, Peterson, and Higgins (2005) theorized that trait Openness depends on dopamine function, especially in the prefrontal cortex. We tested their theory in 335 healthy adults by hypothesizing that individual differences in Openness would correlate more strongly with performance on tests of executive function than on tests of intelligence and fluency. However, Openness correlated more strongly with verbal/crystallized intelligence (Gc; r = .44) than with executive functioning (r = .16) and fluency (r = .24). Further, the partial correlation between Openness and Gc increased from r = .26 among young adults to r = .53 among elderly adults. These findings suggest that Openness is more closely associated with the acquisition of broad verbal intellectual skills and knowledge than with executive abilities localized to a specific brain region or neurotransmitter system.

Verbal and visual divergent thinking in aging.

PubMed

Palmiero, Massimiliano; Nori, Raffaella; Piccardi, Laura

2017-04-01

According to the peak and decline model divergent thinking declines at a specific age (in or after middle age). However, if divergent thinking declines steadily in aging still has to be clarified. In order to explore the age-related changes in verbal and visual divergent thinking, in the present study a sample of 159 participants was divided in five age groups: young adults (18-35 years), middle-aged adults (36-55), young old (56-74), old (75-85) and the oldest-old (86-98). Two divergent thinking tasks were administered: the alternative uses for cardboard boxes, aimed at assessing verbal ideational fluency, flexibility and originality; the completion drawing task, aimed at assessing visual ideational fluency, flexibility and originality. Results showed that after peaking in the young adult group (20-35 years) all components of verbal and visual divergent thinking stabilized in the middle-aged adult group (36-55 years) and then started declining in the young old group (56-75). Interestingly, all components were found to be preserved after declining. Yet, verbal and visual divergent thinking were found at the same extent across age groups, with the exception of visual ideational fluency, that was higher in the young old group, the old group and the oldest-old group than verbal ideational fluency. These results support the idea that divergent thinking does not decline steadily in the elderly. Given that older people can preserve to some extent verbal and visual divergent thinking, these findings have important implications for active aging, that is, divergent thinking might be fostered in aging in order to prevent the cognitive decline.

Functional connectivity in resting state as a phonemic fluency ability measure.

PubMed

Miró-Padilla, Anna; Bueichekú, Elisenda; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Palomar-García, María-Ángeles; Ávila, César

2017-03-01

There is some evidence that functional connectivity (FC) measures obtained at rest may reflect individual differences in cognitive capabilities. We tested this possibility by using the FAS test as a measure of phonemic fluency. Seed regions of the main brain areas involved in this task were extracted from meta-analysis results (Wagner et al., 2014) and used for pairwise resting-state FC analysis. Ninety-three undergraduates completed the FAS test outside the scanner. A correlation analysis was conducted between the F-A-S scores (behavioral testing) and the pairwise FC pattern of verbal fluency regions of interest. Results showed that the higher FC between the thalamus and the cerebellum, and the lower FCs between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right insula and between the supplementary motor area and the right insula were associated with better performance on the FAS test. Regression analyses revealed that the first two FCs contributed independently to this better phonemic fluency, reflecting a more general attentional factor (FC between thalamus and cerebellum) and a more specific fluency factor (FC between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right insula). The results support the Spontaneous Trait Reactivation hypothesis, which explains how resting-state derived measures may reflect individual differences in cognitive abilities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Verbal fluency in elderly with and without hypertension and diabetes from the FIBRA study in Ermelino Matarazzo

PubMed Central

Morelli, Nathalia Lais; Cachioni, Meire; Lopes, Andrea; Batistoni, Samila Sathler Tavares; Falcão, Deusivania Vieira da Silva; Neri, Anita Liberalesso; Yassuda, Monica Sanches

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT. Background: There are few studies on the qualitative variables derived from the animal category verbal fluency test (VF), especially with data originating from low-income samples of community-based studies. Objective: To compare elderly with and without hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM) regarding the total number of animals spoken, number of categories, groups and category switches on the VF test. Methods: We used the database of the FIBRA (Frailty in Brazilian Elderly) community-based study. The variables number of Categories, Groups and Category Switches were created for each participant. The total sample (n = 384) was divided into groups of elderly who reported having HTN, DM, both HTN and DM, or neither of these conditions. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups with and without these chronic diseases for VF total score or for the qualitative variables. Conclusion: Among independent community-dwelling elderly, the qualitative variables derived from the VF animal category may not add information regarding the cognitive profile of elderly with chronic diseases. Total VF score and the qualitative variables Category, Group and Switching did not differentiate elderly with and without HTN and DM. PMID:29354222

Analysis of brief language tests in the detection of cognitive decline and dementia

PubMed Central

Radanovic, Marcia; Carthery-Goulart, Maria Teresa; Charchat-Fichman, Helenice; Herrera Jr., Emílio; Lima, Edson Erasmo Pereira; Smid, Jerusa; Porto, Cláudia Sellitto; Nitrini, Ricardo

2007-01-01

Lexical access difficulties are frequent in normal aging and initial stages of dementia.Verbal fluency tests are valuable to detect cognitive decline, evidencing lexico-semantic and executive dysfunction. Objectives To establish which language tests can contribute in detecting dementia and to verify schooling influence on subject performance. Method 74 subjects: 33 controls, 17 Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) 0.5 and 24 (Brief Cognitive Battery - BCB e Boston Naming Test - BNT) 1 were compared in tests of semantic verbal fluency (animal and fruit), picture naming (BCB and BNT) and the language items of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results There were significant differences between the control group and both CDR 0.5 and CDR 1 in all tests. Cut-off scores were: 11 and 10 for animal fluency, 8 for fruit fluency (in both), 8 and 9 for BCB naming. The CDR 0.5 group performed better than the CDR 1 group only in animal fluency. Stepwise multiple regression revealed fruit fluency, animal fluency and BCB naming as the best discriminators between patients and controls (specificity: 93.8%; sensitivity: 91.3%). In controls, comparison between illiterates and literates evidenced schooling influence in all tests, except for fruit fluency and BCB naming. In patients with dementia, only fruit fluency was uninfluenced by schooling. Conclusion The combination of verbal fluency tests in two semantic categories along with a simple picture naming test is highly sensitive in detecting cognitive decline. Comparison between literate and illiterate subjects shows a lesser degree of influence of schooling on the selected tests, thus improving discrimination between low performance and incipient cognitive decline. PMID:29213366

Relation between Approximate Number System Acuity and Mathematical Achievement: The Influence of Fluency

PubMed Central

Wang, Li; Sun, Yuhua; Zhou, Xinlin

2016-01-01

Previous studies have observed inconsistent relations between the acuity of the Approximate Number System (ANS) and mathematical achievement. In this paper, we hypothesize that the relation between ANS acuity and mathematical achievement is influenced by fluency; that is, the mathematical achievement test covering a greater expanse of mathematical fluency may better reflect the relation between ANS acuity and mathematics skills. We explored three types of mathematical achievement tests utilized in this study: Subtraction, graded, and semester-final examination. The subtraction test was designed to measure the mathematical fluency. The graded test was more fluency-based than the semester-final examination, but both involved the same mathematical knowledge from the class curriculum. A total of 219 fifth graders from primary schools were asked to perform all three tests, then given a numerosity comparison task, a visual form perception task (figure matching), and a series of other tasks to assess general cognitive processes (mental rotation, non-verbal matrix reasoning, and choice reaction time). The findings were consistent with our expectations. The relation between ANS acuity and mathematical achievement was particularly clearly reflected in the participants’ performance on the visual form perception task, which supports the domain-general explanations for the underlying mechanisms of the relation between ANS acuity and math achievement. PMID:28066291

The Relations Among Oral and Silent Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Middle School: Implications for Identification and Instruction of Students With Reading Difficulties

PubMed Central

Denton, Carolyn A.; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Sharon; Cirino, Paul T.; Romain, Melissa; Francis, David J.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among oral and silent reading fluency and reading comprehension for students in Grades 6 to 8 (n = 1,421) and the use of fluency scores to identify middle school students who are at risk for failure on a high-stakes reading test. Results indicated moderate positive relations between measures of fluency and comprehension. Oral reading fluency (ORF) on passages was more strongly related to reading comprehension than ORF on word lists. A group-administered silent reading sentence verification test approximated the classification accuracy of individually administered ORF passages. The correlation between a maze task and comprehension was weaker than has been reported for elementary students. The best predictor of a high-stakes reading comprehension test was the previous year’s administration of the grade-appropriate test; fluency and verbal knowledge measures accounted for only small amounts of unique variance beyond that accounted for by the previous year’s administration. PMID:21637727

Fluency Effects in Recognition Memory: Are Perceptual Fluency and Conceptual Fluency Interchangeable?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanska, Meredith; Olds, Justin M.; Westerman, Deanne L.

2014-01-01

On a recognition memory test, both perceptual and conceptual fluency can engender a sense of familiarity and elicit recognition memory illusions. To date, perceptual and conceptual fluency have been studied separately but are they interchangeable in terms of their influence on recognition judgments? Five experiments compared the effect of…

The Use of Profanity During Letter Fluency Tasks in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

PubMed Central

Ringman, John M.; Kwon, Eunice; Flores, Deborah L.; Rotko, Carol; Mendez, Mario F.; Lu, Po

2012-01-01

Objective To assess whether the production of profanity during letter fluency testing distinguishes frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Background Alterations in language and social behavior typify FTD spectrum disorders. Nonetheless, in can be difficult to distinguish pathologically-defined frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) from AD clinically. Assessing verbal fluency by having patients generate as many words as they can beginning with specific letters in a given period of time can yield diverse information of diagnostic utility. Method Words produced during FAS letter fluency testing were reviewed and instances of the use of "f*ck", "*ss", and "sh*t" and other words felt to be inappropriate were sought. The frequency of these words was compared between clinically diagnosed FTD and AD patients using chi-square tests. Results We found that 6/32 (18.8%) patients with FTD generated the word "f*ck" during the "F" trial as opposed to none of 38 patients with AD (p = 0.007). Patients who said "f*ck" had diagnoses of either behavioral variant FTD (3/15), progressive non-fluent aphasia (2/8), or semantic dementia (1/3). Conclusions Though the specific neuropathology in these cases is uncertain, generation of "f*ck" during letter fluency testing appears to have utility in differentiating FTD from AD. PMID:20829665

Oral Reading Fluency as a Predictor of Silent Reading Fluency at Secondary and Postsecondary Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seok, Soonhwa; DaCosta, Boaventura

2014-01-01

This research investigated oral reading fluency as a predictor of silent reading fluency at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Several measures were used, including the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, and the Reading Observation Scale. A total of 223 students…

Verbal and visuospatial working memory as predictors of children's reading ability.

PubMed

Pham, Andy V; Hasson, Ramzi M

2014-08-01

Children with reading difficulties often demonstrate weaknesses in working memory (WM). This research study explored the relation between two WM systems (verbal and visuospatial WM) and reading ability in a sample of school-aged children with a wide range of reading skills. Children (N = 157), ages 9-12, were administered measures of short-term memory, verbal WM, visuospatial WM, and reading measures (e.g., reading fluency and comprehension). Although results indicated that verbal WM was a stronger predictor in reading fluency and comprehension, visuospatial WM also significantly predicted reading skills, but provided more unique variance in reading comprehension than reading fluency. These findings suggest that visuospatial WM may play a significant role in higher level reading processes, particularly in reading comprehension, than previously thought. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The relationship of global form and motion detection to reading fluency.

PubMed

Englund, Julia A; Palomares, Melanie

2012-08-15

Visual motion processing in typical and atypical readers has suggested aspects of reading and motion processing share a common cortical network rooted in dorsal visual areas. Few studies have examined the relationship between reading performance and visual form processing, which is mediated by ventral cortical areas. We investigated whether reading fluency correlates with coherent motion detection thresholds in typically developing children using random dot kinematograms. As a comparison, we also evaluated the correlation between reading fluency and static form detection thresholds. Results show that both dorsal and ventral visual functions correlated with components of reading fluency, but that they have different developmental characteristics. Motion coherence thresholds correlated with reading rate and accuracy, which both improved with chronological age. Interestingly, when controlling for non-verbal abilities and age, reading accuracy significantly correlated with thresholds for coherent form detection but not coherent motion detection in typically developing children. Dorsal visual functions that mediate motion coherence seem to be related maturation of broad cognitive functions including non-verbal abilities and reading fluency. However, ventral visual functions that mediate form coherence seem to be specifically related to accurate reading in typically developing children. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Musical practice and cognitive aging: two cross-sectional studies point to phonemic fluency as a potential candidate for a use-dependent adaptation.

PubMed

Fauvel, Baptiste; Groussard, Mathilde; Mutlu, Justine; Arenaza-Urquijo, Eider M; Eustache, Francis; Desgranges, Béatrice; Platel, Hervé

2014-01-01

Because of permanent use-dependent brain plasticity, all lifelong individuals' experiences are believed to influence the cognitive aging quality. In older individuals, both former and current musical practices have been associated with better verbal skills, visual memory, processing speed, and planning function. This work sought for an interaction between musical practice and cognitive aging by comparing musician and non-musician individuals for two lifetime periods (middle and late adulthood). Long-term memory, auditory-verbal short-term memory, processing speed, non-verbal reasoning, and verbal fluencies were assessed. In Study 1, measures of processing speed and auditory-verbal short-term memory were significantly better performed by musicians compared with controls, but both groups displayed the same age-related differences. For verbal fluencies, musicians scored higher than controls and displayed different age effects. In Study 2, we found that lifetime period at training onset (childhood vs. adulthood) was associated with phonemic, but not semantic, fluency performances (musicians who had started to practice in adulthood did not perform better on phonemic fluency than non-musicians). Current frequency of training did not account for musicians' scores on either of these two measures. These patterns of results are discussed by setting the hypothesis of a transformative effect of musical practice against a non-causal explanation.

The effect of the COMT val(158)met polymorphism on neural correlates of semantic verbal fluency.

PubMed

Krug, Axel; Markov, Valentin; Sheldrick, Abigail; Krach, Sören; Jansen, Andreas; Zerres, Klaus; Eggermann, Thomas; Stöcker, Tony; Shah, N Jon; Kircher, Tilo

2009-12-01

Variation in the val(158)met polymorphism of the COMT gene has been found to be associated with cognitive performance. In functional neuroimaging studies, this dysfunction has been linked to signal changes in prefrontal areas. Given the complex modulation and functional heterogeneity of frontal lobe systems, further specification of COMT gene-related phenotypes differing in prefrontally mediated cognitive performance are of major interest. Eighty healthy individuals (54 men, 26 women; mean age 23.3 years) performed an overt semantic verbal fluency task while brain activation was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). COMT val(158)met genotype was determined and correlated with brain activation measured with fMRI during the task. Although there were no differences in performance, brain activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus [Brodmann area 10] was positively correlated with the number of val alleles in the COMT gene. COMT val(158)met status modulates brain activation during the language production on a semantic level in an area related to executive functions.

Two mechanisms of constructive recollection: Perceptual recombination and conceptual fluency.

PubMed

Doss, Manoj K; Bluestone, Maximilian R; Gallo, David A

2016-11-01

Recollection is constructive and prone to distortion, but the mechanisms through which recollections can become embellished with rich yet illusory details are still debated. According to the conceptual fluency hypothesis, abstract semantic or conceptual activation increases the familiarity of a nonstudied event, causing one to falsely attribute imagined features to actual perception. In contrast, according to the perceptual recombination hypothesis, details from actually perceived events are partially recollected and become erroneously bound to a nonstudied event, again causing a detailed yet false recollection. Here, we report the first experiments aimed at disentangling these 2 mechanisms. Participants imagined pictures of common objects, and then they saw an actual picture of some of the imagined objects. We next presented misinformation associated with these studied items, designed to increase conceptual fluency (i.e., semantically related words) or perceptual recombination (i.e., perceptually similar picture fragments). Finally, we tested recollection for the originally seen pictures using verbal labels as retrieval cues. Consistent with conceptual fluency, processing-related words increased false recollection of pictures that were never seen, and consistent with perceptual recombination, processing picture fragments further increased false recollection. We also found that conceptual fluency was more short-lived than perceptual recombination, further dissociating these 2 mechanisms. These experiments provide strong evidence that conceptual fluency and perceptual recombination independently contribute to the constructive aspects of recollection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Verbal working memory and reading abilities among students with visual impairment.

PubMed

Argyropoulos, Vassilios; Masoura, Elvira; Tsiakali, Thomai K; Nikolaraizi, Magda; Lappa, Christina

2017-05-01

This study investigated the relationship between working memory (WM) and reading abilities among students with visual impairment (VI). Seventy-five students with VI (visually impairment and blindness), aged 10-15 years old participated in the study, of whom 44 were visually impaired and 31 were blind. The participants' reading ability was assessed with the standardized reading ability battery Test-A (Padeliadu & Antoniou, 2008) and their verbal working memory ability was assessed with the listening recall task from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (Pickering et al., 2001). Data analysis indicated a strong correlation between verbal WM and decoding, reading comprehension and overall reading ability among the participants with VI, while no correlation was found between reading fluency and verbal WM. The present study points out the important role of verbal WM in reading among students who are VI and carries implications for the education of those individuals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Comparison of Verbal and Written Language in Alzheimer's Disease

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groves-Wright, Kathy; Neils-Strunjas, Jean; Burnett, Rebecca; O'Neill, Mary Jane

2004-01-01

Few studies have examined characteristics of both verbal and written language of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study used parallel measures (picture description, word fluency, spelling to dictation, and confrontational naming) to compare verbal and written language of individuals with mild AD, moderate AD, and normal controls (14…

Predictors of reading fluency in Italian orthography: evidence from a cross-sectional study of primary school students.

PubMed

Tobia, Valentina; Marzocchi, Gian Marco

2014-01-01

This study investigates the role of linguistic and visuospatial attentional processes in predicting reading fluency in typical Italian readers attending primary school. Tasks were administered to 651 children with reading fluency z scores > -1.5 standard deviation to evaluate their phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, visual search skills, verbal-visual recall, and visual-spatial attention. Hybrid models combining confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to evaluate the data obtained from younger (first and second grade) and older (third-fifth grade) children, respectively. The results showed that phonological awareness and RAN played a significant role among younger children, while also vocabulary, verbal short-term memory, and visuospatial attention were significant factors among older children.

Verbal Problem-Solving Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Atypical Language Development

PubMed Central

Alderson-Day, Ben

2018-01-01

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing (TD) peers on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a measure of verbal problem-solving skills. Although problems with the TQT are typically associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD. PMID:25346354

Developmental Trajectories of Executive and Verbal Processes in Children with Phenylketonuria.

PubMed

Hawks, Zoë W; Strube, Michael J; Johnson, Neco X; Grange, Dorothy K; White, Desirée A

2018-01-01

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.

Speech fluency profile in Williams-Beuren syndrome: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Rossi, Natalia Freitas; Souza, Deise Helena de; Moretti-Ferreira, Danilo; Giacheti, Célia Maria

2009-01-01

the speech fluency pattern attributed to individuals with Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is supported by the effectiveness of the phonological loop. Some studies have reported the occurrence of speech disruptions caused by lexical and semantic deficits. However, the type and frequency of such speech disruptions has not been well elucidated. to determine the speech fluency profile of individuals with WBS and to compare the speech performance of these individuals to a control group matched by gender and mental age. Twelve subjects with Williams-Beuren syndrome, chronologically aged between 6.6 and 23.6 years and mental age ranging from 4.8 to 14.3 years, were evaluated. They were compared with another group consisting of 12 subjects with similar mental age and with no speech or learning difficulties. Speech fluency parameters were assessed according to the ABFW Language Test: type and frequency of speech disruptions and speech rate. The obtained results were compared between the groups. In comparison with individuals of similar mental age and typical speech and language development, the group with Williams-Beuren syndrome showed a greater percentage of speech discontinuity, and an increased frequency of common hesitations and word repetition. The speech fluency profile presented by individuals with WBS in this study suggests that the presence of disfluencies can be caused by deficits in the lexical, semantic, and syntactic processing of verbal information. The authors stress that further systematic investigations on the subject are warranted.

False fame prevented: avoiding fluency effects without judgmental correction.

PubMed

Topolinski, Sascha; Strack, Fritz

2010-05-01

Three studies show a way to prevent fluency effects independently of judgmental correction strategies by identifying and procedurally blocking the sources of fluency variations, which are assumed to be embodied in nature. For verbal stimuli, covert pronunciations are assumed to be the crucial source of fluency gains. As a consequence, blocking such pronunciation simulations through a secondary oral motor task decreased the false-fame effect for repeatedly presented names of actors (Experiment 1) as well as prevented increases in trust due to repetition for brand names and names of shares in the stock market (Experiment 2). Extending this evidence beyond repeated exposure, we demonstrated that blocking oral motor simulations also prevented fluency effects of word pronunciation on judgments of hazardousness (Experiment 3). Concerning the realm of judgment correction, this procedural blocking of (biasing) associative processes is a decontamination method not considered before in the literature, because it is independent of exposure control, mood, motivation, and post hoc correction strategies. The present results also have implications for applied issues, such as advertising and investment decisions. 2010 APA, all rights reserved

Examining the relationship between rapid automatized naming and arithmetic fluency in Chinese kindergarten children.

PubMed

Cui, Jiaxin; Georgiou, George K; Zhang, Yiyun; Li, Yixun; Shu, Hua; Zhou, Xinlin

2017-02-01

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) has been found to predict mathematics. However, the nature of their relationship remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine how RAN (numeric and non-numeric) predicts a subdomain of mathematics (arithmetic fluency) and (b) to examine what processing skills may account for the RAN-arithmetic fluency relationship. A total of 160 third-year kindergarten Chinese children (83 boys and 77 girls, mean age=5.11years) were assessed on RAN (colors, objects, digits, and dice), nonverbal IQ, visual-verbal paired associate learning, phonological awareness, short-term memory, speed of processing, approximate number system acuity, and arithmetic fluency (addition and subtraction). The results indicated first that RAN was a significant correlate of arithmetic fluency and the correlations did not vary as a function of type of RAN or arithmetic fluency tasks. In addition, RAN continued to predict addition and subtraction fluency even after controlling for all other processing skills. Taken together, these findings challenge the existing theoretical accounts of the RAN-arithmetic fluency relationship and suggest that, similar to reading fluency, multiple processes underlie the RAN-arithmetic fluency relationship. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the Psychometric Attributes of the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Sherry Mee; McCallum, R. Steve; Kirk, Emily R.; Fuller, Emily J.; McCane-Bowling, Sara

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric integrity of the "Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency" (TOSCRF) by D. D. Hammill, J. L. Wiederholt, and E. A. Allen (2006). The TOSCRF is a recently published assessment of reading fluency for ages 7 years 0 months to 18 years 11 months that can be administered individually or in a…

Brazilian Normative Data on Letter and Category Fluency Tasks: Effects of Gender, Age, and Geopolitical Region

PubMed Central

Hazin, Izabel; Leite, Gilmara; Oliveira, Rosinda M.; Alencar, João C.; Fichman, Helenice C.; Marques, Priscila d. N.; de Mello, Claudia Berlim

2016-01-01

Verbal fluency is a basic function of language that refers to the ability to produce fluent speech. Despite being an essentially linguistic function, its measurements are also used to evaluate executive aspects of verbal behavior. Performance in verbal fluency (VF) tasks varies according to age, education, and cognitive development. Neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the functioning of frontal areas tend to cause lower performance in VF tasks. Despite the relative consensus that has been reached in terms of the use of VF tasks for the diagnosis of dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, few studies have considered regional variations in Brazil. The present study sought to provide normative data on VF tasks in children by considering gender, age, education, and geopolitical region of origin with auxiliary purposes in neuropsychological diagnosis of disorders that occur with executive changes The study included 298 participants, 7–10 years of age of both genders, who performed three letter fluency tasks and three category fluency tasks. The data were subjected to correlational and variance analyses, with age and gender as factors. No effect of gender on the children's performance was found. However, significant differences between age groups were observed, with better performance in letter tasks in older children and better performance in letter tasks compared with category tasks. Significant regional differences in performance on the letter VF task were observed. These results reinforce the importance of regional normative data in countries with high regional cultural variations, such as Brazil. PMID:27242598

Verbal problem-solving difficulties in autism spectrum disorders and atypical language development.

PubMed

Alderson-Day, Ben

2014-12-01

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing (TD) peers on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a measure of verbal problem-solving skills. Although problems with the TQT are typically associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Longitudinal Contribution of Early Morphological Awareness Skills to Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Greek

PubMed Central

Manolitsis, George; Grigorakis, Ioannis; Georgiou, George K.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the role of three morphological awareness (MA) skills (inflection, derivation, and compounding) in word reading fluency and reading comprehension in a relatively transparent orthography (Greek). Two hundred and fifteen (104 girls; Mage = 67.40 months, at kindergarten) Greek children were followed from kindergarten (K) to grade 2 (G2). In K and grade 1 (G1), they were tested on measures of MA (two inflectional, two derivational, and three compounding), letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and general cognitive ability (vocabulary and non-verbal IQ). At the end of G1 and G2, they were also tested on word reading fluency and reading comprehension. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the inflectional and derivational aspects of MA in K as well as all aspects of MA in G1 accounted for 2–5% of unique variance in reading comprehension. None of the MA skills predicted word reading fluency, after controlling for the effects of vocabulary and RAN. These findings suggest that the MA skills, even when assessed as early as in kindergarten, play a significant role in reading comprehension development. PMID:29081759

The Genetic Components of Verbal Divergent Thinking and Short Term Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pezzullo, Thomas R.; Madaus, George F.

A study of twins was conducted to determine the presence of an hereditary component in short term memory and in three aspects of verbal divergent thinking--flexibility, fluency, and originality. Results showed the existence of a significant genetic component in the trait of short term memory, while none was found in verbal divergent thinking. (AG)

Executive cognitive tests for the evaluation of patients with Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Sobreira, Emmanuelle Silva Tavares; Pena, Marina Ceres Silva; Silva Filho, José Humberto; Souza, Carolina Pinto; Oliveira, Guiomar Nascimento; Tumas, Vitor; do Vale, Francisco de Assis Carvalho

2008-01-01

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by changes in movement, which are later followed by cognitive, behavioral and psychological changes. The objective of the present study was to correlate different tests used to examine executive functions in PD patients followed at a specialized outpatient clinic. Methods Thirty-five patients with idiopathic PD aged 63.0 years on average and with mean schooling of 5.5±4.2 years, were examined using the following tests: Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS), Scales for Outcomes of Parkinson’s Disease-Cognition (SCOPA-COG), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), Digit Span – Inverse Order (IO) (a subtest of the WAIS III) and Verbal Fluency Test (category animals). Results Significant correlations were detected between FAB and MDRS Conceptualization (0.814), MDRS Initiation/Perseveration (I/P) and SCOPA-COG Executive Function (0.643), FAB and MDRS I/P (0.601), FAB and Verbal Fluency (0.602), MDRS I/P and MDRS Conceptualization (0.558), Verbal Fluency and MDRS I/P (0.529), MDRS Attention and SCOPA-COG Executive Function (0.495), MDRS Conceptualization and SCOPA-COG Executive Function (0.520), FAB and Digit Span (OI) (0.503), Verbal Fluency and MDRS Conceptualization (0.501), and WCST perseverative errors and FAB (–0.379), WCST perseverative errors and MDRS Conceptualization (0.445), WCST perseverative errors and MDRS I/P (–0.407) and WCST categories completed and MDRS Conceptualization (0.382). Discussion The results demonstrated strong correlations between most of the tests applied, but no associations were detected between the WCST and the other tests, a fact that may be explained by the heterogeneity of scores obtained in the tests by the patients evaluated. A difficulty of the present study was the lack of a control groups for the establishment of adequate standards for this population. PMID:29213572

Picture-Perfect Is Not Perfect for Metamemory: Testing the Perceptual Fluency Hypothesis with Degraded Images

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Besken, Miri

2016-01-01

The perceptual fluency hypothesis claims that items that are easy to perceive at encoding induce an illusion that they will be easier to remember, despite the finding that perception does not generally affect recall. The current set of studies tested the predictions of the perceptual fluency hypothesis with a picture generation manipulation.…

The Effects of Student and Text Characteristics on the Oral Reading Fluency of Middle-Grade Students

PubMed Central

Barth, Amy E.; Tolar, Tammy D.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David

2014-01-01

We evaluated the effects of student characteristics (sight word reading efficiency, phonological decoding, verbal knowledge, level of reading ability, grade, gender) and text features (passage difficulty, length, genre, and language and discourse attributes) on the oral reading fluency of a sample of middle-school students in Grades 6–8 (N = 1,794). Students who were struggling (n = 704) and typically developing readers (n = 1,028) were randomly assigned to read five 1-min passages from each of 5 Lexile bands (within student range of 550 Lexiles). A series of multilevel analyses showed that student and text characteristics contributed uniquely to oral reading fluency rates. Student characteristics involving sight word reading efficiency and level of decoding ability accounted for more variability than reader type and verbal knowledge, with small, but statistically significant effects of grade and gender. The most significant text feature was passage difficulty level. Interactions involving student text characteristics, especially attributes involving overall ability level and difficulty of the text, were also apparent. These results support views of the development of oral reading fluency that involve interactions of student and text characteristics and highlight the importance of scaling for passage difficulty level in assessing individual differences in oral reading fluency. PMID:24567659

Conceptual fluency at test shifts recognition response bias in Alzheimer’s disease: Implications for increased false recognition

PubMed Central

Gold, Carl A.; Marchant, Natalie L.; Koutstaal, Wilma; Schacter, Daniel L.; Budson, Andrew E.

2012-01-01

The presence or absence of conceptual information in pictorial stimuli may explain the mixed findings of previous studies of false recognition in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To test this hypothesis, 48 patients with AD were compared to 48 healthy older adults on a recognition task first described by Koutstaal et al. (2003). Participants studied and were tested on their memory for categorized ambiguous pictures of common objects. The presence of conceptual information at study and/or test was manipulated by providing or withholding disambiguating semantic labels. Analyses focused on testing two competing theories. The semantic encoding hypothesis, which posits that the inter-item perceptual details are not encoded by AD patients when conceptual information is present in the stimuli, was not supported by the findings. In contrast, the conceptual fluency hypothesis was supported. Enhanced conceptual fluency at test dramatically shifted AD patients to a more liberal response bias, raising their false recognition. These results suggest that patients with AD rely on the fluency of test items in making recognition memory decisions. We speculate that AD patients’ over reliance upon fluency may be attributable to (1) dysfunction of the hippocampus, disrupting recollection, and/or (2) dysfunction of prefrontal cortex, disrupting post-retrieval processes. PMID:17573074

Conceptual fluency at test shifts recognition response bias in Alzheimer's disease: implications for increased false recognition.

PubMed

Gold, Carl A; Marchant, Natalie L; Koutstaal, Wilma; Schacter, Daniel L; Budson, Andrew E

2007-09-20

The presence or absence of conceptual information in pictorial stimuli may explain the mixed findings of previous studies of false recognition in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). To test this hypothesis, 48 patients with AD were compared to 48 healthy older adults on a recognition task first described by Koutstaal et al. [Koutstaal, W., Reddy, C., Jackson, E. M., Prince, S., Cendan, D. L., & Schacter D. L. (2003). False recognition of abstract versus common objects in older and younger adults: Testing the semantic categorization account. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 499-510]. Participants studied and were tested on their memory for categorized ambiguous pictures of common objects. The presence of conceptual information at study and/or test was manipulated by providing or withholding disambiguating semantic labels. Analyses focused on testing two competing theories. The semantic encoding hypothesis, which posits that the inter-item perceptual details are not encoded by AD patients when conceptual information is present in the stimuli, was not supported by the findings. In contrast, the conceptual fluency hypothesis was supported. Enhanced conceptual fluency at test dramatically shifted AD patients to a more liberal response bias, raising their false recognition. These results suggest that patients with AD rely on the fluency of test items in making recognition memory decisions. We speculate that AD patients' over reliance upon fluency may be attributable to (1) dysfunction of the hippocampus, disrupting recollection, and/or (2) dysfunction of prefrontal cortex, disrupting post-retrieval processes.

Functional abnormalities in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during a semantic fluency task, and their association with thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Marumo, Kohei; Takizawa, Ryu; Kinou, Masaru; Kawasaki, Shingo; Kawakubo, Yuki; Fukuda, Masato; Kasai, Kiyoto

2014-01-15

Thought disorder is one of the primary symptoms in schizophrenia, yet the neural correlates and related semantic processing abnormalities remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the relationship between functional prefrontal abnormalities and thought disorder in schizophrenia using 2 types of verbal fluency tasks: the letter fluency task (LFT) and the category fluency task (CFT). Fifty-six adult patients with schizophrenia and 56 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and IQ participated in the study. During completion of the 2 types of verbal fluency tasks, we measured oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentration ([oxy-Hb] and [deoxy-Hb]) signal changes over a wide area of the bilateral prefrontal cortex, using a 52-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system. Thought disorder scores were evaluated using the positive and negative syndrome scale. CFT performance was significantly higher than LFT performance in both groups, while there was no significant difference in any prefrontal NIRS signal changes between the 2 tasks in either group. In both versions of verbal fluency task, healthy controls exhibited a significantly greater NIRS signal change than did patients with schizophrenia. On the CFT only, left ventrolateral prefrontal NIRS [deoxy-Hb] signals were significantly associated with thought disorder scores in patients with schizophrenia. Our results suggest that left ventrolateral prefrontal abnormalities in category fluency might be related to thought disorder in schizophrenia. This could lead to an improved understanding of the neural mechanisms within the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex involved in mediating semantic processing, as well as the relationship between semantic processing abnormalities and thought disorder in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extending the Administration Time of the Letter Fluency Test Increases Sensitivity to Cognitive Status in Aging

PubMed Central

Holtzer, R.; Goldin, Y.; Donovick, P.J.

2010-01-01

We examined whether extending the administration time of letter fluency from one minute per letter trial (standard administration) to two minutes increased the sensitivity of this test to cognitive status in aging. Participants (mean age = 84.6) were assigned to cognitive impairment (n=20) and control (n=40) groups. Pearson correlations and scatter plot analyses showed that associations between the Dementia Rating Scale scores and letter fluency were higher and less variable when performance on the latter was extended to two minutes. ANOVA showed that the cognitive impairment group generated fewer words in the second minute of the letter fluency task compared to the control group. Finally, discriminant function analyses revealed that extending the letter fluency trials to two minutes increased discrimination between the control and cognitive impairment groups. PMID:19449244

Risk factors for selective cognitive decline in dialyzed patients with end-stage renal disease: evidence from verbal fluency analysis.

PubMed

Harciarek, Michał; Williamson, John B; Biedunkiewicz, Bogdan; Lichodziejewska-Niemierko, Monika; Dębska-Ślizień, Alicja; Rutkowski, Bolesław

2012-01-01

Although dialyzed patients often have cognitive problems, little is known about the nature of these deficits. We hypothesized that, in contrast to semantic fluency relying mainly on temporal lobes, phonemic fluency, preferentially depending on functions of frontal-subcortical systems, would be particularly sensitive to the constellation of physiological pathological processes associated with end-stage renal disease and dialysis. Therefore, we longitudinally compared phonemic and semantic fluency performance between 49 dialyzed patients and 30 controls. Overall, patients performed below controls only on the phonemic fluency task. Furthermore, their performance on this task declined over time, whereas there was no change in semantic fluency. Moreover, this decline was related to the presence of hypertension and higher blood urea nitrogen. We suggest that these findings may be due to a combination of vascular and topic effects that impact more on fronto-subcortical than temporal lobe networks, but this speculation requires direct confirmation.

It felt fluent, and I liked it: subjective feeling of fluency rather than objective fluency determines liking.

PubMed

Forster, Michael; Leder, Helmut; Ansorge, Ulrich

2013-04-01

According to the processing-fluency explanation of aesthetics, more fluently processed stimuli are preferred (R. Reber, N. Schwarz, & P. Winkielman, 2004, Processing fluency and aesthetic pleasure: Is beauty in the perceiver's processing experience? Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 8, pp. 364-382.). In this view, the subjective feeling of ease of processing is considered important, but this has not been directly tested in perceptual processing. In two experiments, we therefore objectively manipulated fluency (ease of processing) with subliminal perceptual priming (Study 1) and variations in presentation durations (Study 2). We assessed the impact of objective fluency on feelings of fluency and liking, as well as their interdependence. In line with the processing-fluency account, we found that objectively more fluent images were indeed judged as more fluent and were also liked more. Moreover, differences in liking were even stronger when data were analyzed according to felt fluency. These findings demonstrate that perceptual fluency is not only explicitly felt, it can also be reported and is an important determinant of liking. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Test Review: Reynolds, C. R., Voress, J. V., Kamphaus, R. W. (2015), "Mathematics Fluency and Calculation Tests (MFaCTs) review." PRO-ED

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marbach, Joshua

2017-01-01

The Mathematics Fluency and Calculation Tests (MFaCTs) are a series of measures designed to assess for arithmetic calculation skills and calculation fluency in children ages 6 through 18. There are five main purposes of the MFaCTs: (1) identifying students who are behind in basic math fact automaticity; (2) evaluating possible delays in arithmetic…

Unique and shared validity of the "Wechsler logical memory test", the "California verbal learning test", and the "verbal learning and memory test" in patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Helmstaedter, Christoph; Wietzke, Jennifer; Lutz, Martin T

2009-12-01

This study was set-up to evaluate the construct validity of three verbal memory tests in epilepsy patients. Sixty-one consecutively evaluated patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or extra-temporal epilepsy (E-TLE) underwent testing with the verbal learning and memory test (VLMT, the German equivalent of the Rey auditory verbal learning test, RAVLT); the California verbal learning test (CVLT); the logical memory and digit span subtests of the Wechsler memory scale, revised (WMS-R); and testing of intelligence, attention, speech and executive functions. Factor analysis of the memory tests resulted in test-specific rather than test over-spanning factors. Parameters of the CVLT and WMS-R, and to a much lesser degree of the VLMT, were highly correlated with attention, language function and vocabulary. Delayed recall measures of logical memory and the VLMT differentiated TLE from E-TLE. Learning and memory scores off all three tests differentiated mesial temporal sclerosis from other pathologies. A lateralization of the epilepsy was possible only for a subsample of 15 patients with mesial TLE. Although the three tests provide overlapping indicators for a temporal lobe epilepsy or a mesial pathology, they can hardly be taken in exchange. The tests have different demands on semantic processing and memory organization, and they appear differentially sensitive to performance in non-memory domains. The tests capability to lateralize appears to be poor. The findings encourage the further discussion of the dependency of memory outcomes on test selection.

Working Memory Influences Processing Speed and Reading Fluency in ADHD

PubMed Central

Jacobson, Lisa A.; Ryan, Matthew; Martin, Rebecca B.; Ewen, Joshua; Mostofsky, Stewart H.; Denckla, Martha B.; Mahone, E. Mark

2012-01-01

Processing speed deficits affect reading efficiency, even among individuals who recognize and decode words accurately. Children with ADHD who decode words accurately can still have inefficient reading fluency, leading to a bottleneck in other cognitive processes. This “slowing” in ADHD is associated with deficits in fundamental components of executive function underlying processing speed, including response selection. The purpose of the present study was to deconstruct processing speed in order to determine which components of executive control best explain the “processing” speed deficits related to reading fluency in ADHD. Participants (41 ADHD, 21 controls), ages 9-14, screened for language disorders, word reading deficits, and psychiatric disorders, were administered measures of copying speed, processing speed, reading fluency, working memory, reaction time, inhibition, and auditory attention span. Compared to controls, children with ADHD showed reduced oral and silent reading fluency, and reduced processing speed—driven primarily by deficits on WISC-IV Coding. In contrast, groups did not differ on copying speed. After controlling for copying speed, sex, severity of ADHD-related symptomatology, and GAI, slowed “processing” speed (i.e., Coding) was significantly associated with verbal span and measures of working memory, but not with measures of response control/inhibition, lexical retrieval speed, reaction time, or intra-subject variability. Further, “processing” speed (i.e., Coding, residualized for copying speed) and working memory were significant predictors of oral reading fluency. Abnormalities in working memory and response selection (which are frontally-mediated and enter into the output side of processing speed) may play an important role in deficits in reading fluency in ADHD, potentially more than posteriorally-mediated problems with orienting of attention or perceiving the stimulus. PMID:21287422

Working memory influences processing speed and reading fluency in ADHD.

PubMed

Jacobson, Lisa A; Ryan, Matthew; Martin, Rebecca B; Ewen, Joshua; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark

2011-01-01

Processing-speed deficits affect reading efficiency, even among individuals who recognize and decode words accurately. Children with ADHD who decode words accurately can still have inefficient reading fluency, leading to a bottleneck in other cognitive processes. This "slowing" in ADHD is associated with deficits in fundamental components of executive function underlying processing speed, including response selection. The purpose of the present study was to deconstruct processing speed in order to determine which components of executive control best explain the "processing" speed deficits related to reading fluency in ADHD. Participants (41 ADHD, 21 controls), ages 9-14 years, screened for language disorders, word reading deficits, and psychiatric disorders, were administered measures of copying speed, processing speed, reading fluency, working memory, reaction time, inhibition, and auditory attention span. Compared to controls, children with ADHD showed reduced oral and silent reading fluency and reduced processing speed-driven primarily by deficits on WISC-IV Coding. In contrast, groups did not differ on copying speed. After controlling for copying speed, sex, severity of ADHD-related symptomatology, and GAI, slowed "processing" speed (i.e., Coding) was significantly associated with verbal span and measures of working memory but not with measures of response control/inhibition, lexical retrieval speed, reaction time, or intrasubject variability. Further, "processing" speed (i.e., Coding, residualized for copying speed) and working memory were significant predictors of oral reading fluency. Abnormalities in working memory and response selection (which are frontally mediated and enter into the output side of processing speed) may play an important role in deficits in reading fluency in ADHD, potentially more than posteriorally mediated problems with orienting of attention or perceiving the stimulus.

Assessment of Creative Thinking across Cultures Using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT): Translation and Validity Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yarbrough, Nükhet D.

2016-01-01

As part of a project to translate and administer the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to Turkish elementary and secondary students, 35 professionals were trained in a full-day workshop to learn to score the verbal TTCT. All trainees scored the same 4 sets of TTCT verbal criterion tests for fluency, flexibility, and originality by filling…

Schizotypal thinking and associative processing: a response commonality analysis of verbal fluency.

PubMed Central

Duchêne, A; Graves, R E; Brugger, P

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether people with high scores for schizotypal thinking generate more uncommon words in a letter fluency task than people with low scores. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: University psychology department. PATIENTS: Forty healthy, right-handed students. INTERVENTIONS: Students were administered the Magical Ideation (MI) Scale and a 2-minute letter fluency task in which they named as many nouns as possible beginning with "A" or "F," in any order. OUTCOME MEASURES: Total number of words produced and percentage of unique, rare and common words (as determined by the responses of the whole group); scores on MI scale. RESULTS: Participants with high scores (above the median) on the MI scale generated as many words as those who had low scores. People in both groups also generated a comparable number of unique words (named by only 1 person) and common words (named by 6 or more people). As hypothesized, people with high scores on the MI scale generated more rare words (named by fewer than 6 people) than those with low scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the view of a disinhibition of semantic network functioning as the neuropsychological basis of creative thought, magical ideation and thought disorder. PMID:9505061

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

PubMed

Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension

PubMed Central

Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)—how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children (N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development. PMID:26435550

Measuring Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication in Aphasia: Reliability, Validity, and Sensitivity to Change of the Scenario Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Meulen, Ineke; van de Sandt-Koenderman, W. Mieke E.; Duivenvoorden, Hugo J.; Ribbers, Gerard M.

2010-01-01

Background: This study explores the psychometric qualities of the Scenario Test, a new test to assess daily-life communication in severe aphasia. The test is innovative in that it: (1) examines the effectiveness of verbal and non-verbal communication; and (2) assesses patients' communication in an interactive setting, with a supportive…

On the (Elusive) Role of Oral Motor-Movements in Fluency-Based Memory Illusions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westerman, Deanne L.; Klin, Celia M.; Lanska, Meredith

2015-01-01

It is well established that the ease with which a stimulus is processed affects many different types of evaluative judgments. Recently, it has been proposed that for verbal stimuli the effect of fluency on such judgments is mediated by the muscles that are involved in speech (Topolinski & Strack, 2009, 2010). Evidence for this claim can be…

Patterns of brain atrophy associated with episodic memory and semantic fluency decline in aging.

PubMed

Pelletier, Amandine; Bernard, Charlotte; Dilharreguy, Bixente; Helmer, Catherine; Le Goff, Melanie; Chanraud, Sandra; Dartigues, Jean-François; Allard, Michèle; Amieva, Hélène; Catheline, Gwénaëlle

2017-03-09

The cerebral substratum of age-related cognitive decline was evaluated in an elderly-cohort followed for 12 years (n=306). Participants, free of dementia, received neuropsychological assessments every two years and an MRI exam at baseline and four years later. Cognitive decline was evaluated on two broadly used tests to detect dementia: the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT), a verbal episodic memory task, and the Isaacs Set Test (IST), a semantic fluency task. Using voxel-based approach, the relationship between cognitive decline with 1/ baseline grey matter volumes and 2/ grey matter volume loss between the two scans was explored. Baseline volumes analysis revealed that FCSRT and IST declines were both associated with lower volumes of the medial temporal region. Volumes loss analysis confirmed that both declines are related to medial temporal lobe atrophy and revealed that FCSRT decline was specifically associated with atrophy of the posterior cingulate cortex whereas IST decline was specifically related to temporal pole atrophy. These results suggest that cognitive decline across aging is firstly related to structural modifications of the medial temporal lobe, followed by an atrophy in the posterior midline structures for episodic memory and an atrophy of the temporal pole for semantic fluency.

Mere exposure effect: A consequence of direct and indirect fluency-preference links.

PubMed

Willems, Sylvie; Van der Linden, Martial

2006-06-01

In three experiments, picture quality between test items was manipulated to examine whether subjects' expectations about the fluency normally associated with these different stimuli might influence the effects of fluency on preference or familiarity-based recognition responses. The results showed that fluency due to pre-exposure influenced responses less when objects were presented with high picture quality, suggesting that attributions of fluency to preference and familiarity are adjusted according to expectations about the different test pictures. However, this expectations influence depended on subjects' awareness of these different quality levels. Indeed, imperceptible differences seemed not to induce expectations about the test item fluency. In this context, fluency due to both picture quality and pre-exposure influenced direct responses. Conversely, obvious, and noticed, differences in test picture quality did no affect responses, suggesting that expectations moderated attributions of fluency only when fluency normally associated with these different stimuli was perceptible but difficult to assess.

Semantic fluency in deaf children who use spoken and signed language in comparison with hearing peers

PubMed Central

Jones, A.; Fastelli, A.; Atkinson, J.; Botting, N.; Morgan, G.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Deafness has an adverse impact on children's ability to acquire spoken languages. Signed languages offer a more accessible input for deaf children, but because the vast majority are born to hearing parents who do not sign, their early exposure to sign language is limited. Deaf children as a whole are therefore at high risk of language delays. Aims We compared deaf and hearing children's performance on a semantic fluency task. Optimal performance on this task requires a systematic search of the mental lexicon, the retrieval of words within a subcategory and, when that subcategory is exhausted, switching to a new subcategory. We compared retrieval patterns between groups, and also compared the responses of deaf children who used British Sign Language (BSL) with those who used spoken English. We investigated how semantic fluency performance related to children's expressive vocabulary and executive function skills, and also retested semantic fluency in the majority of the children nearly 2 years later, in order to investigate how much progress they had made in that time. Methods & Procedures Participants were deaf children aged 6–11 years (N = 106, comprising 69 users of spoken English, 29 users of BSL and eight users of Sign Supported English—SSE) compared with hearing children (N = 120) of the same age who used spoken English. Semantic fluency was tested for the category ‘animals’. We coded for errors, clusters (e.g., ‘pets’, ‘farm animals’) and switches. Participants also completed the Expressive One‐Word Picture Vocabulary Test and a battery of six non‐verbal executive function tasks. In addition, we collected follow‐up semantic fluency data for 70 deaf and 74 hearing children, nearly 2 years after they were first tested. Outcomes & Results Deaf children, whether using spoken or signed language, produced fewer items in the semantic fluency task than hearing children, but they showed similar patterns of responses for items

Evolution of phonemic word fluency performance in post-stroke aphasia.

PubMed

Sarno, Martha Taylor; Postman, Whitney Anne; Cho, Young Susan; Norman, Robert G

2005-01-01

In this longitudinal study, quantitative and qualitative changes in responses of people with aphasia were examined on a phonemic fluency task. Eighteen patients were tested at 3-month intervals on the letters F-A-S while they received comprehensive, intensive treatment from 3 to 12 months post-stroke. They returned for a follow-up evaluation at an average of 10 months post-intervention. Mean group scores improved significantly from beginning to end of treatment, but declined post-intervention. Patients produced a significantly greater number and proportion of modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) between the beginning and end of treatment, with no decline afterwards, implying that they had access to a wider range of grammatical categories over time. Moreover, patients used significantly more phonemic clusters in generating word lists by the end of treatment. These gains may be attributed to the combined effects of time since onset and the linguistic and cognitive stimulation that patients received in therapy. Readers of this paper should (1) gain a better understanding of verbal fluency performance in the assessment of aphasia, (2) recognize the importance of analyzing qualitative aspects of single word production in aphasia, and (3) contribute to their clinical judgment of long term improvement in aphasia.

A Computational Linguistic Measure of Clustering Behavior on Semantic Verbal Fluency Task Predicts Risk of Future Dementia in the Nun Study

PubMed Central

Pakhomov, Serguei V.S.; Hemmy, Laura S.

2014-01-01

Generative semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tests show early and disproportionate decline relative to other abilities in individuals developing Alzheimer’s disease. Optimal performance on SVF tests depends on the efficiency of using clustered organization of semantically related items and the ability to switch between clusters. Traditional approaches to clustering and switching have relied on manual determination of clusters. We evaluated a novel automated computational linguistic approach for quantifying clustering behavior. Our approach is based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) for computing strength of semantic relatedness between pairs of words produced in response to SVF test. The mean size of semantic clusters (MCS) and semantic chains (MChS) are calculated based on pairwise relatedness values between words. We evaluated the predictive validity of these measures on a set of 239 participants in the Nun Study, a longitudinal study of aging. All were cognitively intact at baseline assessment, measured with the CERAD battery, and were followed in 18 month waves for up to 20 years. The onset of either dementia or memory impairment were used as outcomes in Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age and education and censored at follow up waves 5 (6.3 years) and 13 (16.96 years). Higher MCS was associated with 38% reduction in dementia risk at wave 5 and 26% reduction at wave 13, but not with the onset of memory impairment. Higher (+1 SD) MChS was associated with 39% dementia risk reduction at wave 5 but not wave 13, and association with memory impairment was not significant. Higher traditional SVF scores were associated with 22–29% memory impairment and 35–40% dementia risk reduction. SVF scores were not correlated with either MCS or MChS. Our study suggests that an automated approach to measuring clustering behavior can be used to estimate dementia risk in cognitively normal individuals. PMID:23845236

Principal component analysis study of visual and verbal metaphoric comprehension in children with autism and learning disabilities.

PubMed

Mashal, Nira; Kasirer, Anat

2012-01-01

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disable children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with autism (ASD), 20 children with learning disabilities (LD), and 21 typically developed (TD) children participated in the study. Principal components analysis was used to examine the interrelationship among the various tests in each group. Results showed different patterns in the data according to group. In particular, the results revealed that there is no dichotomy between visual and verbal metaphors in TD children but rather metaphor are classified according to their familiarity level. In the LD group visual metaphors were classified independently of the verbal metaphors. Verbal metaphoric understanding in the ASD group resembled the LD group. In addition, our results revealed the relative weakness of the ASD and LD children in suppressing irrelevant information. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Model Identification Test: A Limited Verbal Science Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, P. J.

1972-01-01

Describes the production of a test with a low verbal load for use with elementary school science students. Animated films were used to present appropriate and inappropriate models of the behavior of particles of matter. (AL)

How the Brain's Performance during Mathematics and Reading Fluency Tests Compare

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortiz, Enrique

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze how participants' levels of hemoglobin as they performed mathematics fluency and reading fluency (reading comprehension) compare. We used Optical Topography (OT, helmet type brain-scanning system, also known as Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy or fNIRS) to measure levels of brain activity. A central…

Towards a ternary NIRS-BCI: single-trial classification of verbal fluency task, Stroop task and unconstrained rest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schudlo, Larissa C.; Chau, Tom

2015-12-01

Objective. The majority of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interface (BCI) studies have investigated binary classification problems. Limited work has considered differentiation of more than two mental states, or multi-class differentiation of higher-level cognitive tasks using measurements outside of the anterior prefrontal cortex. Improvements in accuracies are needed to deliver effective communication with a multi-class NIRS system. We investigated the feasibility of a ternary NIRS-BCI that supports mental states corresponding to verbal fluency task (VFT) performance, Stroop task performance, and unconstrained rest using prefrontal and parietal measurements. Approach. Prefrontal and parietal NIRS signals were acquired from 11 able-bodied adults during rest and performance of the VFT or Stroop task. Classification was performed offline using bagging with a linear discriminant base classifier trained on a 10 dimensional feature set. Main results. VFT, Stroop task and rest were classified at an average accuracy of 71.7% ± 7.9%. The ternary classification system provided a statistically significant improvement in information transfer rate relative to a binary system controlled by either mental task (0.87 ± 0.35 bits/min versus 0.73 ± 0.24 bits/min). Significance. These results suggest that effective communication can be achieved with a ternary NIRS-BCI that supports VFT, Stroop task and rest via measurements from the frontal and parietal cortices. Further development of such a system is warranted. Accurate ternary classification can enhance communication rates offered by NIRS-BCIs, improving the practicality of this technology.

Developing Local Oral Reading Fluency Cut Scores for Predicting High-Stakes Test Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grapin, Sally L.; Kranzler, John H.; Waldron, Nancy; Joyce-Beaulieu, Diana; Algina, James

2017-01-01

This study evaluated the classification accuracy of a second grade oral reading fluency curriculum-based measure (R-CBM) in predicting third grade state test performance. It also compared the long-term classification accuracy of local and publisher-recommended R-CBM cut scores. Participants were 266 students who were divided into a calibration…

Administration of Neuropsychological Tests Using Interactive Voice Response Technology in the Elderly: Validation and Limitations

PubMed Central

Miller, Delyana Ivanova; Talbot, Vincent; Gagnon, Michèle; Messier, Claude

2013-01-01

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems are computer programs, which interact with people to provide a number of services from business to health care. We examined the ability of an IVR system to administer and score a verbal fluency task (fruits) and the digit span forward and backward in 158 community dwelling people aged between 65 and 92 years of age (full scale IQ of 68–134). Only six participants could not complete all tasks mostly due to early technical problems in the study. Participants were also administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale fourth edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Memory Scale fourth edition subtests. The IVR system correctly recognized 90% of the fruits in the verbal fluency task and 93–95% of the number sequences in the digit span. The IVR system typically underestimated the performance of participants because of voice recognition errors. In the digit span, these errors led to the erroneous discontinuation of the test: however the correlation between IVR scoring and clinical scoring was still high (93–95%). The correlation between the IVR verbal fluency and the WAIS-IV Similarities subtest was 0.31. The correlation between the IVR digit span forward and backward and the in-person administration was 0.46. We discuss how valid and useful IVR systems are for neuropsychological testing in the elderly. PMID:23950755

Non-Verbal Aptitude. Annotated Bibliography of Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. Test Collection.

The 50 nonverbal tests in this bibliography assess aptitude and cognitive skills using various nonverbal means, such as pictures, symbols, or figures. They are useful in testing those who may have reading difficulties or those for whom English is not the primary language. Not included are aptitude measure that have both verbal and nonverbal…

A computational linguistic measure of clustering behavior on semantic verbal fluency task predicts risk of future dementia in the nun study.

PubMed

Pakhomov, Serguei V S; Hemmy, Laura S

2014-06-01

Generative semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tests show early and disproportionate decline relative to other abilities in individuals developing Alzheimer's disease. Optimal performance on SVF tests depends on the efficiency of using clustered organization of semantically related items and the ability to switch between clusters. Traditional approaches to clustering and switching have relied on manual determination of clusters. We evaluated a novel automated computational linguistic approach for quantifying clustering behavior. Our approach is based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) for computing strength of semantic relatedness between pairs of words produced in response to SVF test. The mean size of semantic clusters (MCS) and semantic chains (MChS) are calculated based on pairwise relatedness values between words. We evaluated the predictive validity of these measures on a set of 239 participants in the Nun Study, a longitudinal study of aging. All were cognitively intact at baseline assessment, measured with the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) battery, and were followed in 18-month waves for up to 20 years. The onset of either dementia or memory impairment were used as outcomes in Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age and education and censored at follow-up waves 5 (6.3 years) and 13 (16.96 years). Higher MCS was associated with 38% reduction in dementia risk at wave 5 and 26% reduction at wave 13, but not with the onset of memory impairment. Higher [+1 standard deviation (SD)] MChS was associated with 39% dementia risk reduction at wave 5 but not wave 13, and association with memory impairment was not significant. Higher traditional SVF scores were associated with 22-29% memory impairment and 35-40% dementia risk reduction. SVF scores were not correlated with either MCS or MChS. Our study suggests that an automated approach to measuring clustering behavior can be used to estimate dementia risk in cognitively normal

Differences in the Pulsatile Component of the Skin Hemodynamic Response to Verbal Fluency Tasks in the Forehead and the Fingertip

PubMed Central

Takahashi, Toshimitsu; Takikawa, Yoriko; Kawagoe, Reiko

2016-01-01

Several studies have claimed that hemodynamic signals measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) on the forehead exhibit different patterns during a verbal fluency task (VFT) in various psychiatric disorders, whereas many studies have noted that NIRS signals can reflect task-related changes in skin blood flow. If such a task-related skin hemodynamic response is also observed in the fingertip, a simpler biomarker may be developed. Furthermore, determining the difference in the response pattern may provide physiological insights into the condition. We found that the magnitude of the pulsatile component in skin hemodynamic signals increased on the forehead (p < 0.001 for N = 50, p = 0.073 for N = 8) but decreased on the fingertip (p < 0.001, N = 8) during the VFT, whereas the rate in both areas increased (p < 0.02, N = 8). We also did not find a repetition effect in both the rate and the magnitude on the fingertip, whereas the effect was present in the magnitude (p < 0.02, N = 8) but not in the rate on the forehead. These results suggest that the skin vasomotor system in the forehead could have a different vessel mechanism to psychological tasks compared to the fingertip. PMID:26905432

Influence of Verbal Working Memory Depends on Vocabulary: Oral Reading Fluency in Adolescents with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, L. Todd; Rouhani, Parisa

2012-01-01

Most research on dyslexia to date has focused on early childhood, while comparatively little is known about the nature of dyslexia in adolescence. The current study had two objectives. The first was to investigate the relative contributions of several cognitive and linguistic factors to connected-text oral reading fluency in a sample of…

[Building and validation of a test evaluating verbal recognition memory: The Forty test (f40)].

PubMed

Marqué, A; Hommet, C; Constans, T; Perrier, D; Bardet, F; Chaput, M; Mondon, K

2011-04-01

Neuropsychologic evaluation is a primordial diagnostic tool. Numerous tests explore episodic memory but few tests exist to assess incidental verbal episodic memory or verbal recognition memory. This memory is however impaired early in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Our objective was to create a test sensitive and specific to this cognitive dysfunction. Our test was performed by 33 healthy volunteers and 51 patients (19 with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, 16 with Alzheimer's disease at the prodromal stage and 16 with Alzheimer's disease). Independently of age, education level and global cognitive impairment, the young and old healthy volunteers and the patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease displayed results significantly better than the group of Alzheimer's disease at the prodromal stage and Alzheimer's disease patients. Our test appears to be sensitive to dysfunction of verbal recognition memory. A score of 30/40 or less on the Forty test discriminates 91% of subjects with a cortical pattern of memory. This test could be recommended for clinical neuropsychological practice. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Practical Issues in Field Based Testing of Oral Reading Fluency at Upper Elementary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duesbery, Luke; Braun-Monegan, Jenelle; Werblow, Jacob; Braun, Drew

2012-01-01

In this series of studies, we explore the ideal frequency, duration, and relative effectiveness of measuring oral reading fluency. In study one, a sample of 389 fifth graders read out loud for 1 min and then took a traditional state-level standardized reading test. Results suggest administering three passages and using the median yields the…

Transcranial direct current stimulation over Broca's region improves phonemic and semantic fluency in healthy individuals.

PubMed

Cattaneo, Z; Pisoni, A; Papagno, C

2011-06-02

Previous studies have demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be proficiently used to modulate attentional and cognitive functions. For instance, in the language domain there is evidence that tDCS can fasten picture naming in both healthy individuals and aphasic patients, or improve grammar learning. In this study, we investigated whether tDCS can be used to increase healthy subjects' performance in phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, that are typically used in clinical assessment of language. Ten healthy individuals performed a semantic and a phonemic fluency task following anodal tDCS applied over Broca's region. Each participant underwent a real and a sham tDCS session. Participants were found to produce more words following real anodal tDCS both in the phonemic and in the semantic fluency. Control experiments ascertained that this finding did not depend upon unspecific effects of tDCS over levels of general arousal or attention or upon participants' expectations. These data confirm the efficacy of tDCS in transiently improving language functions by showing that anodal stimulation of Broca's region can enhance verbal fluency. Implications of these results for the treatment of language functions in aphasia are considered. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reading Fluency and Its Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, Maryanne; Katzir-Cohen, Tami

2001-01-01

Confronts 3 large lacunae in research on reading fluency: definition, component structure, and theory-based intervention. Presents a developmental- and component-based definition of reading fluency. Discusses how different types of current fluency interventions correspond to particular components in fluency's structure and to particular phases of…

Understanding the Misunderstanding: An Analysis of the Relationships between Reading Fluency Constructs, Reading Fluency Instruction and Oral Reading Fluency Assessment in the Elementary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cribbs, Aimee M.

2013-01-01

This study focused on the relationships between educator reading fluency constructs, reading fluency instruction and oral reading fluency assessment. Survey responses from sixty-six elementary educators in rural and urban north Georgia were analyzed to reach an understanding of why educators are likely to equate reading fluency with reading fast…

Atypical performance patterns on Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System Color-Word Interference Test: Cognitive switching and learning ability in older adults.

PubMed

Berg, Jody-Lynn; Swan, Natasha M; Banks, Sarah J; Miller, Justin B

2016-09-01

Cognitive set shifting requires flexible application of lower level processes. The Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System (DKEFS) Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT) is commonly used to clinically assess cognitive set shifting. An atypical pattern of performance has been observed on the CWIT; a subset of individuals perform faster, with equal or fewer errors, on the more difficult inhibition/switching than the inhibition trial. This study seeks to explore the cognitive underpinnings of this atypical pattern. It is hypothesized that atypical patterns on CWIT will be associated with better performance on underlying cognitive measures of attention, working memory, and learning when compared to typical CWIT patterns. Records from 239 clinical referrals (age: M = 68.09 years, SD = 10.62; education: M = 14.87 years, SD = 2.73) seen for a neuropsychological evaluation as part of diagnostic work up in an outpatient dementia and movement disorders clinic were sampled. The standard battery of tests included measures of attention, learning, fluency, executive functioning, and working memory. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to compare the cognitive performance of those with typical versus atypical CWIT patterns. An atypical pattern of performance was confirmed in 23% of our sample. Analyses revealed a significant group difference in acquisition of information on both nonverbal (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, BVMT-R total recall), F(1, 213) = 16.61, p < .001, and verbal (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, HVLT-R total recall) learning tasks, F(1, 181) = 6.43, p < .01, and semantic fluency (Animal Naming), F(1, 232) = 7.57, p = .006, with the atypical group performing better on each task. Effect sizes were larger for nonverbal (Cohen's d = 0.66) than verbal learning (Cohen's d = 0.47) and semantic fluency (Cohen's d = 0.43). Individuals demonstrating an atypical pattern of performance on the CWIT inhibition/switching trial also demonstrated relative

Using Performance Methods to Enhance Students' Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Chase; Valadez, Corinne; Gandara, Cori

2016-01-01

The quasi-experimental study examined the effects of pairing Rock and Read with Readers Theater and only Rock and Read on second grade students' reading fluency scores. The 51 subjects were pre- and post-tested on five different reading fluency measures. A series of 3 × 2 repeated measures ANOVAs revealed statistically significant interaction…

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text-reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity): how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency, reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word-reading fluency and reading comprehension. The study examined (a) developmentally changing relations…

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text-reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity): how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word-reading fluency, reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word-reading fluency and reading comprehension. The study examined (a) developmentally changing relations…

Reading Fluency beyond English: Investigations into Reading Fluency in Turkish Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildirim, Kasim; Rasinski, Timothy

2014-01-01

Reading fluency is one of the underlying factors of successful language curricula and it is also one of the defining characteristics of good readers. A lack of fluency is a common characteristic of struggling readers. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates proficiency in reading fluency is important for success in learning to read…

The influence of the parents' educational level on the development of executive functions.

PubMed

Ardila, Alfredo; Rosselli, Monica; Matute, Esmeralda; Guajardo, Soledad

2005-01-01

Information about the influence of educational variables on the development of executive functions is limited. The aim of this study was to analyze the relation of the parents' educational level and the type of school the child attended (private or public school) to children's executive functioning test performance. Six hundred twenty-two participants, ages 5 to 14 years (276 boys, 346 girls) were selected from Colombia and Mexico and grouped according to three variables: age (5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years), gender (boys and girls), and school type (private and public). Eight executive functioning tests taken from the Evaluacion Neuropsicologica Infantil; Matute, Rosselli, Ardila, & Ostrosky, (in press) were individually administered: Semantic Verbal Fluency, Phonemic Verbal Fluency, Semantic Graphic Fluency, Nonsemantic Graphic Fluency, Matrices, Similarities, Card Sorting, and the Mexican Pyramid. There was a significant effect of age on all the test scores and a significant effect of type of school attended on all but Semantic Verbal Fluency and Nonsemantic Graphic Fluency tests. Most children's test scores, particularly verbal test scores, significantly correlated with parents' educational level. Our results suggest that the differences in test scores between the public and private school children depended on some conditions existing outside the school, such as the parents' level of education. Implications of these findings for the understanding of the influence of environmental factors on the development of executive functions are presented.

Native Speakers' Perceptions of Fluency and Accent in L2 Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinget, Anne-France; Bosker, Hans Rutger; Quené, Hugo; de Jong, Nivja H.

2014-01-01

Oral fluency and foreign accent distinguish L2 from L1 speech production. In language testing practices, both fluency and accent are usually assessed by raters. This study investigates what exactly native raters of fluency and accent take into account when judging L2. Our aim is to explore the relationship between objectively measured temporal,…

Test Review: Mather, N., Hammill, D. D., Allen, E. A., & Roberts, R. (2004). "Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency." Austin, TX: PRO-ED

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Ashley; Bell, Sherry Mee

2005-01-01

With the recently passed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), federal law encourages monitoring student progress and gauging responsiveness to instruction. The Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Hammill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004) is a group-administered test that holds promise for monitoring student progress.…

Some Implications of a Behavioral Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Logic and Mathematics

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The evident power and utility of the formal models of logic and mathematics pose a puzzle: Although such models are instances of verbal behavior, they are also essentialistic. But behavioral terms, and indeed all products of selection contingencies, are intrinsically variable and in this respect appear to be incommensurate with essentialism. A distinctive feature of verbal contingencies resolves this puzzle: The control of behavior by the nonverbal environment is often mediated by the verbal behavior of others, and behavior under control of verbal stimuli is blind to the intrinsic variability of the stimulating environment. Thus, words and sentences serve as filters of variability and thereby facilitate essentialistic model building and the formal structures of logic, mathematics, and science. Autoclitic frames, verbal chains interrupted by interchangeable variable terms, are ubiquitous in verbal behavior. Variable terms can be substituted in such frames almost without limit, a feature fundamental to formal models. Consequently, our fluency with autoclitic frames fosters generalization to formal models, which in turn permit deduction and other kinds of logical and mathematical inference. PMID:28018038

The Frontal Hypothesis of Cognitive Aging: Factor Structure and Age Effects on Four "Frontal Tests" among Healthy Individuals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez-Aranda, Claudia; Sundet, Kjetil

2006-01-01

With 101 healthy aging adult participants, the authors investigated whether executive functions are a unitary concept. The authors established the factor structure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; E. A. Berg, 1948), the Stroop color and word test (C. J. Golden, 1978), verbal fluency using the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT;…

The effect of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus on executive functions: impaired verbal fluency and intact updating, planning and conflict resolution in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Demeter, Gyula; Valálik, István; Pajkossy, Péter; Szőllősi, Ágnes; Lukács, Ágnes; Kemény, Ferenc; Racsmány, Mihály

2017-04-24

Although the improvement of motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) after deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is well documented, there are open questions regarding its impact on cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of bilateral DBS of the STN on executive functions in PD patients using a DBS wait-listed PD control group. Ten PD patients with DBS implantation (DBS group) and ten PD wait-listed patients (Clinical control group) participated in the study. Neuropsychological tasks were used to assess general mental ability and various executive functions. Each task was administered twice to each participant: before and after surgery (with the stimulators on) in the DBS group and with a matched delay between the two task administration points in the control group. There was no significant difference between the DBS and the control groups' performance in tasks measuring the updating of verbal, spatial or visual information (Digit span, Corsi and N-back tasks), planning and shifting (Trail Making B), and conflict resolution (Stroop task). However, the DBS group showed a significant decline on the semantic verbal fluency task after surgery compared to the control group, which is in line with findings of previous studies. Our results provide support for the relative cognitive safety of the STN DBS using a wait-listed PD control group. Differential effects of the STN DBS on frontostriatal networks are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Principal Component Analysis Study of Visual and Verbal Metaphoric Comprehension in Children with Autism and Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashal, Nira; Kasirer, Anat

2012-01-01

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disabled children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with…

[Tunisian adaptation of Hopkins Verbal Learning Test , Form 1].

PubMed

Dellagi, Lamia; Ben Azouz, Olfa; Johnson, Ines; Kebir, Oussama; Amado, Isabelle; Tabbane, Karim

2009-10-01

Memory impairment and verbal learning are the most common cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) is considered to be the most reliable test to asses memory and verbal learning in this mental illness. to create one form of the HVLT which would suit our linguistic and cultural context and to study the characteristics of this test in a group of healthy subjects. The HVLT consists of a list of 12 words belonging to 3 semantic categories and which are read orally to the subject with an immediate and differed recall. The first part of this work was to select words from a lexical database in order to create the list of the HVLT. The test was then administered to 103 subjects aged from 17- to 45-years-old (mean=27,4; SD =7,3) and having between 1 and 20 years of education ( mean=12,2; SD=5,3). No statistical difference was found within performances of the HVLT across gender and sex. Whereas, years of education was found to have an impact on performances. Although statistically difference was found across level of education. Our study permitted us to create one form of the HVLT which well suits our Tunisian context and which we could use to evaluate memory functions among people suffering from schizophrenia.

The effect of topiramate plasma concentration on linguistic behavior, verbal recall and working memory.

PubMed

Marino, S E; Pakhomov, S V S; Han, S; Anderson, K L; Ding, M; Eberly, L E; Loring, D W; Hawkins-Taylor, C; Rarick, J O; Leppik, I E; Cibula, J E; Birnbaum, A K

2012-07-01

This is the first study of the effect of topiramate on linguistic behavior and verbal recall using a computational linguistics system for automated language and speech analysis to detect and quantify drug-induced changes in speech recorded during discourse-level tasks. Healthy volunteers were administered a single, 100-mg oral dose of topiramate in two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover studies. Subjects' topiramate plasma levels ranged from 0.23 to 2.81 μg/mL. We found a significant association between topiramate levels and impairment on measures of verbal fluency elicited during a picture description task, correct number of words recalled on a paragraph recall test, and reaction time recorded during a working memory task. Using the tools of clinical pharmacology and computational linguistics, we elucidated the relationship between the determinants of a drug's disposition as reflected in plasma concentrations and their impact on cognitive functioning as reflected in spoken language discourse. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relation of hippocampal subfield volumes to verbal episodic memory measured by the California Verbal Learning Test II in healthy adults.

PubMed

Aslaksen, Per M; Bystad, Martin K; Ørbo, Marte C; Vangberg, Torgil R

2018-06-08

Total hippocampal volume has previously been shown to correlate with performance on tests for verbal episodic memory. However, there are sparse evidence on how hippocampal subfield volumes are related to verbal episodic memory in healthy adults. The present study investigated the association between volumes of separate hippocampal subfields and verbal episodic memory performance in healthy volunteers. Forty-seven participants (31 females) between 20 to 71 years age underwent testing with the California Verbal Learning Test II (CVLT II), and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) to obtain an estimate of cognitive functioning. T1-weighted MR images were obtained after cognitive testing, and volumetric estimates adjusted for age and estimated total intracranial volume were calculated in the FreeSurfer 6.0 software suite for cerebral -and hippocampal structures. The sample performed within the statistical normal range on both CVLT II and WASI. Significant correlations adjusted for multiple testing were found between CVLT II subtests of total learning, free immediate recall and free delayed recall and volumes of the left Cornu Ammonis (CA) 1-4 subfields. There were no significant correlations between right hippocampal subfields and CVLT II performance, and no significant correlation between WASI results and hippocampal subfields. The present results suggest that better verbal episodic memory measured by the CVLT II is associated with relative larger volumes of specific left CA hippocampal subfields in healthy adults. Due to the small sample size and large age-span of the participants, the present findings are preliminary and should be confirmed in larger samples. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Verbal and Nonverbal Neuropsychological Test Performance in Subjects With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

PubMed Central

Voglmaier, Martina M.; Seidman, Larry J.; Niznikiewicz, Margaret A.; Dickey, Chandlee C.; Shenton, Martha E.; McCarley, Robert W.

2010-01-01

Objective The authors contrasted verbal and nonverbal measures of attention and memory in patients with DSM-IV-defined schizotypal personality disorder in order to expand on their previous findings of verbal learning deficits in these patients and to understand better the neuropsychological profile of schizotypal personality disorder. Method Cognitive test performance was examined in 16 right-handed men who met diagnostic criteria for schizotypal personality disorder and 16 matched male comparison subjects. Neuropsychological measures included verbal and nonverbal tests of persistence, supraspan learning, and short- and long-term memory retention. Neuropsychological profiles were constructed by standardizing test scores based on the means and standard deviations of the comparison subject group. Results Subjects with schizotypal personality disorder showed a mild to moderate general reduction in performance on all measures. Verbal measures of persistence, short-term retention, and learning were more severely impaired than their nonverbal analogs. Performance on measures of memory retention was independent of modality. Conclusions The results are consistent with previous reports that have suggested a mild, general decrement in cognitive performance and proportionately greater involvement of the left hemisphere in patients with schizotypal personality disorder. The findings provide further support for a specific deficit in the early processing stages of verbal learning. PMID:10784473

The Multidimensional Structure of Verbal Comprehension Test Items.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peled, Zimra

1984-01-01

The multidimensional structure of verbal comprehension test items was investigated. Empirical evidence was provided to support the theory that item tasks are multivariate-multiordered composites of faceted components: language, contextual knowledge, and cognitive operation. Linear and circular properties of cylindrical manifestation were…

Verbal Processing Speed and Executive Functioning in Long-Term Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Pisoni, David B.; Kronenberger, William G.

2015-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to report how verbal rehearsal speed (VRS), a form of covert speech used to maintain verbal information in working memory, and another verbal processing speed measure, perceptual encoding speed, are related to 3 domains of executive function (EF) at risk in cochlear implant (CI) users: verbal working memory, fluency-speed, and inhibition-concentration. Method EF, speech perception, and language outcome measures were obtained from 55 prelingually deaf, long-term CI users and matched controls with normal hearing (NH controls). Correlational analyses were used to assess relations between VRS (articulation rate), perceptual encoding speed (digit and color naming), and the outcomes in each sample. Results CI users displayed slower verbal processing speeds than NH controls. Verbal rehearsal speed was related to 2 EF domains in the NH sample but was unrelated to EF outcomes in CI users. Perceptual encoding speed was related to all EF domains in both groups. Conclusions Verbal rehearsal speed may be less influential for EF quality in CI users than for NH controls, whereas rapid automatized labeling skills and EF are closely related in both groups. CI users may develop processing strategies in EF tasks that differ from the covert speech strategies routinely employed by NH individuals. PMID:25320961

Fluency with Basic Addition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garza-Kling, Gina

2011-01-01

Traditionally, learning basic facts has focused on rote memorization of isolated facts, typically through the use of flash cards, repeated drilling, and timed testing. However, as many experienced teachers have seen, "drill alone does not develop mastery of single-digit combinations." In contrast, a fluency approach to learning basic addition…

The pattern of verbal, visuospatial and procedural learning in Richardson variant of progressive supranuclear palsy in comparison to Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Sitek, Emilia J; Wieczorek, Dariusz; Konkel, Agnieszka; Dąbrowska, Magda; Sławek, Jarosław

2017-08-29

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is regarded either within spectrum of atypical parkinsonian syndromes or frontotemporal lobar degeneration. We compared the verbal, visuospatial and procedural learning profiles in patients with PSP and Parkinson's disease (PD). Furthermore, the relationship between executive factors (initiation and inhibition) and learning outcomes was analyzed. Thirty-three patients with the clinical diagnosis of PSP-Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS), 39 patients with PD and 29 age -and education -matched controls were administered Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Visual Learning and Memory Test for Neuropsychological Assessment by Lamberti and Weidlich (Diagnosticum für Cerebralschädigung, DCS), Tower of Toronto (ToT) and two motor sequencing tasks. Patients with PSP-RS and PD were matched in terms of MMSE scores and mood. Performance on DCS was lower in PSP-RS than in PD. AVLT delayed recall was better in PSP-RS than PD. Motor sequencing task did not differentiate between patients. Scores on AVLT correlated positively with phonemic fluency scores in both PSP-RS and PD. ToT rule violation scores were negatively associated with DCS performance in PSP-RS and PD as well as with AVLT performance in PD. Global memory performance is relatively similar in PSP-RS and PD. Executive factors (initiation and inhibition) are closely related to memory performance in PSP-RS and PD. Visuospatial learning impairment in PSP-RS is possibly linked to impulsivity and failure to inhibit automatic responses.

Affect intensity and processing fluency of deterrents.

PubMed

Holman, Andrei

2013-01-01

The theory of emotional intensity (Brehm, 1999) suggests that the intensity of affective states depends on the magnitude of their current deterrents. Our study investigated the role that fluency--the subjective experience of ease of information processing--plays in the emotional intensity modulations as reactions to deterrents. Following an induction phase of good mood, we manipulated both the magnitude of deterrents (using sets of photographs with pre-tested potential to instigate an emotion incompatible with the pre-existent affective state--pity) and their processing fluency (normal vs. enhanced through subliminal priming). Current affective state and perception of deterrents were then measured. In the normal processing conditions, the results revealed the cubic effect predicted by the emotional intensity theory, with the initial affective state being replaced by the one appropriate to the deterrent only in participants exposed to the high magnitude deterrence. In the enhanced fluency conditions the emotional intensity pattern was drastically altered; also, the replacement of the initial affective state occurred at a lower level of deterrence magnitude (moderate instead of high), suggesting the strengthening of deterrence emotional impact by enhanced fluency.

Is semantic fluency differentially impaired in schizophrenic patients with delusions?

PubMed

Rossell, S L; Rabe-Hesketh, S S; Shapleske, J S; David, A S

1999-10-01

The study of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia has recently focused upon semantics: the study of meaning. Delusions are a plausible manifestation of abnormal semantics because by definition they involve changes in personal meaning and belief. A symptom-based approach was used to investigate semantic and phonological fluency in a group of schizophrenic patients subdivided into those with delusions and those with no current delusions. The results demonstrated that deluded patients only were differentially impaired on a test of semantic fluency in comparison to phonological fluency. All subjects showed the same decline in performance over the time course of both tests indicating that retrieval speed in schizophrenia is no different from that of normal controls. Further analysis of word associations in two semantic categories (animals and body parts), revealed that deluded subjects have a more idiosyncratic organisation for animals. The findings of reduced semantic fluency production and poor logical word associations may represent a disorganised storage of semantic information in deluded patients, which in turn affects efficient access.

Verbal communication among Alzheimer's disease patients, their caregivers, and primary care physicians during primary care office visits.

PubMed

Schmidt, Karen L; Lingler, Jennifer H; Schulz, Richard

2009-11-01

Primary care visits of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) often involve communication among patients, family caregivers, and primary care physicians (PCPs). The objective of this study was to understand the nature of each individual's verbal participation in these triadic interactions. To define the verbal communication dynamics of AD care triads, we compared verbal participation (percent of total visit speech) by each participant in patient/caregiver/PCP triads. Twenty-three triads were audio taped during a routine primary care visit. Rates of verbal participation were described and effects of patient cognitive status (MMSE score, verbal fluency) on verbal participation were assessed. PCP verbal participation was highest at 53% of total visit speech, followed by caregivers (31%) and patients (16%). Patient cognitive measures were related to patient and caregiver verbal participation, but not to PCP participation. Caregiver satisfaction with interpersonal treatment by PCP was positively related to caregiver's own verbal participation. Caregivers of AD patients and PCPs maintain active, coordinated verbal participation in primary care visits while patients participate less. Encouraging verbal participation by AD patients and their caregivers may increase the AD patient's active role and caregiver satisfaction with primary care visits.

Measuring verbal and non-verbal communication in aphasia: reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of the Scenario Test.

PubMed

van der Meulen, Ineke; van de Sandt-Koenderman, W Mieke E; Duivenvoorden, Hugo J; Ribbers, Gerard M

2010-01-01

This study explores the psychometric qualities of the Scenario Test, a new test to assess daily-life communication in severe aphasia. The test is innovative in that it: (1) examines the effectiveness of verbal and non-verbal communication; and (2) assesses patients' communication in an interactive setting, with a supportive communication partner. To determine the reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of the Scenario Test and discuss its clinical value. The Scenario Test was administered to 122 persons with aphasia after stroke and to 25 non-aphasic controls. Analyses were performed for the entire group of persons with aphasia, as well as for a subgroup of persons unable to communicate verbally (n = 43). Reliability (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter-judge, and intra-judge reliability) and validity (internal validity, convergent validity, known-groups validity) and sensitivity to change were examined using standard psychometric methods. The Scenario Test showed high levels of reliability. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.96; item-rest correlations = 0.58-0.82) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.98) were high. Agreement between judges in total scores was good, as indicated by the high inter- and intra-judge reliability (ICC = 0.86-1.00). Agreement in scores on the individual items was also good (square-weighted kappa values 0.61-0.92). The test demonstrated good levels of validity. A principal component analysis for categorical data identified two dimensions, interpreted as general communication and communicative creativity. Correlations with three other instruments measuring communication in aphasia, that is, Spontaneous Speech interview from the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT), Amsterdam-Nijmegen Everyday Language Test (ANELT), and Communicative Effectiveness Index (CETI), were moderate to strong (0.50-0.85) suggesting good convergent validity. Group differences were observed between persons with aphasia and non-aphasic controls

Putting the Fun Back into Fluency Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahill, Mary Ann; Gregory, Anne E.

2011-01-01

Based on recent research in fluency instruction, the authors present a scenario in which a teacher focuses her fluency instruction on authentic fluency tasks based in performance. Beginning with establishing a student-friendly definition of fluency and culminating with student engagement in fun fluency activities, this article explores the…

The effects of verbal reaction time in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Midi, Ipek; Doǧan, Müzeyyen; Pata, Yavuz Selim; Kocak, Ismail; Mollahasanoglu, Aynur; Tuncer, Nese

2011-07-01

Verbal fluency deteriorates with normal aging, but is much more severe in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Verbal functions were analyzed to find differences between normal aging subjects in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and in patients with early and moderate stages of AD. This study measured the verbal response time in patients with AD, MCI, and in control subjects This study measured the verbal response time in patients with AD, MCI, and in control subjects Fifteen patients with MCI, 15 patients with early AD, 8 patients with moderate AD, and 15 subjects for controls were included in the study. Word length in milliseconds, reaction time to a phoneme, word, or sentence and acoustic analysis of voice quality and speech diadochokinetic rate (DDK) were measured. Reaction time for a phoneme, word, or sentence especially the initiation period for them were longer in patients with early AD compared to patients with MCI (P < .001). The mean DDK rate was lower with increased severity of the disease, and was much more severe in patients with moderate AD. Clinical discrimination of the early stages of AD and MCI is challenging. Unfortunately, there are no laboratory markers present for the diagnosis of preclinical cases of AD. With the results of this study, the assessments of verbal reaction time may helpful for diagnosis of early AD. Copyright © 2011 The American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.

Event-related potentials indicate that fluency can be interpreted as familiarity.

PubMed

Bruett, Heather; Leynes, P Andrew

2015-11-01

Recent evidence suggests that fluency may be capable of supporting recognition independently of familiarity. This hypothesis was further tested in the present study. 29 participants encoded name-brand and off-brand products in an incidental task. Participants then judged whether the product was old or new during two tests with products from one category (i.e., only name-brand or only off-brand products) and a mixed test (where both name-brand and off-brand products were shown). The ERP data elicited by off-brand products varied as a function of test format. During the mixed test, off-brand products were correlated with a FN400 effect, whereas a fluency ERP (old ERPs were more negative than new at parietal electrodes 225-400ms) was observed during the other test. Importantly, no FN400 was detected during this test. The ERP results suggest that viewing the off-brand products during the mixed test produced a familiarity experience; however, fluency supported recognition when viewing off-brand products on the other test. The results are strong evidence that top-down processing of visual features during recognition interprets the information relative to the context. This process results in either fluency or, in other contexts, it is interpreted as familiarity as the Discrepancy-Attribution Hypothesis (Whittlesea and Williams, 2001a, 2001b) contends. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neurophysiological evidence that perceptions of fluency produce mere exposure effects.

PubMed

Leynes, P Andrew; Addante, Richard J

2016-08-01

Recent exposure to people or objects increases liking ratings, the "mere exposure effect" (Zajonc in American Psychologist, 35, 117-123, 1968), and an increase in processing fluency has been identified as a potential mechanism for producing this effect. This fluency hypothesis was directly tested by altering the trial-by-trial image clarity (i.e., fluency) while Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded. In Experiment 1, clarity was altered across two trial blocks that each had homogenous trial-by-trial clarity, whereas clarity varied randomly across trials in Experiment 2. Blocking or randomizing image clarity across trials was expected to produce different levels of relative fluency and alter mere exposure effects. The mere exposure effect (i.e., old products liked more than new products) was observed when stimulus clarity remained constant across trials, and clear image ERPs were more positive than blurry image ERPs. Importantly, these patterns were reversed when clarity varied randomly across test trials, such that participants liked clear images more than blurry (i.e., no mere exposure effect) and clear image ERPs were more negative than blurry image ERPs. The findings provide direct experimental support from both behavioral and electrophysiological measures that, in some contexts, mere exposure is the product of top-down interpretations of fluency.

Testing the CaR-FA-X model: investigating the mechanisms underlying reduced autobiographical memory specificity in individuals with and without a history of depression.

PubMed

Sumner, Jennifer A; Mineka, Susan; Adam, Emma K; Craske, Michelle G; Vrshek-Schallhorn, Suzanne; Wolitzky-Taylor, Kate; Zinbarg, Richard E

2014-08-01

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) is an important cognitive phenomenon in major depressive disorder (MDD), but knowledge about mechanisms is lacking. The CaR-FA-X model of Williams and colleagues (2007) proposed that 3 processes contributed to reduce AMS: capture and rumination (CaR), functional avoidance (FA), and impaired executive control (X). However, the entire CaR-FA-X model has not been tested. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating contributions of the CaR-FA-X mechanisms to reduced AMS, alone or in interaction, in a subset of young adults (N = 439) from the Northwestern-UCLA Youth Emotion Project. Participants were classified as those with (n = 164) and without (n = 275) a history of MDD at AMS assessment. They completed measures of: AMS; rumination (the brooding factor; CaR); childhood, adolescent, and early adulthood adversity (FA); avoidant coping (FA); and verbal fluency (X). Using structural equation modeling, we found greatest support for associations between reduced AMS and the capture and rumination, and impaired executive control mechanisms. In those with and without a history of MDD, brooding and verbal fluency interacted to contribute to reduced AMS. For participants without a history of MDD, lower verbal fluency (indicating impaired executive control) was associated with reduced AMS among those high on brooding. For participants with a history of MDD, lower verbal fluency was associated with reduced AMS among those low on brooding. The first finding was consistent with the CaR-FA-X model but the latter was not. Implications for conceptualizations of reduced AMS and its mechanisms are discussed. (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Typography and color: effects of salience and fluency on conscious recollective experience.

PubMed

Wehr, Thomas; Wippich, Werner

2004-12-01

Within one experiment the central assumptions of the distinctiveness/fluency account of recollective experience were tested and contrasted with predictions of processing theory. To manipulate perceptual salience, the typography of words was varied. Effects of conceptual salience were induced by a variation of word color. In the study phase participants generated different word or object images according to presented words. To manipulate perceptual and conceptual fluency one test group underwent a priming procedure in the test phase, consisting of a recognition test, whereby some primes were identical to the target words typographically or by color and others were not. Additionally, all participants were asked to make judgments of recollective experience (remember, know, guess) after the old/new decisions. The results of the data analyses confirm the distinctiveness/fluency account. Words written in an unusual typography or color were judged significantly more often as "remembered" than normal words. The priming procedure uncovered some effects of fluency on reaction times: old/new decisions took less time if prime and target words were perceptually or conceptually identical.

Neuropsychological profiles and verbal abilities in lifelong bilinguals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Kowoll, Magdalena Eva; Degen, Christina; Gladis, Saskia; Schröder, Johannes

2015-01-01

Bilingualism is associated with enhanced executive functioning and delayed onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we investigated neuropsychological differences between mono- and bilingual patients with MCI and AD as well as the respective effects of dementia on the dominant and non-dominant language of bilinguals. 69 patients with MCI (n = 22) or AD (n = 47) and 17 healthy controls were included. 41 subjects were classified as lifelong bilinguals (mean age: 73.6; SD = 11.5) and 45 as monolinguals (mean age: 78.1; SD = 10.9). Neuropsychological performance was assessed on the CERAD-NP, the clock-drawing test, and the logical memory subscale of the Wechsler Memory Scale. Neuropsychological profiles showed only minor nonsignificant differences between mono- and bilingual subjects when compared between diagnostic groups. Bilingual MCI patients scored significantly lower on the verbal fluency and picture naming task in their dominant language than bilingual controls. Bilingual AD patients showed a reduced performance in their nondominant language when compared to bilingual MCI patients and bilingual controls (main effect language dominance: verbal fluency task p < 0.001; BNT p < 0.001). Bilingual MCI and AD patients show a similar pattern of neuropsychological deficits as monolingual patients do. The dominant language appears to be compromised first in bilingual MCI patients, while severe deficits of the nondominant language develop later in the course with manifestation of AD. These findings are important for the diagnostic work up of bilingual patients and the development of improved care concepts for bilingual patients such as migrant populations.

The role of answer fluency and perceptual fluency as metacognitive cues for initiating analytic thinking.

PubMed

Thompson, Valerie A; Turner, Jamie A Prowse; Pennycook, Gordon; Ball, Linden J; Brack, Hannah; Ophir, Yael; Ackerman, Rakefet

2013-08-01

Although widely studied in other domains, relatively little is known about the metacognitive processes that monitor and control behaviour during reasoning and decision-making. In this paper, we examined the conditions under which two fluency cues are used to monitor initial reasoning: answer fluency, or the speed with which the initial, intuitive answer is produced (Thompson, Prowse Turner, & Pennycook, 2011), and perceptual fluency, or the ease with which problems can be read (Alter, Oppenheimer, Epley, & Eyre, 2007). The first two experiments demonstrated that answer fluency reliably predicted Feeling of Rightness (FOR) judgments to conditional inferences and base rate problems, which subsequently predicted the amount of deliberate processing as measured by thinking time and answer changes; answer fluency also predicted retrospective confidence judgments (Experiment 3b). Moreover, the effect of answer fluency on reasoning was independent from the effect of perceptual fluency, establishing that these are empirically independent constructs. In five experiments with a variety of reasoning problems similar to those of Alter et al. (2007), we found no effect of perceptual fluency on FOR, retrospective confidence or accuracy; however, we did observe that participants spent more time thinking about hard to read stimuli, although this additional time did not result in answer changes. In our final two experiments, we found that perceptual disfluency increased accuracy on the CRT (Frederick, 2005), but only amongst participants of high cognitive ability. As Alter et al.'s samples were gathered from prestigious universities, collectively, the data to this point suggest that perceptual fluency prompts additional processing in general, but this processing may results in higher accuracy only for the most cognitively able. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential learning and memory performance in OEF/OIF veterans for verbal and visual material.

PubMed

Sozda, Christopher N; Muir, James J; Springer, Utaka S; Partovi, Diana; Cole, Michael A

2014-05-01

Memory complaints are particularly salient among veterans who experience combat-related mild traumatic brain injuries and/or trauma exposure, and represent a primary barrier to successful societal reintegration and everyday functioning. Anecdotally within clinical practice, verbal learning and memory performance frequently appears differentially reduced versus visual learning and memory scores. We sought to empirically investigate the robustness of a verbal versus visual learning and memory discrepancy and to explore potential mechanisms for a verbal/visual performance split. Participants consisted of 103 veterans with reported history of mild traumatic brain injuries returning home from U.S. military Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom referred for outpatient neuropsychological evaluation. Findings indicate that visual learning and memory abilities were largely intact while verbal learning and memory performance was significantly reduced in comparison, residing at approximately 1.1 SD below the mean for verbal learning and approximately 1.4 SD below the mean for verbal memory. This difference was not observed in verbal versus visual fluency performance, nor was it associated with estimated premorbid verbal abilities or traumatic brain injury history. In our sample, symptoms of depression, but not posttraumatic stress disorder, were significantly associated with reduced composite verbal learning and memory performance. Verbal learning and memory performance may benefit from targeted treatment of depressive symptomatology. Also, because visual learning and memory functions may remain intact, these might be emphasized when applying neurocognitive rehabilitation interventions to compensate for observed verbal learning and memory difficulties.

Test performance and classification statistics for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in selected clinical samples.

PubMed

Schoenberg, Mike R; Dawson, Kyra A; Duff, Kevin; Patton, Doyle; Scott, James G; Adams, Russell L

2006-10-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test [RAVLT; Rey, A. (1941). L'examen psychologique dans les cas d'encéphalopathie traumatique. Archives de Psychologie, 28, 21] is a commonly used neuropsychological measure that assesses verbal learning and memory. Normative data have been compiled [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services]. When assessing an individual suspected of neurological dysfunction, useful comparisons include the extent that the patient deviates from healthy peers and also how closely the subject's performance matches those with known brain injury. This study provides the means and S.D.'s of 392 individuals with documented neurological dysfunction [closed head TBI (n=68), neoplasms (n=57), stroke (n=47), Dementia of the Alzheimer's type (n=158), and presurgical epilepsy left seizure focus (n=28), presurgical epilepsy right seizure focus (n=34)] and 122 patients with no known neurological dysfunction and psychiatric complaints. Patients were stratified into three age groups, 16-35, 36-59, and 60-88. Data were provided for trials I-V, List B, immediate recall, 30-min delayed recall, and recognition. Classification characteristics of the RAVLT using [Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey Auditory and Verbal Learning Test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services] meta-norms found the RAVLT to best distinguish patients suspected of Alzheimer's disease from the psychiatric comparison group.

The Relationship between L1 Fluency and L2 Fluency Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derwing, Tracey M.; Munro, Murray J.; Thomson, Ronald I.; Rossiter, Marian J.

2009-01-01

A fundamental question in the study of second language (L2) fluency is the extent to which temporal characteristics of speakers' first language (L1) productions predict the same characteristics in the L2. A close relationship between a speaker's L1 and L2 temporal characteristics would suggest that fluency is governed by an underlying trait. This…

Writing fluency in patients with low‐grade glioma before and after surgery

PubMed Central

Hartelius, Lena; Henriksson, Ingrid; Longoni, Francesca; Wengelin, Åsa

2018-01-01

Abstract Background Low‐grade glioma (LGG) is a type of brain tumour often situated in or near areas involved in language, sensory or motor functions. Depending on localization and tumour characteristics, language or cognitive impairments due to tumour growth and/or surgical resection are obvious risks. One task that may be at risk is writing, both because it requires intact language and memory function and because it is a very complex and cognitively demanding task. The most commonly reported language deficit in LGG patients is oral lexical‐retrieval difficulties, and poor lexical retrieval would be expected to affect writing fluency. Aims To explore whether writing fluency is affected in LGG patients before and after surgery and whether it is related to performance on tasks of oral lexical retrieval. Methods & Procedures Twenty consecutive patients with presumed LGG wrote a narrative and performed a copy task before undergoing surgery and at 3‐month follow‐up using keystroke‐logging software. The same tasks were performed by a reference group (N = 31). The patients were also tested using the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and word‐fluency tests before and after surgery. Writing fluency was compared between the patients and the reference group, and between the patients before and after surgery. Relationships between performance on tests of oral lexical retrieval and writing fluency were investigated both before and after surgery. Outcome & Results Different aspects of writing fluency were affected in the LGG patients both before and after surgery. However, when controlling for the effect of typing speed, the LGG group differed significantly from the reference group only in the proportion of pauses within words. After surgery, a significant decline was seen in production rate and typing speed in the narrative task, and a significant increase was seen in pauses before words. Strong positive relationships were found between oral lexical retrieval and writing

Workplace in fluency management: factoring the workplace into fluency management.

PubMed

Cassar, M C; Neilson, M D

1997-01-01

This article addresses competency-based standards and guidelines for the involvement of speech-language pathologists in the workplace of clients who stutter. It advocates broadening customary practices in stuttering treatment and suggests that speech-language pathologists should extend their scope of service delivery to the workplace. It presents a sequence for the collaborative involvement of the employer and other workplace members and proposes strategies for evaluating workplace based fluency programs. Issues of fluency management, transfer, maintenance, and efficacy are discussed in the workplace context. Also addressed is workplace communication as well as such factors as stereotypes, discrimination, and resistance to change which may impinge on workplace intervention. It is argued that structured intervention, transfer, and generalization within a collaborative workplace framework facilitates best practice for the fluency clinician and more appropriate outcomes for the diversity of clients who stutter.

Sex differences in verbal fluency during adolescence: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in gender dysphoric and control boys and girls.

PubMed

Soleman, Remi S; Schagen, Sebastian E E; Veltman, Dick J; Kreukels, Baudewijntje P C; Cohen-Kettenis, Peggy T; Lambalk, Cornelis B; Wouters, Femke; Delemarre-van de Waal, Henriette A

2013-08-01

In the literature, verbal fluency (VF) is generally described as a female-favoring task. Although it is conceivable that this sex difference only evolves during adolescence or adulthood under influence of sex steroids, this has never been investigated in young adolescents. First, to assess sex differences in VF performance and regional brain activation in adolescents. Second, to determine if untreated transsexual adolescents differ from their sex of birth with regard to VF performance and regional brain activation. Twenty-five boys, 26 girls, 8 Male-to-Female transsexual adolescents (MtFs), and 14 Female-to-Male transsexual adolescents (FtMs) were tested in a cross-sectional study, while performing a phonetic and semantic VF task within an MRI scanner. Functional MRI response during VF task. Boys and girls produced similar amounts of words, but the group MtFs produced significantly more words in the phonetic condition compared to control boys, girls, and FtMs. During the semantic condition, no differences were found. With regard to brain activity, control boys showed more activation in the right Rolandic operculum, a small area adjacent to Broca's area, compared to girls. No significant differences in brain activity were found comparing transsexual adolescents, although sub-threshold activation was found in the right Rolandic operculum indicating a trendwise increase in activation from control girls to FtMs to MtFs to control boys. The better performance of MtFs is consistent with our expectation that MtFs perform better on female-favoring tasks. Moreover, they produced more words than girls and FtMs. Even though a trendwise linear increase in brain activity between the four groups only approached significance, it may indicate differences in individuals with gender identity disorder compared to their birth sex. Although our findings should thus be interpreted with caution, they suggest a biological basis for both transgender groups performing in-between the two

Update on Didactic and Clinical Education in Fluency Disorders: 2013-2014.

PubMed

Scott Yaruss, J; Lee, Jieun; Kikani, Kaya B; Leslie, Paula; Herring, Caryn; Ramachandar, Sujini; Tichenor, Seth; Quesal, Robert W; McNeil, Malcolm R

2017-02-01

This study surveyed didactic and clinical education in fluency disorders at undergraduate and graduate institutions in the United States that provide education in speech-language pathology to determine whether a previously observed reduction in requirements has continued since prior surveys (Yaruss, 1999; Yaruss & Quesal, 2002). The study involved a detailed questionnaire that was sent to 282 communication science and disorders departments. Questions examined didactic and clinical education, as well as faculty knowledge about fluency disorders. Comparisons with prior surveys revealed several findings, including (a) on average, programs have increased academic coursework and incorporated more practical sessions and competency-based testing in the classroom; (b) the number of faculty who possess extensive clinical experience with fluency disorders has decreased; and (c) although an increase in clinical requirements in fluency disorders was detected, the number of programs providing minimal education about fluency disorders remains high. Given an expanding scope of practice, many programs have continued to try to provide adequate education about fluency disorders. Still, direct clinical experiences are limited, and faculty expertise in this area has continued to decrease. To raise students' confidence and competence in fluency disorders, efforts beyond graduate work-or systemic changes in the profession-may be necessary.

Fluency Idol: Using Pop Culture to Engage Students and Boost Fluency Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calo, Kristine M.; Woolard-Ferguson, Taylor; Koitz, Ellen

2013-01-01

This article shares an oral reading practice that develops children's fluency skills, with a particular emphasis on performance reading and prosody. The authors share their experiences with Fluency Idol! as a way to engage young children by tapping into pop culture. The practice emphasizes repeated readings, feedback, practice, and…

Verbal Communication among Alzheimer’s Disease Patients, their Caregivers, and Primary Care Physicians during Primary Care Office Visits

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Karen L.; Lingler, Jennifer H.; Schulz, Richard

2009-01-01

Objective Primary care visits of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) often involve communication among patients, family caregivers, and primary care physicians (PCPs). The objective of this study was to understand the nature of each individual’s verbal participation in these triadic interactions. Methods To define the verbal communication dynamics of AD care triads, we compared verbal participation (percent of total visit speech) by each participant in patient/caregiver/PCP triads. Twenty three triads were audio taped during a routine primary care visit. Rates of verbal participation were described and effects of patient cognitive status (MMSE score, verbal fluency) on verbal participation were assessed. Results PCP verbal participation was highest at 53% of total visit speech, followed by caregivers (31%) and patients (16%). Patient cognitive measures were related to patient and caregiver verbal participation, but not to PCP participation. Caregiver satisfaction with interpersonal treatment by PCP was positively related to caregiver’s own verbal participation. Conclusion Caregivers of AD patients and PCPs maintain active, coordinated verbal participation in primary care visits while patients participate less. Practice Implications Encouraging verbal participation by AD patients and their caregivers may increase the AD patient’s active role and caregiver satisfaction with primary care visits. PMID:19395224

Standardization and validation of a parallel form of the verbal and non-verbal recognition memory test in an Italian population sample.

PubMed

Smirni, Daniela; Smirni, Pietro; Di Martino, Giovanni; Cipolotti, Lisa; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Turriziani, Patrizia

2018-05-04

In the neuropsychological assessment of several neurological conditions, recognition memory evaluation is requested. Recognition seems to be more appropriate than recall to study verbal and non-verbal memory, because interferences of psychological and emotional disorders are less relevant in the recognition than they are in recall memory paradigms. In many neurological disorders, longitudinal repeated assessments are needed to monitor the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs or pharmacological treatments on the recovery of memory. In order to contain the practice effect in repeated neuropsychological evaluations, it is necessary the use of parallel forms of the tests. Having two parallel forms of the same test, that kept administration procedures and scoring constant, is a great advantage in both clinical practice, for the monitoring of memory disorder, and in experimental practice, to allow the repeated evaluation of memory on healthy and neurological subjects. First aim of the present study was to provide normative values in an Italian sample (n = 160) for a parallel form of a verbal and non-verbal recognition memory battery. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant effects of age and education on recognition memory performance, whereas sex did not reach a significant probability level. Inferential cutoffs have been determined and equivalent scores computed. Secondly, the study aimed to validate the equivalence of the two parallel forms of the Recognition Memory Test. The correlations analyses between the total scores of the two versions of the test and correlation between the three subtasks revealed that the two forms are parallel and the subtasks are equivalent for difficulty.

Neurocognitive Models of Medical Decision-Making Capacity in Traumatic Brain Injury Across Injury Severity.

PubMed

Triebel, Kristen L; Novack, Thomas A; Kennedy, Richard; Martin, Roy C; Dreer, Laura E; Raman, Rema; Marson, Daniel C

2016-01-01

To identify neurocognitive predictors of medical decision-making capacity (MDC) in participants with mild and moderate/severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Academic medical center. Sixty adult controls and 104 adults with TBI (49 mild, 55 moderate/severe) evaluated within 6 weeks of injury. Prospective cross-sectional study. Participants completed the Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument to assess MDC and a neuropsychological test battery. We used factor analysis to reduce the battery test measures into 4 cognitive composite scores (verbal memory, verbal fluency, academic skills, and processing speed/executive function). We identified cognitive predictors of the 3 most clinically relevant Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument consent standards (appreciation, reasoning, and understanding). In controls, academic skills (word reading, arithmetic) and verbal memory predicted understanding; verbal fluency predicted reasoning; and no predictors emerged for appreciation. In the mild TBI group, verbal memory predicted understanding and reasoning, whereas academic skills predicted appreciation. In the moderate/severe TBI group, verbal memory and academic skills predicted understanding; academic skills predicted reasoning; and academic skills and verbal fluency predicted appreciation. Verbal memory was a predictor of MDC in controls and persons with mild and moderate/severe TBI. In clinical practice, impaired verbal memory could serve as a "red flag" for diminished consent capacity in persons with recent TBI.

Word Fluency: A Task Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laine, Matti

It is suggested that models of human problem solving are useful in the analysis of word fluency (WF) test performance. In problem-solving terms, WF tasks would require the subject to define and clarify the conditions of the task (task acquisition), select and employ appropriate strategies, and monitor one's performance. In modern neuropsychology,…

Sensitivity of cognitive tests in four cognitive domains in discriminating MDD patients from healthy controls: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Lim, JaeHyoung; Oh, In Kyung; Han, Changsu; Huh, Yu Jeong; Jung, In-Kwa; Patkar, Ashwin A; Steffens, David C; Jang, Bo-Hyoung

2013-09-01

We performed a meta-analysis in order to determine which neuropsychological domains and tasks would be most sensitive for discriminating between patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls. Relevant articles were identified through a literature search of the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases for the period between January 1997 and May 2011. A meta-analysis was conducted using the standardized means of individual cognitive tests in each domain. The heterogeneity was assessed, and subgroup analyses according to age and medication status were performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity. A total of 22 trials involving 955 MDD patients and 7,664 healthy participants were selected for our meta-analysis. MDD patients showed significantly impaired results compared with healthy participants on the Digit Span and Continuous Performance Test in the attention domain; the Trail Making Test A (TMT-A) and the Digit Symbol Test in the processing speed domain; the Stroop Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Verbal Fluency in the executive function domain; and immediate verbal memory in the memory domain. The Finger Tapping Task, TMT-B, delayed verbal memory, and immediate and delayed visual memory failed to separate MDD patients from healthy controls. The results of subgroup analysis showed that performance of Verbal Fluency was significantly impaired in younger depressed patients (<60 years), and immediate visual memory was significantly reduced in depressed patients using antidepressants. Our findings have inevitable limitations arising from methodological issues inherent in the meta-analysis and we could not explain high heterogeneity between studies. Despite such limitations, current study has the strength of being the first meta-analysis which tried to specify cognitive function of depressed patients compared with healthy participants. And our findings may provide clinicians with further evidences that some cognitive tests in specific

Individual differences in verbal creative thinking are reflected in the precuneus.

PubMed

Chen, Qun-Lin; Xu, Ting; Yang, Wen-Jing; Li, Ya-Dan; Sun, Jiang-Zhou; Wang, Kang-Cheng; Beaty, Roger E; Zhang, Qing-Lin; Zuo, Xi-Nian; Qiu, Jiang

2015-08-01

There have been many structural and functional imaging studies of creative thinking, but combining structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigations with respect to creative thinking is still lacking. Thus, the aim of the present study was to explore the associations among inter-individual verbal creative thinking and both regional homogeneity and cortical morphology of the brain surface. We related the local functional homogeneity of spontaneous brain activity to verbal creative thinking and its dimensions--fluency, originality, and flexibility--by examining these inter-individual differences in a large sample of 268 healthy college students. Results revealed that people with high verbal creative ability and high scores for the three dimensions of creativity exhibited lower regional functional homogeneity in the right precuneus. Both cortical volume and thickness of the right precuneus were positively associated with individual verbal creativity and its dimensions. Moreover, originality was negatively correlated with functional homogeneity in the left superior frontal gyrus and positively correlated with functional homogeneity in the right occipito-temporal gyrus. In contrast, flexibility was positively correlated with functional homogeneity in the left superior and middle occipital gyrus. These findings provide additional evidence of a link between verbal creative thinking and brain structure in the right precuneus--a region involved in internally--focused attention and effective semantic retrieval-and further suggest that local functional homogeneity of verbal creative thinking has neurobiological relevance that is likely based on anatomical substrates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Substitution of California Verbal Learning Test, second edition for Verbal Paired Associates on the Wechsler Memory Scale, fourth edition.

PubMed

Miller, Justin B; Axelrod, Bradley N; Rapport, Lisa J; Hanks, Robin A; Bashem, Jesse R; Schutte, Christian

2012-01-01

Two common measures used to evaluate verbal learning and memory are the Verbal Paired Associates (VPA) subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scales (WMS) and the second edition of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II). For the fourth edition of the WMS, scores from the CVLT-II can be substituted for VPA; the present study sought to examine the validity of the substitution. For each substitution, paired-samples t tests were conducted between original VPA scaled scores and scaled scores obtained from the CVLT-II substitution to evaluate comparability. Similar comparisons were made at the index score level. At the index score level, substitution resulted in significantly lower scores for the AMI (p = .03; r = .13) but not for the IMI (p = .29) or DMI (p = .09). For the subtest scores, substituted scaled scores for VPA were not significantly different from original scores for the immediate recall condition (p = .20) but were significantly lower at delayed recall (p = .01). These findings offer partial support for the substitution. For both the immediate and delayed conditions, the substitution produced generally lower subtest scores compared to original VPA subtest scores.

Specialty Board on Fluency Disorders

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Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy V.

2012-01-01

This article explores problems that have surfaced in the teaching of reading fluency and how teachers and reading coaches can resolve those problems. Specific issues addressed include reading fluency being defined as reading fast and instruction that is focused on having students read fast, reading fluency viewed as solely and oral reading…

Oral Reading Fluency Testing: Pitfalls for Children with Speech Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howland, Karole; Scaler Scott, Kathleen

2016-01-01

As school districts nationwide have moved toward data driven intervention, oral reading fluency measures have become a prevalent means to monitor progress by assessing the degree to which a child is becoming a fast (and therefore fluent) reader. This article reviews results of a survey of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with children…

Implicit recognition based on lateralized perceptual fluency.

PubMed

Vargas, Iliana M; Voss, Joel L; Paller, Ken A

2012-02-06

In some circumstances, accurate recognition of repeated images in an explicit memory test is driven by implicit memory. We propose that this "implicit recognition" results from perceptual fluency that influences responding without awareness of memory retrieval. Here we examined whether recognition would vary if images appeared in the same or different visual hemifield during learning and testing. Kaleidoscope images were briefly presented left or right of fixation during divided-attention encoding. Presentation in the same visual hemifield at test produced higher recognition accuracy than presentation in the opposite visual hemifield, but only for guess responses. These correct guesses likely reflect a contribution from implicit recognition, given that when the stimulated visual hemifield was the same at study and test, recognition accuracy was higher for guess responses than for responses with any level of confidence. The dramatic difference in guessing accuracy as a function of lateralized perceptual overlap between study and test suggests that implicit recognition arises from memory storage in visual cortical networks that mediate repetition-induced fluency increments.

The Relationship between Computational Fluency and Student Success in General Studies Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hegeman, Jennifer; Waters, Gavin

2012-01-01

Many developmental mathematics programs emphasize computational fluency with the assumption that this is a necessary contributor to student success in general studies mathematics. In an effort to determine which skills are most essential, scores on a computational fluency test were correlated with student success in general studies mathematics at…

Writing fluency in patients with low-grade glioma before and after surgery.

PubMed

Antonsson, Malin; Johansson, Charlotte; Hartelius, Lena; Henriksson, Ingrid; Longoni, Francesca; Wengelin, Åsa

2018-05-01

Low-grade glioma (LGG) is a type of brain tumour often situated in or near areas involved in language, sensory or motor functions. Depending on localization and tumour characteristics, language or cognitive impairments due to tumour growth and/or surgical resection are obvious risks. One task that may be at risk is writing, both because it requires intact language and memory function and because it is a very complex and cognitively demanding task. The most commonly reported language deficit in LGG patients is oral lexical-retrieval difficulties, and poor lexical retrieval would be expected to affect writing fluency. To explore whether writing fluency is affected in LGG patients before and after surgery and whether it is related to performance on tasks of oral lexical retrieval. Twenty consecutive patients with presumed LGG wrote a narrative and performed a copy task before undergoing surgery and at 3-month follow-up using keystroke-logging software. The same tasks were performed by a reference group (N = 31). The patients were also tested using the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and word-fluency tests before and after surgery. Writing fluency was compared between the patients and the reference group, and between the patients before and after surgery. Relationships between performance on tests of oral lexical retrieval and writing fluency were investigated both before and after surgery. Different aspects of writing fluency were affected in the LGG patients both before and after surgery. However, when controlling for the effect of typing speed, the LGG group differed significantly from the reference group only in the proportion of pauses within words. After surgery, a significant decline was seen in production rate and typing speed in the narrative task, and a significant increase was seen in pauses before words. Strong positive relationships were found between oral lexical retrieval and writing fluency both before and after surgery. Although aspects of writing fluency

Different Verbal Learning Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowler, Dermot M.; Limoges, Elyse; Mottron, Laurent

2009-01-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires the free recall of the same list of 15 unrelated words over 5 trials, was administered to 21 high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 matched typical individuals. The groups showed similar overall levels of free recall, rates of learning over trials and…

Developing the Persian version of the homophone meaning generation test

PubMed Central

Ebrahimipour, Mona; Motamed, Mohammad Reza; Ashayeri, Hassan; Modarresi, Yahya; Kamali, Mohammad

2016-01-01

Background: Finding the right word is a necessity in communication, and its evaluation has always been a challenging clinical issue, suggesting the need for valid and reliable measurements. The Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT) can measure the ability to switch between verbal concepts, which is required in word retrieval. The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Persian version of the HMGT. Methods: The first phase involved the adaptation of the HMGT to the Persian language. The second phase concerned the psychometric testing. The word-finding performance was assessed in 90 Persian-speaking healthy individuals (20-50 year old; 45 males and 45 females) through three naming tasks: Semantic Fluency, Phonemic Fluency, and Homophone Meaning Generation Test. The participants had no history of neurological or psychiatric diseases, alcohol abuse, severe depression, or history of speech, language, or learning problems. Results: The internal consistency coefficient was larger than 0.8 for all the items with a total Cronbach’s alpha of 0.80. Interrater and intrarater reliability were also excellent. The validity of all items was above 0.77, and the content validity index (0.99) was appropriate. The Persian HMGT had strong convergent validity with semantic and phonemic switching and adequate divergent validity with semantic and phonemic clustering. Conclusion: The Persian version of the Homophone Meaning Generation Test is an appropriate, valid, and reliable test to evaluate the ability to switch between verbal concepts in the assessment of word-finding performance. PMID:27390705

Developing the Persian version of the homophone meaning generation test.

PubMed

Ebrahimipour, Mona; Motamed, Mohammad Reza; Ashayeri, Hassan; Modarresi, Yahya; Kamali, Mohammad

2016-01-01

Finding the right word is a necessity in communication, and its evaluation has always been a challenging clinical issue, suggesting the need for valid and reliable measurements. The Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT) can measure the ability to switch between verbal concepts, which is required in word retrieval. The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Persian version of the HMGT. The first phase involved the adaptation of the HMGT to the Persian language. The second phase concerned the psychometric testing. The word-finding performance was assessed in 90 Persian-speaking healthy individuals (20-50 year old; 45 males and 45 females) through three naming tasks: Semantic Fluency, Phonemic Fluency, and Homophone Meaning Generation Test. The participants had no history of neurological or psychiatric diseases, alcohol abuse, severe depression, or history of speech, language, or learning problems. The internal consistency coefficient was larger than 0.8 for all the items with a total Cronbach's alpha of 0.80. Interrater and intrarater reliability were also excellent. The validity of all items was above 0.77, and the content validity index (0.99) was appropriate. The Persian HMGT had strong convergent validity with semantic and phonemic switching and adequate divergent validity with semantic and phonemic clustering. The Persian version of the Homophone Meaning Generation Test is an appropriate, valid, and reliable test to evaluate the ability to switch between verbal concepts in the assessment of word-finding performance.

The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning Activities in Enhancing EFL Learners' Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alrayah, Hassan

2018-01-01

This research-paper aims at examining the effectiveness of cooperative learning activities in enhancing EFL learners' fluency. The researcher has used the descriptive approach, recorded interviews for testing fluency as tools of data collection and the software program SPSS as a tool for the statistical treatment of data. Research sample consists…

Silent Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Bilingual Children

PubMed Central

O'Brien, Beth A.; Wallot, Sebastian

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on reading fluency by bilingual primary school students, and the relation of text fluency to their reading comprehension. Group differences were examined in a cross-sectional design across the age range when fluency is posed to shift from word-level to text-level. One hundred five bilingual children from primary grades 3, 4, and 5 were assessed for English word reading and decoding fluency, phonological awareness, rapid symbol naming, and oral language proficiency with standardized measures. These skills were correlated with their silent reading fluency on a self-paced story reading task. Text fluency was quantified using non-linear analytic methods: recurrence quantification and fractal analyses. Findings indicate that more fluent text reading appeared by grade 4, similar to monolingual findings, and that different aspects of fluency characterized passage reading performance at different grade levels. Text fluency and oral language proficiency emerged as significant predictors of reading comprehension. PMID:27630590

Word Reading Fluency as a Serial Naming Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Protopapas, Athanassios; Katopodi, Katerina; Altani, Angeliki; Georgiou, George K.

2018-01-01

Word list reading fluency is theoretically expected to depend on single word reading speed. Yet the correlation between the two diminishes with increasing fluency, while fluency remains strongly correlated to serial digit naming. We hypothesized that multi-element sequence processing is an important component of fluency. We used confirmatory…

Aspects of fluency in writing.

PubMed

Uppstad, Per Henning; Solheim, Oddny Judith

2007-03-01

The notion of 'fluency' is most often associated with spoken-language phenomena such as stuttering. The present article investigates the relevance of considering fluency in writing. The basic argument for raising this question is empirical-it follows from a focus on difficulties in written and spoken language as manifestations of different problems which should be investigated separately on the basis of their symptoms. Key-logging instruments provide new possibilities for the study of writing. The obvious use of this new technology is to study writing as it unfolds in real time, instead of focusing only on aspects of the end product. A more sophisticated application is to exploit the key-logging instrument in order to test basic assumptions of contemporary theories of spelling. The present study is a dictation task involving words and non-words, intended to investigate spelling in nine-year-old pupils with regard to their mastery of the doubling of consonants in Norwegian. In this study, we report on differences with regard to temporal measures between a group of strong writers and a group of poor ones. On the basis of these pupils' writing behavior, the relevance of the concept of 'fluency' in writing is highlighted. The interpretation of the results questions basic assumptions of the cognitive hypothesis about spelling; the article concludes by hypothesizing a different conception of spelling.

The Effects of Repeated Testing on Verbal and Nonverbal Ability Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Ernest L.; Beggs, Donald L.

The purpose of this study was to attempt to determine if score gains obtained upon repeated testing with an intelligence test result from a practice effect, from students remembering specific items, or from a combination of both. The verbal and nonverbal batteries of an I.Q. test were administered to 860 sixth graders on three occasions with…

VRT (verbal reasoning test): a new test for assessment of verbal reasoning. Test realization and Italian normative data from a multicentric study.

PubMed

Basagni, Benedetta; Luzzatti, Claudio; Navarrete, Eduardo; Caputo, Marina; Scrocco, Gessica; Damora, Alessio; Giunchi, Laura; Gemignani, Paola; Caiazzo, Annarita; Gambini, Maria Grazia; Avesani, Renato; Mancuso, Mauro; Trojano, Luigi; De Tanti, Antonio

2017-04-01

Verbal reasoning is a complex, multicomponent function, which involves activation of functional processes and neural circuits distributed in both brain hemispheres. Thus, this ability is often impaired after brain injury. The aim of the present study is to describe the construction of a new verbal reasoning test (VRT) for patients with brain injury and to provide normative values in a sample of healthy Italian participants. Three hundred and eighty healthy Italian subjects (193 women and 187 men) of different ages (range 16-75 years) and educational level (primary school to postgraduate degree) underwent the VRT. VRT is composed of seven subtests, investigating seven different domains. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed a significant effect of age and education on the participants' performance in terms of both VRT total score and all seven subtest scores. No gender effect was found. A correction grid for raw scores was built from the linear equation derived from the scores. Inferential cut-off scores were estimated using a non-parametric technique, and equivalent scores were computed. We also provided a grid for the correction of results by z scores.

Barriers to repeated assessment of verbal learning and memory: a comparison of international shopping list task and rey auditory verbal learning test on build-up of proactive interference.

PubMed

Rahimi-Golkhandan, S; Maruff, P; Darby, D; Wilson, P

2012-11-01

Proactive interference (PI) that remains unidentified can confound the assessment of verbal learning, particularly when its effects vary from one population to another. The International Shopping List Task (ISLT) is a new measure that provides multiple forms that can be equated for linguistic factors across cultural groups. The aim of this study was to examine the build-up of PI on two measures of verbal learning-a traditional test of list learning (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT) and the ISLT. The sample consisted of 61 healthy adults aged 18-40. Each test had three parallel forms, each recalled three times. Results showed that repeated administration of the ISLT did not result in significant PI effects, unlike the RAVLT. Although these PI effects, observed during short retest intervals, may not be as robust under normal clinical administrations of the tests, the results suggest that the choice of the verbal learning test should be guided by the knowledge of PI effects and the susceptibility of particular patient groups to this effect.

Underlying Skills of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency in Chinese: Perspective of Visual Rapid Processing

PubMed Central

Zhao, Jing; Kwok, Rosa K. W.; Liu, Menglian; Liu, Hanlong; Huang, Chen

2017-01-01

Reading fluency is a critical skill to improve the quality of our daily life and working efficiency. The majority of previous studies focused on oral reading fluency rather than silent reading fluency, which is a much more dominant reading mode that is used in middle and high school and for leisure reading. It is still unclear whether the oral and silent reading fluency involved the same underlying skills. To address this issue, the present study examined the relationship between the visual rapid processing and Chinese reading fluency in different modes. Fifty-eight undergraduate students took part in the experiment. The phantom contour paradigm and the visual 1-back task were adopted to measure the visual rapid temporal and simultaneous processing respectively. These two tasks reflected the temporal and spatial dimensions of visual rapid processing separately. We recorded the temporal threshold in the phantom contour task, as well as reaction time and accuracy in the visual 1-back task. Reading fluency was measured in both single-character and sentence levels. Fluent reading of single characters was assessed with a paper-and-pencil lexical decision task, and a sentence verification task was developed to examine reading fluency on a sentence level. The reading fluency test in each level was conducted twice (i.e., oral reading and silent reading). Reading speed and accuracy were recorded. The correlation analysis showed that the temporal threshold in the phantom contour task did not correlate with the scores of the reading fluency tests. Although, the reaction time in visual 1-back task correlated with the reading speed of both oral and silent reading fluency, the comparison of the correlation coefficients revealed a closer relationship between the visual rapid simultaneous processing and silent reading. Furthermore, the visual rapid simultaneous processing exhibited a significant contribution to reading fluency in silent mode but not in oral reading mode. These

Underlying Skills of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency in Chinese: Perspective of Visual Rapid Processing.

PubMed

Zhao, Jing; Kwok, Rosa K W; Liu, Menglian; Liu, Hanlong; Huang, Chen

2016-01-01

Reading fluency is a critical skill to improve the quality of our daily life and working efficiency. The majority of previous studies focused on oral reading fluency rather than silent reading fluency, which is a much more dominant reading mode that is used in middle and high school and for leisure reading. It is still unclear whether the oral and silent reading fluency involved the same underlying skills. To address this issue, the present study examined the relationship between the visual rapid processing and Chinese reading fluency in different modes. Fifty-eight undergraduate students took part in the experiment. The phantom contour paradigm and the visual 1-back task were adopted to measure the visual rapid temporal and simultaneous processing respectively. These two tasks reflected the temporal and spatial dimensions of visual rapid processing separately. We recorded the temporal threshold in the phantom contour task, as well as reaction time and accuracy in the visual 1-back task. Reading fluency was measured in both single-character and sentence levels. Fluent reading of single characters was assessed with a paper-and-pencil lexical decision task, and a sentence verification task was developed to examine reading fluency on a sentence level. The reading fluency test in each level was conducted twice (i.e., oral reading and silent reading). Reading speed and accuracy were recorded. The correlation analysis showed that the temporal threshold in the phantom contour task did not correlate with the scores of the reading fluency tests. Although, the reaction time in visual 1-back task correlated with the reading speed of both oral and silent reading fluency, the comparison of the correlation coefficients revealed a closer relationship between the visual rapid simultaneous processing and silent reading. Furthermore, the visual rapid simultaneous processing exhibited a significant contribution to reading fluency in silent mode but not in oral reading mode. These

Memory Test Performance on Analogous Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Tests in Patients with Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

PubMed

Baldock, Deanna; Miller, Justin B; Leger, Gabriel C; Banks, Sarah Jane

2016-01-01

Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) typically have initial deficits in language or changes in personality, while the defining characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is memory impairment. Neuropsychological findings in the two diseases tend to differ, but can be confounded by verbal impairment in FTD impacting performance on memory tests in these patients. Twenty-seven patients with FTD and 102 patients with AD underwent a neuropsychological assessment before diagnosis. By utilizing analogous versions of a verbal and nonverbal memory test, we demonstrated differences in these two modalities between AD and FTD. Better differentiation between AD and FTD is found in a nonverbal memory test, possibly because it eliminates the confounding variable of language deficits found in patients with FTD. These results highlight the importance of nonverbal learning tests with multiple learning trials in diagnostic testing.

Morning salivary cortisol and cognitive function in mid-life: evidence from a population-based birth cohort.

PubMed

Geoffroy, M C; Hertzman, C; Li, L; Power, C

2012-08-01

The hormone 'cortisol' has been associated with cognitive deficits in older ages, and also with childhood cognition. The extent to which the associations of cortisol with cognitive deficits in later life reflect associations with childhood cognition ability is unclear. This study aimed to assess associations between adult cortisol levels and subsequent cognitive functions, while considering childhood cognition and other lifetime covariates. Data are from the 1958 British Birth Cohort. Two morning salivary cortisol samples were obtained at 45 years: 45 min after waking (t1) and 3 h later (t2). Standardized tests assessing immediate and delayed verbal memory, verbal fluency and speed of processing were administered at 50 years. Information on cortisol, cognitive outcomes and covariates [e.g., birthweight, lifetime socio-economic position (SEP), education, smoking and drinking habits, body mass index (BMI), menopausal status, and depression/anxiety] was obtained for 4655 participants. Worse immediate and delayed verbal memory and verbal fluency at 50 years were predicted by elevated t2 cortisol at 45 years. For instance, for 1 standard deviation (s.d.) increase in t2 cortisol, individuals scored -0.05 s.d. lower on verbal memory and fluency tests. Childhood cognition explained about 30% of these associations, but associations with adult cognition remained. This study suggests that higher cortisol levels in late morning at 45 years are associated with poorer verbal memory and fluency at 50 years, with a contribution from childhood cognition to these associations.

Text-fading based training leads to transfer effects on children's sentence reading fluency

PubMed Central

Nagler, Telse; Korinth, Sebastian P.; Linkersdörfer, Janosch; Lonnemann, Jan; Rump, Björn; Hasselhorn, Marcus; Lindberg, Sven

2015-01-01

Previous studies used a text-fading procedure as a training tool with the goal to increase silent reading fluency (i.e., proficient reading rate and comprehension). In recently published studies, this procedure resulted in lasting reading enhancements for adult and adolescent research samples. However, studies working with children reported mixed results. While reading rate improvements were observable for Dutch reading children in a text-fading training study, reading fluency improvements in standardized reading tests post-training attributable to the fading manipulation were not detectable. These results raise the question of whether text-fading training is not effective for children or whether research design issues have concealed possible transfer effects. Hence, the present study sought to investigate possible transfer effects resulting from a text-fading based reading training program, using a modified research design. Over a period of 3 weeks, two groups of German third-graders read sentences either with an adaptive text-fading procedure or at their self-paced reading rate. A standardized test measuring reading fluency at the word, sentence, and text level was conducted pre- and post-training. Text level reading fluency improved for both groups equally. Post-training gains at the word level were found for the text-fading group, however, no significant interaction between groups was revealed for word reading fluency. Sentence level reading fluency gains were found for the text-fading group, which significantly differed from the group of children reading at their self-paced reading routine. These findings provide evidence for the efficacy of text-fading as a training method for sentence reading fluency improvement also for children. PMID:25713554

Reading Fluency and College Readiness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy V.; Chang, Shu-Ching; Edmondson, Elizabeth; Nageldinger, James; Nigh, Jennifer; Remark, Linda; Kenney, Kristen Srsen; Walsh-Moorman, Elizabeth; Yildirim, Kasim; Nichols, William Dee; Paige, David D.; Rupley, William H.

2017-01-01

The Common Core State Standards suggest that an appropriate goal for secondary education is college and career readiness. Previous research has identified reading fluency as a critical component for proficient reading. One component of fluency is word recognition accuracy and automaticity. The present study attempted to determine the word…

A Musical Approach to Reading Fluency: An Experimental Study in First-Grade Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leguizamon, Daniel F.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to investigate the relationship between Kodaly-based music instruction and reading fluency in first-grade classrooms. Reading fluency and overall reading achievement were measured for 109 participants at mid-point in the academic year pre- and post treatment. Tests were carried out to…

Conceptual fluency increases recollection: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

PubMed Central

Wang, Wei; Li, Bingbing; Gao, Chuanji; Xu, Huifang; Guo, Chunyan

2015-01-01

It is widely established that fluency can contribute to recognition memory. Previous studies have found that enhanced fluency increases familiarity, but not recollection. The present study was motivated by a previous finding that conceptual priming affected recollection. We used event-related potentials to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of these effects with conceptually related two-character Chinese words. We found that previous conceptual priming effects on conceptual fluency only increased the incidence of recollection responses. We also found that enhanced conceptual fluency was associated with N400 attenuation, which was also correlated with the behavioral indicator of recollection. These results suggest that the N400 effect might be related to the impact of conceptual fluency on recollection recognition. These study findings provide further evidence for the relationship between fluency and recollection. PMID:26175678

Processing fluency affects subjective claims of recollection.

PubMed

Kurilla, Bran P; Westerman, Deanne L

2008-01-01

Previous studies that have used the remember-know paradigm to investigate subjective awareness in memory have shown that fluency manipulations have an impact on "know" responses but not on "remember" responses (e.g., Rajaram, 1993), a finding typically accounted for by invoking inferential processing in judgments of familiarity but not of recollection. However, in light of several researchers' criticisms of this procedure, as well as findings documenting the influence of processing fluency on various subjective judgments, the present study was conducted in order to investigate whether judgments of recollection might also be subject to inferential processes and not solely the product of conscious retrieval. When the standard remember-know procedure was used (Experiment 1), manipulations of perceptual fluency increased "know" responses but had no effect on "remember" responses, replicating previous findings. However, when an independent ratings method was employed (Higham & Vokey, 2004), manipulations of perceptual fluency (Experiment 2) and conceptual fluency (Experiment 3) reliably increased claims of both familiarity and recollection, suggesting that the conclusion that fluency affects only "know" responses may be an artifact of the standard remember-know procedure.

Assessment of the global intelligence and selective cognitive capacities in preterm 8-year-old children.

PubMed

Begega, Azucena; Méndez López, Magdalena; de Iscar, María Jesús; Cuesta-Izquierdo, Marcelino; Solís, Gonzalo; Fernández-Colomer, Belén; Álvarez, Luis; Méndez, Marta; Arias, Jorge L

2010-11-01

The aim of this study was to assess various cognitive abilities such as attention, IQ, reasoning, and memory related to academic achievement in 8- and 9-year-old preterm children. A total of 141 children were assessed. The preterm group (=37 weeks) comprised 63 children and was compared to 78 full-term children. Attention was evaluated using the d2 Selective Attention test, and the IQ by the L-M form of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, establishing a profile of abilities: perception, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and verbal fluency. Significant differences in IQ were found between the preterm and full-term children. Of the cognitive abilities assessed, the only significant differences were found in verbal fluency, with preterm boys showing lower verbal fluency scores than full-term children. In conclusion, all preterm groups have attention ability similar to that of full-term children. However, preterm children obtain lower scores in intelligence measures. In addition, preterm boys have verbal fluency difficulties. Taking into account the increase in preterm births, suitable intervention programs must be planned to attend the difficulties found.

easyCBM[R] Slope Reliability: Letter Names, Word Reading Fluency, and Passage Reading Fluency. Technical Report #1111

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patarapichayatham, Chalie; Anderson, Daniel; Irvin, P. Shawn; Kamata, Akhito; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2011-01-01

Within a response to intervention (RTI) framework, students are administered multiple tests of equivalent difficulty. Changes in students' scores over time are then attributed to changes in learning. In the current study, we evaluated the reliability of score changes (i.e., slope) for the easyCBM[R] letter names, word reading fluency, and passage…

Long-term impact of subthalamic stimulation on cognitive function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Acera, M; Molano, A; Tijero, B; Bilbao, G; Lambarri, I; Villoria, R; Somme, J; Ruiz de Gopegui, E; Gabilondo, I; Gomez-Esteban, J C

2017-07-13

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (DBS-SN) on cognitive function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) 5 years after surgery. We conducted a prospective study including 50 patients with PD who underwent DBS-SN (62.5% were men; mean age of 62.2±8.2 years; mean progression time of 14.1±6.3 years). All patients were assessed before the procedure and at one year after surgery; 40 patients were further followed up until the 5-year mark. Follow-up assessments included the following neuropsychological tests: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS), letter-number sequencing of the WAIS-III (WAIS-III-LN), clock-drawing test, Rey auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT), Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT), Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) test, FAS Phonemic Verbal Fluency Test, Stroop test, and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Patients were found to score lower on the MMSE (-0.89%), clock-drawing test (-2.61%), MDRS (-1.72%), and especially phonemic (-13.28%) and sematic verbal fluency tests (-12.40%) at one year after surgery. Delayed recall on the RAVLT worsened one year after the procedure (-10.12%). At 5 years, impairment affected mainly verbal fluency; scores decreased an additional 16.10% and 16.60% in semantic and phonemic verbal fluency, respectively. Moderate decreases were observed in immediate recall (-16.87%), WAIS-III-LN (-16.67%), and JLO test (-11.56%). In our sample, DBS-SN did not result in global cognitive impairment 5 years after surgery. Verbal function was found to be significantly impaired one year after the procedure. Impaired learning and visuospatial function may be attributed to degeneration associated with PD. Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The similar effects of verbal and non-verbal intervening tasks on word recall in an elderly population.

PubMed

Williams, B R; Sullivan, S K; Morra, L F; Williams, J R; Donovick, P J

2014-01-01

Vulnerability to retroactive interference has been shown to increase with cognitive aging. Consistent with the findings of memory and aging literature, the authors of the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) suggest that a non-verbal task be administered during the test's delay interval to minimize the effects of retroactive interference on delayed recall. The goal of the present study was to determine the extent to which retroactive interference caused by non-verbal and verbal intervening tasks affects recall of verbal information in non-demented, older adults. The effects of retroactive interference on recall of words during Long-Delay recall on the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) were evaluated. Participants included 85 adults age 60 and older. During a 20-minute delay interval on the CVLT-II, participants received either a verbal (WAIS-III Vocabulary or Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-IIIB) or non-verbal (Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices or WAIS-III Block Design) intervening task. Similarly to previous research with young adults (Williams & Donovick, 2008), older adults recalled the same number of words across all groups, regardless of the type of intervening task. These findings suggest that the administration of verbal intervening tasks during the CVLT-II do not elicit more retroactive interference than non-verbal intervening tasks, and thus verbal tasks need not be avoided during the delay interval of the CVLT-II.

Deriving semantic structure from category fluency: clustering techniques and their pitfalls

PubMed Central

Voorspoels, Wouter; Storms, Gert; Longenecker, Julia; Verheyen, Steven; Weinberger, Daniel R.; Elvevåg, Brita

2013-01-01

Assessing verbal output in category fluency tasks provides a sensitive indicator of cortical dysfunction. The most common metrics are the overall number of words produced and the number of errors. Two main observations have been made about the structure of the output, first that there is a temporal component to it with words being generated in spurts, and second that the clustering pattern may reflect a search for meanings such that the ‘clustering’ is attributable to the activation of a specific semantic field in memory. A number of sophisticated approaches to examining the structure of this clustering have been developed, and a core theme is that the similarity relations between category members will reveal the mental semantic structure of the category underlying an individual’s responses, which can then be visualized by a number of algorithms, such as MDS, hierarchical clustering, ADDTREE, ADCLUS or SVD. Such approaches have been applied to a variety of neurological and psychiatric populations, and the general conclusion has been that the clinical condition systematically distorts the semantic structure in the patients, as compared to the healthy controls. In the present paper we explore this approach to understanding semantic structure using category fluency data. On the basis of a large pool of patients with schizophrenia (n=204) and healthy control participants (n=204), we find that the methods are problematic and unreliable to the extent that it is not possible to conclude that any putative difference reflects a systematic difference between the semantic representations in patients and controls. Moreover, taking into account the unreliability of the methods, we find that the most probable conclusion to be made is that no difference in underlying semantic representation exists. The consequences of these findings to understanding semantic structure, and the use of category fluency data, in cortical dysfunction are discussed. PMID:24275165

Lexical access changes in patients with multiple sclerosis: a two-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Sepulcre, Jorge; Peraita, Herminia; Goni, Joaquin; Arrondo, Gonzalo; Martincorena, Inigo; Duque, Beatriz; Velez de Mendizabal, Nieves; Masdeu, Joseph C; Villoslada, Pablo

2011-02-01

The aim of the study was to analyze lexical access strategies in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their changes over time. We studied lexical access strategies during semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests and also confrontation naming in a 2-year prospective cohort of 45 MS patients and 20 healthy controls. At baseline, switching lexical access strategy (both in semantic and in phonemic verbal fluency tests) and confrontation naming were significantly impaired in MS patients compared with controls. After 2 years follow-up, switching score decreased, and cluster size increased over time in semantic verbal fluency tasks, suggesting a failure in the retrieval of lexical information rather than an impairment of the lexical pool. In conclusion, these findings underline the significant presence of lexical access problems in patients with MS and could point out their key role in the alterations of high-level communications abilities in MS.

The Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Rey AVLT): An Arabic Version

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharoni, Varda; Natur, Nazeh

2014-01-01

The goals of this study were to adapt the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) into Arabic, to compare recall functioning among age groups (6:0 to 17:11), and to compare gender differences on various memory dimensions (immediate and delayed recall, learning rate, recognition, proactive interferences, and retroactive interferences). This…

Impaired Verb Fluency: A Sign of Mild Cognitive Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ostberg, Per; Fernaeus, Sven-Erik; Hellstrom, Ake; Bogdanovic, Nenad; Wahlund, Lars Olof

2005-01-01

We assessed verb fluency vs. noun and letter-based fluency in 199 subjects referred for cognitive complaints including Subjective Cognitive Impairment, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's disease. ANCOVAs and factor analyses identified verb, noun, and letter-based fluency as distinct tasks. Verb fluency performance in Mild Cognitive…

[Brain Perfusion, Cognitive Functions, and Vascular Age in Middle Aged Patients With Essential Arterial Hypertension].

PubMed

Parfenov, V A; Ostroumova, T M; Pеrepelova, E M; Perepelov, V A; Kochetkov, A I; Ostroumova, O D

2018-05-01

This study aimed to assess the cognitive functions and cerebral blood flow measured with arterial spin labeling (ASL) and their possible correlations with vascular age in untreated middle-aged patients with grade 1-2 essential arterial hypertension (EAH). We examined 73 subjects aged 40-59 years (33 with EAH and 40 healthy volunteers [controls]). Neuropsychological assessment included Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Trail Making test (part A and part B), Stroop Color and Word Test, verbal fluency test (phonemic verbal fluency and semantic verbal fluency), 10‑item word list learning task. All subjects underwent brain MRI. MRI protocol included ASL. Vascular age was calculated by two techniques - using Framingham Heart Study risk tables and SCORE project scales. Patients with EAH had lower performance on phonemic verbal fluency test and lower mean MoCA score (29.2±1.4 vs. 28.1±1.7 points) compared to controls (13.4±3.2, р=0.002; 29.2±1.4, p=0.001, respectively). White matter hyperintensities (WMH) were present in 7.5 % controls and in 51.5 % EAH patients (р=0.0002). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) in EAH patients was lower in both right (39.1±5.6 vs. 45.8±3.2 ml / 100 g / min) and left frontal lobes of the brain (39.2±6.2 и 45.2±3.6 ml / 100 g / min, respectively) compared to controls (р.

Fluency Patterns in Narratives from Children with Localization Related Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Steinberg, Mara E.; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Gaillard, William; Berl, Madison

2013-01-01

This study assessed the relationship between fluency and language demand in children with epilepsy, a group known to demonstrate depressed language skills. Disfluency type and frequencies were analyzed in elicited narratives from 52 children. Half of these children had localization-related epilepsy (CWE), while the others were age- and gender-matched typically developing (TD) peers. CWE were found to be significantly more disfluent overall than their matched TD peers during narrative productions, and demonstrated a higher proportion of stutter-like disfluencies, particularly prolongations. The current study adds to an emerging literature that has found depressed language skills and listener perceptions of verbal ability in children with chronic seizure activity, and contributes to the small but growing literature that suggests that disfluency during spoken language tasks may be a subtle marker of expressive language impairment. PMID:23773671

Story Retell: A Fluency-Based Indicator of Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Greg; Good, Roland; Corcoran, Stephanie

2005-01-01

This article presents a fluency-based measure of reading comprehension. A part of the Vitals Indicators of Progress (VIP) system, the measure outlined here represents an alternate form to the retell-fluency measure in the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy System (DIBELS). Measures of retell fluency provide an efficient, fluency-based tool…

The Effects of Home-Based Cognitive Training on Verbal Working Memory and Language Comprehension in Older Adulthood

PubMed Central

Payne, Brennan R.; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.

2017-01-01

Effective language understanding is crucial to maintaining cognitive abilities and learning new information through adulthood. However, age-related declines in working memory (WM) have a robust negative influence on multiple aspects of language comprehension and use, potentially limiting communicative competence. In the current study (N = 41), we examined the effects of a novel home-based computerized cognitive training program targeting verbal WM on changes in verbal WM and language comprehension in healthy older adults relative to an active component-control group. Participants in the WM training group showed non-linear improvements in performance on trained verbal WM tasks. Relative to the active control group, WM training participants also showed improvements on untrained verbal WM tasks and selective improvements across untrained dimensions of language, including sentence memory, verbal fluency, and comprehension of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Though the current study is preliminary in nature, it does provide initial promising evidence that WM training may influence components of language comprehension in adulthood and suggests that home-based training of WM may be a viable option for probing the scope and limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults. PMID:28848421

The Effects of Home-Based Cognitive Training on Verbal Working Memory and Language Comprehension in Older Adulthood.

PubMed

Payne, Brennan R; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L

2017-01-01

Effective language understanding is crucial to maintaining cognitive abilities and learning new information through adulthood. However, age-related declines in working memory (WM) have a robust negative influence on multiple aspects of language comprehension and use, potentially limiting communicative competence. In the current study ( N = 41), we examined the effects of a novel home-based computerized cognitive training program targeting verbal WM on changes in verbal WM and language comprehension in healthy older adults relative to an active component-control group. Participants in the WM training group showed non-linear improvements in performance on trained verbal WM tasks. Relative to the active control group, WM training participants also showed improvements on untrained verbal WM tasks and selective improvements across untrained dimensions of language, including sentence memory, verbal fluency, and comprehension of syntactically ambiguous sentences. Though the current study is preliminary in nature, it does provide initial promising evidence that WM training may influence components of language comprehension in adulthood and suggests that home-based training of WM may be a viable option for probing the scope and limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults.

Dichotic assessment of verbal memory function: development and validation of the Persian version of Dichotic Verbal Memory Test.

PubMed

Aghamollaei, Maryam; Jafari, Zahra; Tahaei, Aliakbar; Toufan, Reyhane; Keyhani, Mohammadreza; Rahimzade, Shadi; Esmaeili, Mahdieh

2013-09-01

The Dichotic Verbal Memory Test (DVMT) is useful in detecting verbal memory deficits and differences in memory function between the brain hemispheres. The purpose of this study was to prepare the Persian version of DVMT, to obtain its results in 18- to 25-yr-old Iranian individuals, and to examine the ear, gender, and serial position effect. The Persian version of DVMT consisted of 18 10-word lists. After preparing the 18 lists, content validity was assessed by a panel of eight experts and the equivalency of the lists was evaluated. Then the words were recorded on CD in a dichotic mode such that 10 words were presented to one ear, with the same words reversed simultaneously presented to the other ear. Thereafter, it was performed on a sample of young, normal, Iranian individuals. Thirty normal individuals (no history of neurological, ontological, or psychological diseases) with ages ranging from 18 to 25 yr were examined for evaluating the equivalency of the lists, and 110 subjects within the same age range participated in the final stage of the study to obtain the normative data on the developed test. There was no significant difference between the mean scores of the 18 developed lists (p > 0.05). The mean content validity index (CVI) score was .96. A significant difference was found between the mean score of the two ears (p < 0.05) and between female and male participants (p < 0.05). The Persian version of DVMT has good content validity and can be used for verbal memory assessment in Iranian young adults. American Academy of Audiology.

Distinguishing familiarity from fluency for the compound word pair effect in associative recognition.

PubMed

Ahmad, Fahad N; Hockley, William E

2017-09-01

We examined whether processing fluency contributes to associative recognition of unitized pre-experimental associations. In Experiments 1A and 1B, we minimized perceptual fluency by presenting each word of pairs on separate screens at both study and test, yet the compound word (CW) effect (i.e., hit and false-alarm rates greater for CW pairs with no difference in discrimination) did not reduce. In Experiments 2A and 2B, conceptual fluency was examined by comparing transparent (e.g., hand bag) and opaque (e.g., rag time) CW pairs in lexical decision and associative recognition tasks. Lexical decision was faster for transparent CWs (Experiment 2A) but in associative recognition, the CW effect did not differ by CW pair type (Experiment 2B). In Experiments 3A and 3B, we examined whether priming that increases processing fluency would influence the CW effect. In Experiment 3A, CW and non-compound word pairs were preceded with matched and mismatched primes at test in an associative recognition task. In Experiment 3B, only transparent and opaque CW pairs were presented. Results showed that presenting matched versus mismatched primes at test did not influence the CW effect. The CW effect in yes-no associative recognition is due to reliance on enhanced familiarity of unitized CW pairs.

The Relationship between Different Measures of Oral Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension in Second-Grade Students Who Evidence Different Oral Reading Fluency Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Justin C.; Sevcik, Rose A.; Morris, Robin D.; Lovett, Maureen W.; Wolf, Maryanne; Kuhn, Melanie; Meisinger, Beth; Schwanenflugel, Paula

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether different measures of oral reading fluency relate differentially to reading comprehension performance in two samples of second-grade students: (a) students who evidenced difficulties with nonsense-word oral reading fluency, real-word oral reading fluency, and oral reading fluency of…

Australian Curriculum Linked Lessons. Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurrell, Derek

2014-01-01

In this article, Derek Hurrell, points out that while it's easy to fall into the impression that the proficiency strand "Fluency" is all about knowing basic number facts in all its many and splendid ways. He add it is easy to overlook, that within Fluency there are requirements that are based in Algebra; Measurement and Geometry; and…

What Does a Verbal Test Measure? A New Approach to Understanding Sources of Item Difficulty.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berk, Eric J. Vanden; Lohman, David F.; Cassata, Jennifer Coyne

Assessing the construct relevance of mental test results continues to present many challenges, and it has proven to be particularly difficult to assess the construct relevance of verbal items. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of the conceptual sources of verbal item difficulty using a unique approach that integrates…

Random local temporal structure of category fluency responses.

PubMed

Meyer, David J; Messer, Jason; Singh, Tanya; Thomas, Peter J; Woyczynski, Wojbor A; Kaye, Jeffrey; Lerner, Alan J

2012-04-01

The Category Fluency Test (CFT) provides a sensitive measurement of cognitive capabilities in humans related to retrieval from semantic memory. In particular, it is widely used to assess progress of cognitive impairment in patients with dementia. Previous research shows that, in the first approximation, the intensity of tested individuals' responses within a standard 60-s test period decays exponentially with time, with faster decay rates for more cognitively impaired patients. Such decay rate can then be viewed as a global (macro) diagnostic parameter of each test. In the present paper we focus on the statistical properties of the properly de-trended time intervals between consecutive responses (inter-call times) in the Category Fluency Test. In a sense, those properties reflect the local (micro) structure of the response generation process. We find that a good approximation for the distribution of the de-trended inter-call times is provided by the Weibull Distribution, a probability distribution that appears naturally in this context as a distribution of a minimum of independent random quantities and is the standard tool in industrial reliability theory. This insight leads us to a new interpretation of the concept of "navigating a semantic space" via patient responses.

The European Clinical Specialization on Fluency Disorders (ECSF)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eggers, Kurt; Leahy, Margaret

2011-01-01

The European Clinical Specialization on Fluency Disorders (ECSF) project consists of one-year post-qualification fluency specialization training and a harmonized graduate fluency program. It was developed by eight European universities/colleges to provide the means whereby graduates would meet comparable standards of competence to practice in the…

Fluency: It's All about Audience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leathers, Jacqueline

2017-01-01

This essay describes the struggle to get one second grade reader who was in need of fluency practice to overcome his resistance to rereading familiar texts. This was done through the use of videos which were sent to parents on a weekly basis after the texts had been practiced several time with an eye toward all aspects of fluency--phrasing,…

Verbal and non-verbal memory and hippocampal volumes in a memory clinic population.

PubMed

Bonner-Jackson, Aaron; Mahmoud, Shamseldeen; Miller, Justin; Banks, Sarah J

2015-10-15

Better characterization of the relationship between episodic memory and hippocampal volumes is crucial in early detection of neurodegenerative disease. We examined these relationships in a memory clinic population. Participants (n = 226) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and tests of verbal (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, HVLT-R) and non-verbal (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, BVMT-R) memory. Correlational analyses were performed, and analyses on clinical subgroups (i.e., amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, non-amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, probable Alzheimer's disease, intact memory) were conducted. Positive associations were identified between bilateral hippocampal volumes and both memory measures, and BVMT-R learning slope was more strongly positively associated with hippocampal volumes than HVLT-R learning slope. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) participants showed specific positive associations between BVMT-R performance and hippocampal volumes bilaterally. Additionally, analyses of the aMCI group showed trend-level evidence of material-specific lateralization, such that retention of verbal information was positively associated with left hippocampal volume, whereas learning curve and retention of non-verbal information was positively associated with right hippocampal volume. Findings support the link between episodic memory and hippocampal volumes in a memory clinic population. Non-verbal memory measures also may have higher diagnostic value, particularly in individuals at elevated risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Order of Administration of Math and Verbal Tests: An Ecological Intervention to Reduce Stereotype Threat on Girls' Math Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeding, Annique; Dumas, Florence; Loose, Florence; Régner, Isabelle

2013-01-01

In 2 field experiments, we relied on the very features of real testing situations--where both math and verbal tests are administered--to examine whether order of test administration can, by itself, create vs. alleviate stereotype threat (ST) effects on girls' math performance. We predicted that taking the math test before the verbal test would be…

How Is RAN Related to Reading Fluency? A Comprehensive Examination of the Prominent Theoretical Accounts

PubMed Central

Papadopoulos, Timothy C.; Spanoudis, George C.; Georgiou, George K.

2016-01-01

We examined the prominent theoretical explanations of the RAN-reading relationship in a relatively transparent language (Greek) in a sample of children (n = 286) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Specifically, we tested the fit of eight different models, as defined by the type of reading performance predicted (oral vs. silent word reading fluency), the type of RAN tasks (non-alphanumeric vs. alphanumeric), and the RAN effects (direct vs. indirect). Working memory, attention, processing speed, and motor skills were used as “common cause” variables predicting both RAN and reading fluency and phonological awareness and orthographic processing were used as mediators of RAN's effects on reading fluency. The findings of both concurrent and longitudinal analyses indicated that RAN is a unique predictor of oral reading fluency, but not silent reading fluency. Using alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric RAN did not particularly affect the RAN-reading relationship. Both phonological awareness and orthographic processing partly mediated RAN's effects on reading fluency. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:27605918

The effect of age-at-testing on verbal memory among children following severe traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Silberg, Tamar; Ahonniska-Assa, Jaana; Levav, Miriam; Eliyahu, Roni; Peleg-Pilowsky, Tamar; Brezner, Amichai; Vakil, Eli

2016-01-01

Memory deficits are a common sequelae following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI), which often have serious implications on age-related academic skills. The current study examined verbal memory performance using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in a pediatric TBI sample. Verbal memory abilities as well as the effect of age at-testing on performance were examined. A sample of 67 children following severe TBI (age average = 12.3 ± 2.74) and 67 matched controls were evaluated using the RAVLT. Age effect at assessment was examined using two age groups: above and below 12 years of age during evaluation. Differences between groups were examined via the 9 RAVLT learning trials and the 7 composite scores conducted out of them. Children following TBI recalled significantly less words than controls on all RAVLT trials and had significantly lower scores on all composite scores. However, all of these scores fell within the low average range. Further analysis revealed significantly lower than average performance among the older children (above 12 years), while scores of the younger children following TBI fell within average limits. To conclude, verbal memory deficits among children following severe TBI demonstrate an age-at-testing effect with more prominent problems occurring above 12 years at the time of evaluation. Yet, age-appropriate performance among children below 12 years of age may not accurately describe memory abilities at younger ages following TBI. It is therefore recommended that clinicians address child's age at testing and avoid using a single test as an indicator of verbal memory functioning post TBI.

Examination of Test and Item Statistics from Visual and Verbal Mathematics Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alpayar, Cagla; Gulleroglu, H. Deniz

2017-01-01

The aim of this research is to determine whether students' test performance and approaches to test questions change based on the type of mathematics questions (visual or verbal) administered to them. This research is based on a mixed-design model. The quantitative data are gathered from 297 seventh grade students, attending seven different middle…

Building Speaking Fluency with Multiword Expressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomson, Haidee

2017-01-01

Previous research has shown a link between speaking fluently and using multiword expressions. However, evidence on how to effectively teach multiword expressions is limited. This study investigates the effect of fluency-oriented classroom teaching on speaking fluency, with special attention to multiword expressions. In this quasi-experimental…

Fluency-dependent cortical activation associated with speech production and comprehension in second language learners.

PubMed

Shimada, K; Hirotani, M; Yokokawa, H; Yoshida, H; Makita, K; Yamazaki-Murase, M; Tanabe, H C; Sadato, N

2015-08-06

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the brain regions underlying language task performance in adult second language (L2) learners. Specifically, we identified brain regions where the level of activation was associated with L2 fluency levels. Thirty Japanese-speaking adults participated in the study. All participants were L2 learners of English and had achieved varying levels of fluency, as determined by a standardized L2 English proficiency test, the Versant English Test (Pearson Education Inc., 2011). When participants performed the oral sentence building task from the production tasks administered, the dorsal part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (dIFG) showed activation patterns that differed depending on the L2 fluency levels: The more fluent the participants were, the more dIFG activation decreased. This decreased activation of the dIFG might reflect the increased automaticity of a syntactic building process. In contrast, when participants performed an oral story comprehension task, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) showed increased activation with higher fluency levels. This suggests that the learners with higher L2 fluency were actively engaged in post-syntactic integration processing supported by the left pSTG. These data imply that L2 fluency predicts neural resource allocation during language comprehension tasks as well as in production tasks. This study sheds light on the neural underpinnings of L2 learning by identifying the brain regions recruited during different language tasks across different modalities (production vs. comprehension). Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: the paradoxical interplay between gait and cognition.

PubMed

Ricciardi, Lucia; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Snijders, Anke H; Daniele, Antonio; Quaranta, Davide; Bentivoglio, Anna Rita; Fasano, Alfonso

2014-08-01

Freezing of gait is a disabling episodic gait disturbance common in patients with Parkinson's disease. Recent evidences suggest a complex interplay between gait impairment and executive functions. Aim of our study was to evaluate whether specific motor conditions (sitting or walking) influence cognitive performance in patients with or without different types of freezing. Eight healthy controls, eight patients without freezing, nine patients with levodopa-responsive and nine patients with levodopa-resistant freezing received a clinical and neuropsychological assessment during two randomly performed conditions: at rest and during walking. At rest, patients with levodopa-resistant freezing performed worse than patients without freezing on tests of phonological fluency (p = 0.01). No differences among the four groups were detected during walking. When cognitive performances during walking were compared to the performance at rest, there was a significant decline of verbal episodic memory task (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) in patients without freezing and with levodopa-responsive freezing. Interestingly, walking improved performance on the phonological fluency task in patients with levodopa-resistant freezing (p = 0.04). Compared to patients without freezing, patients with levodopa-resistant freezing perform worse when tested while seated in tasks of phonological verbal fluency. Surprisingly, gait was associated with a paradoxical improvement of phonological verbal fluency in the patients with levodopa-resistant freezing whilst walking determined a worsening of episodic memory in the other patient groups. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lexical and semantic fluency discrepancy scores in aMCI and early Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Lonie, Jane A; Herrmann, Lucie L; Tierney, Kevin M; Donaghey, Claire; O'Carroll, Ronan; Lee, Andrew; Ebmeier, Klaus P

2009-03-01

Episodic memory is compromised in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), but lesser deficits in other cognitive domains are also commonly observed and may be helpful in identifying this group. The relative difference in performance on lexical and semantic fluency tasks may be a sensitive and specific measure in aMCI and early Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared four groups of participants, 35 early AD, 47 aMCI, 24 healthy controls, and 18 depressive out-patient controls, on semantic and lexical fluency as well as other neuropsychological tests. Early AD and aMCI patients showed a distinct pattern of semantic impairment in the two fluency measures compared with the healthy and depressive controls. The findings implicate early failure of the semantic memory system in aMCI and AD and suggest that consideration of the discrepancy in performance on semantic and lexical fluency measures may help in the early identification of AD.

What do people who stutter want--fluency or freedom?

PubMed

Venkatagiri, H S

2009-04-01

In this study, the author examined the following questions: What proportion of adult persons who stutter (PWS) choose fluency and what proportion choose to be free from a need to be fluent in managing their stuttering? What demographic and stuttering-related variables influence their choice, and how consistent are they in their choice? A survey instrument administered over the Internet was used to collect the data. Overall, 8% more of the 216 respondents opted for fluency than freedom. A larger proportion of male PWS and PWS under the age of 30 years preferred fluency. Neither nationality nor language background influenced their preference. Those who received no therapy overwhelmingly chose fluency, and a slight majority of those with fewer than 5 years of therapy preferred fluency. Those with more than 5 years of therapy were evenly divided between the 2 choices. Those who preferred freedom were more consistent in their responses across items than were those who opted for fluency. Based on the consistency of responses, 20% and 23% of the sample decisively opted for fluency and freedom, respectively, and 34% in the fluency group and 23% in the freedom group were ambivalent. A majority of PWS appear to benefit from flexible treatment programs with cafeteria-style choices.

Right hemisphere structures predict poststroke speech fluency.

PubMed

Pani, Ethan; Zheng, Xin; Wang, Jasmine; Norton, Andrea; Schlaug, Gottfried

2016-04-26

We sought to determine via a cross-sectional study the contribution of (1) the right hemisphere's speech-relevant white matter regions and (2) interhemispheric connectivity to speech fluency in the chronic phase of left hemisphere stroke with aphasia. Fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter regions underlying the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), precentral gyrus (PreCG), pars opercularis (IFGop) and triangularis (IFGtri) of the inferior frontal gyrus, and the corpus callosum (CC) was correlated with speech fluency measures. A region within the superior parietal lobule (SPL) was examined as a control. FA values of regions that significantly predicted speech measures were compared with FA values from healthy age- and sex-matched controls. FA values for the right MTG, PreCG, and IFGop significantly predicted speech fluency, but FA values of the IFGtri and SPL did not. A multiple regression showed that combining FA of the significant right hemisphere regions with the lesion load of the left arcuate fasciculus-a previously identified biomarker of poststroke speech fluency-provided the best model for predicting speech fluency. FA of CC fibers connecting left and right supplementary motor areas (SMA) was also correlated with speech fluency. FA of the right IFGop and PreCG was significantly higher in patients than controls, while FA of a whole CC region of interest (ROI) and the CC-SMA ROI was significantly lower in patients. Right hemisphere white matter integrity is related to speech fluency measures in patients with chronic aphasia. This may indicate premorbid anatomical variability beneficial for recovery or be the result of poststroke remodeling. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Differences in the Relationship of Oral Reading Fluency and High-Stakes Measures of Reading Comprehension

PubMed Central

Wanzek, Jeanne; Roberts, Greg; Linan-Thompson, Sylvia; Vaughn, Sharon; Woodruff, Althea L.; Murray, Christy S.

2011-01-01

The current study examined the predictive validity of oral reading fluency measures across first, second, and third grades for two reading achievement measures at the end of third grade. Oral reading fluency measures were administered to students from first grade to third. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and the Stanford Achievement Test were also administered in the third grade. Oral reading fluency was a reliable predictor of student success on both measures. Data suggest that greater student growth in oral reading fluency is needed through the grade levels to ensure high probabilities of success on the nationally normed measure, as compared to what is needed for the state-normed measure. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. PMID:21479152

Is Oral/Text Reading Fluency a “Bridge” to Reading Comprehension?

PubMed Central

Kim, Young-Suk Grace; Park, Chea Hyeong; Wagner, Richard K.

2015-01-01

In the present study we investigated developmental relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, and text reading fluency to reading comprehension in a relatively transparent language, Korean. A total of 98 kindergartners and 170 first graders in Korea were assessed on a series of tasks involving listening comprehension, word reading fluency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Results from multigroup structural equation models showed that text reading fluency was a dissociable construct for both kindergartners and first graders. In addition, a developmental pattern emerged: listening comprehension was not uniquely related to text reading fluency for first graders, but not for kindergartners, over and above word reading fluency. In addition, text reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension for kindergartners, but not for first graders, after accounting for word reading fluency and listening comprehension. For first graders, listening comprehension dominated the relations. There were no differences in the pattern of relations for skilled and less skilled readers in first grade. Results are discussed from a developmental perspective for reading comprehension component skills including text reading fluency. PMID:25653474

Theorization and an Empirical Investigation of the Component-Based and Developmental Text Writing Fluency Construct

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Young-Suk Grace; Gatlin, Brandy; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Wanzek, Jeanne

2018-01-01

We discuss a component-based, developmental view of text writing fluency, which we tested using data from children in Grades 2 and 3. "Text writing fluency" was defined as efficiency and automaticity in writing connected texts, which acts as a mediator between text generation (oral language), transcription skills, and writing quality. We…

Cognitive functions in first-episode depression and recurrent depressive disorder.

PubMed

Talarowska, Monika; Zajączkowska, Marlena; Gałecki, Piotr

2015-03-01

Cognitive deficits in the course of depressive disorders affect mainly memory, attention and the frontal functions. They are associated with both an earlier onset of symptoms and prolonged episodes. The main aim of the study was to verify the hypothesis of differences in the effectiveness of cognitive processes between patients with a first episode of depression (ED-I) and recurrent depressive disorders (rDD). The study comprised 210 subjects: patients with ED-I (n=60) and patients with rDD (n=150). The assessment of cognitive functions was based on performance of the Trail Making Test, the Stroop Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the digit span from WAIS-R. There were no statistically significant differences between the analysed groups in the severity of depressive symptoms. The negative impact of depressive symptoms on the effectiveness of cognitive functions was observed. The ED-I group recorded better results compared to the rDD group in terms of the speed of information processing, visual-spatial and auditory-verbal memory and executive functions, auditory-verbal immediate and delayed memory, ability to learn and verbal fluency. The same differences were observed with respect to the patients from the ED-I group and the patients with the second episode of depression (ED-II) in the course of rDD. There are significant differences in cognitive functioning of patients with a depressive episode and recurrent depressive disorders. These differences are already visible from the second episode of a major depressive disorder. Memory, verbal fluency and frontal functions are reduced.

Computational fluency and strategy choice predict individual and cross-national differences in complex arithmetic.

PubMed

Vasilyeva, Marina; Laski, Elida V; Shen, Chen

2015-10-01

The present study tested the hypothesis that children's fluency with basic number facts and knowledge of computational strategies, derived from early arithmetic experience, predicts their performance on complex arithmetic problems. First-grade students from United States and Taiwan (N = 152, mean age: 7.3 years) were presented with problems that differed in difficulty: single-, mixed-, and double-digit addition. Children's strategy use varied as a function of problem difficulty, consistent with Siegler's theory of strategy choice. The use of decomposition strategy interacted with computational fluency in predicting the accuracy of double-digit addition. Further, the frequency of decomposition and computational fluency fully mediated cross-national differences in accuracy on these complex arithmetic problems. The results indicate the importance of both fluency with basic number facts and the decomposition strategy for later arithmetic performance. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Fluency Instruction. Research-Based Best Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy Ed.; Blachowicz, Camille Ed.; Lems, Kristin Ed.

2006-01-01

Because fluency instruction was identified, only recently, as a cornerstone literacy subject--it is still unfamiliar terrain for many teachers. This volume fills a crucial gap by offering a thorough, authoritative examination of what reading fluency is--and how it should be taught. Contributing authors, who include the field's leading authorities,…

A cross-cultural investigation of inhibitory control, generative fluency, and anxiety symptoms in Romanian and Russian preschoolers.

PubMed

Cheie, Lavinia; Veraksa, Aleksander; Zinchenko, Yuri; Gorovaya, Alexandra; Visu-Petra, Laura

2015-01-01

The current study focused on the early development of inhibitory control in 5- to 7-year-old children attending kindergarten in two Eastern-European countries, Romania and Russia. These two countries share many aspects of child-rearing and educational practices, previously documented to influence the development of inhibitory control. Using the Lurian-based developmental approach offered by the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment battery, the study aimed to contribute to cross-cultural developmental neuropsychology by exploring (a) early interrelationships between subcomponents of inhibitory control (response suppression and attention control) and generative fluency (verbal and figural) in these two cultures, as well as (b) the predictive value of external factors (culture and maternal education) and individual differences (age, gender, nonverbal intelligence, trait anxiety) on inhibitory control and fluency outcomes in children from both countries. First, findings in both culture samples suggest that even at this young age, the construct of inhibitory control cannot be considered a unitary entity. Second, differences in maternal education were not predictive of either inhibitory control or fluency scores. However, children's attention control performance varied as a function of culture, and the direction of these cultural effects differed by whether the target outcome involved performance accuracy versus efficiency as an output. Findings also confirmed the previously documented intensive developmental improvement in preschoolers' inhibitory control during this period, influencing measures of response suppression and particularly attention control. Finally, the results further stress the importance of individual differences effects in trait anxiety on attention control efficiency across cultures.

The Impact of Word Walls on Improving the English Reading Fluency of Saudi Kindergarten's Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AlShaiji, Ohoud Abdullatif; AlSaleem, Basma Issa

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of Word Walls on improving the English reading fluency of Saudi kindergarten's children. The present study attempted to answer whether there was a statistically significant difference (a = 0.05) between the Saudi children's subjects' mean score on the English reading fluency test due to…

The limited use of the fluency heuristic: Converging evidence across different procedures.

PubMed

Pohl, Rüdiger F; Erdfelder, Edgar; Michalkiewicz, Martha; Castela, Marta; Hilbig, Benjamin E

2016-10-01

In paired comparisons based on which of two objects has the larger criterion value, decision makers could use the subjectively experienced difference in retrieval fluency of the objects as a cue. According to the fluency heuristic (FH) theory, decision makers use fluency-as indexed by recognition speed-as the only cue for pairs of recognized objects, and infer that the object retrieved more speedily has the larger criterion value (ignoring all other cues and information). Model-based analyses, however, have previously revealed that only a small portion of such inferences are indeed based on fluency alone. In the majority of cases, other information enters the decision process. However, due to the specific experimental procedures, the estimates of FH use are potentially biased: Some procedures may have led to an overestimated and others to an underestimated, or even to actually reduced, FH use. In the present article, we discuss and test the impacts of such procedural variations by reanalyzing 21 data sets. The results show noteworthy consistency across the procedural variations revealing low FH use. We discuss potential explanations and implications of this finding.

Distinguishing neurocognitive deficits in adult patients with NP-C from early onset Alzheimer's dementia.

PubMed

Johnen, Andreas; Pawlowski, Matthias; Duning, Thomas

2018-06-05

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the NPC1 or the NPC2 gene. Neurocognitive deficits are common in NP-C, particularly in patients with the adolescent/adult-onset form. As a disease-specific therapy is available, it is important to distinguish clinically between the cognitive profiles in NP-C and primary dementia (e.g., early Alzheimer's disease; eAD). In a prospective observational study, we directly compared the neurocognitive profiles of patients with confirmed NP-C (n = 7) and eAD (n = 15). All patients underwent neurocognitive assessment using dementia screening tests (mini-mental status examination [MMSE] and frontal assessment battery [FAB]) and an extensive battery of tests assessing verbal memory, visuoconstructive abilities, visual memory, executive functions and verbal fluency. Overall cognitive impairment (MMSE) was significantly greater in eAD vs. NP-C (p = 0.010). The frequency of patients classified as cognitively 'impaired' was also significantly greater in eAD vs. NP-C (p = 0.025). Patients with NP-C showed relatively preserved verbal memory, but frequent impairment in visual memory, visuoconstruction, executive functions and in particular, verbal fluency. In the eAD group, a wider profile of more frequent and more severe neurocognitive deficits was seen, primarily featuring severe verbal and visual memory deficits along with major executive impairment. Delayed verbal memory recall was a particularly strong distinguishing factor between the two groups. A combination of detailed yet easy-to-apply neurocognitive tests assessing verbal memory, executive functions and verbal fluency may help distinguish NP-C cases from those with primary dementia due to eAD.

White Matter Integrity and Treatment-Based Change in Speech Performance in Minimally Verbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Chenausky, Karen; Kernbach, Julius; Norton, Andrea; Schlaug, Gottfried

2017-01-01

We investigated the relationship between imaging variables for two language/speech-motor tracts and speech fluency variables in 10 minimally verbal (MV) children with autism. Specifically, we tested whether measures of white matter integrity-fractional anisotropy (FA) of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and frontal aslant tract (FAT)-were related to change in percent syllable-initial consonants correct, percent items responded to, and percent syllable insertion errors (from best baseline to post 25 treatment sessions). Twenty-three MV children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) received Auditory-Motor Mapping Training (AMMT), an intonation-based treatment to improve fluency in spoken output, and we report on seven who received a matched control treatment. Ten of the AMMT participants were able to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging study at baseline; their performance on baseline speech production measures is compared to that of the other two groups. No baseline differences were found between groups. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) relating FA values for left- and right-hemisphere AF and FAT to speech production measures showed that FA of the left AF and right FAT were the largest contributors to the synthetic independent imaging-related variable. Change in percent syllable-initial consonants correct and percent syllable-insertion errors were the largest contributors to the synthetic dependent fluency-related variable. Regression analyses showed that FA values in left AF significantly predicted change in percent syllable-initial consonants correct, no FA variables significantly predicted change in percent items responded to, and FA of right FAT significantly predicted change in percent syllable-insertion errors. Results are consistent with previously identified roles for the AF in mediating bidirectional mapping between articulation and acoustics, and the FAT in its relationship to speech initiation and fluency. They further suggest a division of labor between

Cognitive assessment instruments in Parkinson's disease patients undergoing deep brain stimulation

PubMed Central

Romann, Aline Juliane; Dornelles, Silvia; Maineri, Nicole de Liz; Rieder, Carlos Roberto de Mello; Olchik, Maira Rozenfeld

2012-01-01

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a widely used surgical technique in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) that can lead to significant reductions in motor symptoms. Objectives To determine, from publications, the most commonly used instruments for cognitive evaluation of individuals with PD undergoing DBS. Methods A systematic review of the databases: PubMed, Medline, EBECS, Scielo and LILACS was conducted, using the descriptors "Deep Brain Stimulation", "Verbal Fluency", "Parkinson Disease", "Executive Function", "Cognition" and "Cognitive Assessment" in combination. Results The Verbal Fluency test was found to be the most used instrument for this investigation in the studies, followed by the Boston Naming Test. References to the Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, and Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test were also found. Conclusions The validation of instruments for this population is needed as is the use of batteries offering greater specificity and sensitivity for the detection of cognitive impairment. PMID:29213766

Accuracy vs. Fluency: Which Comes First in ESL Instruction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein

1998-01-01

Discusses the debate over fluency versus accuracy in teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL). Defines fluency and accuracy; examines alternative approaches (meaning first, accuracy first, and accuracy and fluency from the beginning); evaluates the alternatives; and highlights implications for teaching ESL. A sidebar presents an accuracy and…

Apathy, not depressive symptoms, as a predictor of semantic and phonemic fluency task performance in stroke and transient ischemic attack.

PubMed

Fishman, Keera N; Ashbaugh, Andrea R; Lanctôt, Krista L; Cayley, Megan L; Herrmann, Nathan; Murray, Brian J; Sicard, Michelle; Lien, Karen; Sahlas, Demetrios J; Swartz, Richard H

2018-06-01

This study examined the relationship between apathy and cognition in patients with cerebrovascular disease. Apathy may result from damage to frontal subcortical circuits causing dysexecutive syndromes, but apathy is also related to depression. We assessed the ability of apathy to predict phonemic fluency and semantic fluency performance after controlling for depressive symptoms in 282 individuals with stroke and/or transient ischemic attack. Participants (N = 282) completed the Phonemic Fluency Test, Semantic Fluency Test, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and Apathy Evaluation Scale. A cross-sectional correlational design was utilized. Using hierarchical linear regressions, apathy scores significantly predicted semantic fluency performance (β = -.159, p = .020), but not phonemic fluency performance (β = -.112, p = .129) after scaling scores by age and years of education and controlling for depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms entered into the first step of both hierarchical linear regressions did not predict semantic fluency (β = -.035, p = .554) or phonemic fluency (β = -.081, p = .173). Apathy and depressive symptoms were moderately correlated, r(280) = .58, p < .001. The results of this study are consistent with research supporting a differentiation between phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, whereby phonemic fluency tasks primarily involve frontal regions, and semantic fluency tasks involve recruitment of more extended networks. The results also highlight a distinction between apathy and depressive symptoms and suggest that apathy may be a more reliable predictor of cognitive deficits than measures of mood in individuals with cerebrovascular disease. Apathy may also be more related to cognition due to overlapping motivational and cognitive frontal subcortical circuitry. Future research should explore whether treatments for apathy could be a novel target for improving cognitive outcomes after stroke.

Reading Fluency Interventions That Work in High-Poverty Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowers-Coils, Ashley

2016-01-01

This study measured the impact of targeted reading interventions on improving reading fluency for second-grade students as indicated by their performance on a statewide standardized assessment of reading fluency proficiency. Reading fluency scores for students who received intervention in second grade were measured again in their third-grade year…

Reviving and Refining Psychodynamic Interpretation of the Wechsler Intelligence Tests: The Verbal Comprehension Subtests.

PubMed

Bram, Anthony D

2017-01-01

The Wechsler intelligence tests (currently Wechsler, 2008 , 2014) have traditionally been part of the multimethod test battery favored by psychodynamically oriented assessors. In this tradition, assessors have used Wechsler data to make inferences about personality that transcend cognition. Recent trends in clinical psychology, however, have deemphasized this psychodynamic way of working. In this article, I make a conceptual and clinical case for reviving and refining a psychodynamic approach to inference making about personality using the Wechsler Verbal Comprehension subtests. Specifically, I (a) describe the psychological and environmental conditions sampled by the Wechsler tests, (b) discuss the Wechsler tests conceptually in terms of assessing vulnerability to breakdowns in adaptive defensive functioning, (c) review a general framework for inference making, and (d) offer considerations for and illustrate pragmatic application of the Verbal Comprehension subtests data to make inferences that help answer referral questions and have important treatment implications.

Mayo's Older African Americans Normative Studies: norms for Boston Naming Test, Controlled Oral Word Association, Category Fluency, Animal Naming, Token Test, WRAT-3 Reading, Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, and Judgment of Line Orientation.

PubMed

Lucas, John A; Ivnik, Robert J; Smith, Glenn E; Ferman, Tanis J; Willis, Floyd B; Petersen, Ronald C; Graff-Radford, Neill R

2005-06-01

Normative data for older African Americans are presented for several clinical neuropsychological measures, including Boston Naming Test, Controlled Oral Word Association, Category Fluency, Token Test, WRAT-3 Reading, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Judgment of Line Orientation. Age-adjusted norms were derived from a sample of 309 cognitively normal, community-dwelling individuals, aged 56 through 94, participating in Mayo's Older African Americans Normative Studies (MOAANS). Years of education were modelled on age-scaled scores to derive regression Equations that may be applied for further demographic correction. These data should enhance interpretation of individual test performances and facilitate analysis of neuropsychological profile patterns in older African American patients who present for dementia evaluations.

Comparing topography-based verbal behavior with stimulus selection-based verbal behavior

PubMed Central

Sundberg, Carl T.; Sundberg, Mark L.

1990-01-01

Michael (1985) distinguished between two types of verbal behavior: topography-based and stimulus selection-based verbal behavior. The current research was designed to empirically examine these two types of verbal behavior while addressing the frequently debated question, Which augmentative communication system should be used with the nonverbal developmentally disabled person? Four mentally retarded adults served as subjects. Each subject was taught to tact an object by either pointing to its corresponding symbol (selection-based verbal behavior), or making the corresponding sign (topography-based verbal behavior). They were then taught an intraverbal relation, and were tested for the emergence of stimulus equivalence relations. The results showed that signed responses were acquired more readily than pointing responses as measured by the acquisition of tacts and intraverbals, and the formation of equivalence classes. These results support Michael's (1985) analysis, and have important implications for the design of language intervention programs for the developmentally disabled. ImagesFig. 1Fig. 2 PMID:22477602

The Evaluation of Second Language Fluency and Foreign Accent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Chen-Huei

2011-01-01

What is second language fluency? What is a foreign accent? Is it possible for an adult second language learner to speak fluently with a heavy accent or vice versa? What factors contribute to the perception of fluency and a foreign accent? What acoustic attributes correlate with the perception of fluency and a foreign accent? To answer these…

Comparing Graphical and Verbal Representations of Measurement Error in Test Score Reports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zwick, Rebecca; Zapata-Rivera, Diego; Hegarty, Mary

2014-01-01

Research has shown that many educators do not understand the terminology or displays used in test score reports and that measurement error is a particularly challenging concept. We investigated graphical and verbal methods of representing measurement error associated with individual student scores. We created four alternative score reports, each…

Stroop interference associated with efficient reading fluency and prelexical orthographic processing.

PubMed

Mano, Quintino R; Williamson, Brady J; Pae, Hye K; Osmon, David C

2016-01-01

The Stroop Color-Word Test involves a dynamic interplay between reading and executive functioning that elicits intuitions of word reading automaticity. One such intuition is that strong reading skills (i.e., more automatized word reading) play a disruptive role within the test, contributing to Stroop interference. However, evidence has accumulated that challenges this intuition. The present study examined associations among Stroop interference, reading skills (i.e., isolated word identification, grapheme-to-phoneme mapping, phonemic awareness, reading fluency) measured on standardized tests, and orthographic skills measured on experimental computerized tasks. Among university students (N = 152), correlational analyses showed greater Stroop interference to be associated with (a) relatively low scores on all standardized reading tests, and (b) longer response latencies on orthographic tasks. Hierarchical regression demonstrated that reading fluency and prelexical orthographic processing predicted unique and significant variance in Stroop interference beyond baseline rapid naming. Results suggest that strong reading skills, including orthographic processing, play a supportive role in resolving Stroop interference.

Using a Technology-Supported Approach to Preservice Teachers' Multirepresentational Fluency: Unifying Mathematical Concepts and Their Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGee, Daniel; Moore-Russo, Deborah

2015-01-01

A test project at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez used GeoGebra applets to promote the concept of multirepresentational fluency among high school mathematics preservice teachers. For this study, this fluency was defined as simultaneous awareness of all representations associated with a mathematical concept, as measured by the ability to…

Components of Verbal Intelligence. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sternberg, Robert J.

A theory of the components of verbal intelligence is developed and tested in this series of experiments. After reviewing alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding verbal intelligence, a componential theory of verbal comprehension is proposed. This theory specifies the information-processing components, context cues, and mediating…

Typical intellectual engagement and cognition in the ninth decade of life: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921.

PubMed

von Stumm, Sophie; Deary, Ian J

2012-09-01

Investment traits--the tendency to seek out and engage in cognitive activity--might affect intellectual growth across the life span, specifically the development from fluid to crystallized intelligence. Here we explore how childhood IQ at age 11 years, IQ at age 79, and the investment trait Typical Intellectual Engagement (TIE) at age 81 affect the mean level and change in verbal fluency scores, used as an indicator of crystallized intelligence, across the ages 79, 83, and 87 in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (maximum N = 569; Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, & Fox, 2004). A first latent growth model showed significant variance in the mean level of verbal fluency and significant decline in verbal fluency from age 79 to age 87. The rate of change was invariant across study participants in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921. A second model found that IQ at age 11 significantly predicted IQ at age 79 (β = .66; p < .001), which in turn predicted verbal fluency and TIE in the ninth decade of life with standardized path parameters of .46 and .15 (p < .001), respectively. TIE had a significant association with verbal fluency (β = .14, p = .002); together, IQ at age 11 and 79 and TIE accounted for 25.5% of the variance in verbal fluency. A final model identified the TIE subfactor of intellectual curiosity as a significant mediator of the effect of IQ on verbal fluency; the TIE subfactors abstract thinking, reading, and problem solving showed no significant associations. In summary, TIE--in particular, intellectual curiosity--significantly mediated the effects of IQ on crystallized intelligence in old age. Because there was no significant between-subjects variance in verbal fluency trajectories in the current study, neither TIE nor IQ were associated with individual differences in cognitive decline.

Literacy Is "Not" Enough: 21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age. The 21st Century Fluency Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crockett, Lee; Jukes, Ian; Churches, Andrew

2011-01-01

Educating students to traditional literacy standards is no longer enough. If students are to thrive in their academic and 21st century careers, then independent and creative thinking hold the highest currency. The authors explain in detail how to add these new components of literacy: (1) Solution Fluency; (2) Information Fluency; (3) Creativity…

Measuring autobiographical fluency in the self-memory system.

PubMed

Rathbone, Clare J; Moulin, Chris J A

2014-01-01

Autobiographical memory is widely considered to be fundamentally related to concepts of self and identity. However, few studies have sought to test models of self and memory directly using experimental designs. Using a novel autobiographical fluency paradigm, the present study investigated memory accessibility for different levels of self-related knowledge. Forty participants generated 20 "I am" statements about themselves, from which the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th were used as cues in a two-minute autobiographical fluency task. The most salient aspects of the self, measured by both serial position and ratings of personal significance, were associated with more accessible sets of autobiographical memories. This finding supports theories that view the self as a powerful organizational structure in memory. Results are discussed with reference to models of self and memory.

[Speech fluency developmental profile in Brazilian Portuguese speakers].

PubMed

Martins, Vanessa de Oliveira; Andrade, Claudia Regina Furquim de

2008-01-01

speech fluency varies from one individual to the next, fluent or stutterer, depending on several factors. Studies that investigate the influence of age on fluency patterns have been identified; however these differences were investigated in isolated age groups. Studies about life span fluency variations were not found. to verify the speech fluency developmental profile. speech samples of 594 fluent participants of both genders, with ages between 2:0 and 99:11 years, speakers of the Brazilian Portuguese language, were analyzed. Participants were grouped as follows: pre-scholars, scholars, early adolescence, late adolescence, adults and elderlies. Speech samples were analyzed according to the Speech Fluency Profile variables and were compared regarding: typology of speech disruptions (typical and less typical), speech rate (words and syllables per minute) and frequency of speech disruptions (percentage of speech discontinuity). although isolated variations were identified, overall there was no significant difference between the age groups for the speech disruption indexes (typical and less typical speech disruptions and percentage of speech discontinuity). Significant differences were observed between the groups when considering speech rate. the development of the neurolinguistic system for speech fluency, in terms of speech disruptions, seems to stabilize itself during the first years of life, presenting no alterations during the life span. Indexes of speech rate present variations in the age groups, indicating patterns of acquisition, development, stabilization and degeneration.

Different verbal learning strategies in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

PubMed

Bowler, Dermot M; Limoges, Elyse; Mottron, Laurent

2009-06-01

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which requires the free recall of the same list of 15 unrelated words over 5 trials, was administered to 21 high-functioning adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 21 matched typical individuals. The groups showed similar overall levels of free recall, rates of learning over trials and subjective organisation of their recall. However, the primacy portion of the serial position curve of the ASD participants showed slower growth over trials than that of the typical participants. The implications of this finding for our understanding of memory in ASD are discussed.

Right hemisphere structures predict poststroke speech fluency

PubMed Central

Pani, Ethan; Zheng, Xin; Wang, Jasmine; Norton, Andrea

2016-01-01

Objective: We sought to determine via a cross-sectional study the contribution of (1) the right hemisphere's speech-relevant white matter regions and (2) interhemispheric connectivity to speech fluency in the chronic phase of left hemisphere stroke with aphasia. Methods: Fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter regions underlying the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), precentral gyrus (PreCG), pars opercularis (IFGop) and triangularis (IFGtri) of the inferior frontal gyrus, and the corpus callosum (CC) was correlated with speech fluency measures. A region within the superior parietal lobule (SPL) was examined as a control. FA values of regions that significantly predicted speech measures were compared with FA values from healthy age- and sex-matched controls. Results: FA values for the right MTG, PreCG, and IFGop significantly predicted speech fluency, but FA values of the IFGtri and SPL did not. A multiple regression showed that combining FA of the significant right hemisphere regions with the lesion load of the left arcuate fasciculus—a previously identified biomarker of poststroke speech fluency—provided the best model for predicting speech fluency. FA of CC fibers connecting left and right supplementary motor areas (SMA) was also correlated with speech fluency. FA of the right IFGop and PreCG was significantly higher in patients than controls, while FA of a whole CC region of interest (ROI) and the CC-SMA ROI was significantly lower in patients. Conclusions: Right hemisphere white matter integrity is related to speech fluency measures in patients with chronic aphasia. This may indicate premorbid anatomical variability beneficial for recovery or be the result of poststroke remodeling. PMID:27029627

Normative data and discriminant validity of Rey's Verbal Learning Test for the Greek adult population.

PubMed

Messinis, Lambros; Tsakona, Ioanna; Malefaki, Sonia; Papathanasopoulos, Panagiotis

2007-08-01

The present study sought to establish normative and discriminant validity data for Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test [Rey, A. (1964). L 'examen clinique en psychologie [Clinical tests in psychology]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France; Schmidt, M. (1996). Rey auditory verbal learning test: A handbook. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services] using newly adapted learning lists for the Greek adult population. Applying the procedure suggested by Geffen et al. [Geffen, G., Moar, K. J., O'Hanlon, A. P., Clark, C. R., & Geffen, L. N. (1990). Performance measures of 16-86-year-old males and females on the auditory verbal learning test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4, 45-63] we administered the test to 205 healthy participants, aged 18-78 years and two adult patient groups (long-term cannabis users and HIV symptomatic patients). Stepwise linear regression analyses showed that the variables age, education and gender contributed significantly to most trials of the RAVLT. Performance decreased in an age-dependent manner from young adulthood. Women, young adults and higher educated participants outperformed men, older adults and less educated individuals. The test appears to discriminate adequately between the performance of long-term heavy cannabis users and HIV seropositive symptomatic patients and matched healthy controls, as both patient groups performed more poorly than their respective control group. Normative data stratified by age, gender and education for the Greek adult population is presented for use in research and clinical settings.

Is Earlier Better? Mastery of Reading Fluency in Early Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Yonghan; Chaparro, Erin A.; Preciado, Jorge; Cummings, Kelli D.

2015-01-01

Research Findings: The goal of the present study was to provide empirical evidence for the importance of mastering reading fluency in early schooling. Study participants were 1,322 students in 3rd grade in 42 schools in a northwestern state. These students were assessed using a battery of reading skill tests as well as comprehensive tests of more…

Neural correlates of cognitive dysfunction in Lewy body diseases and tauopathies: combined assessment with FDG-PET and the CERAD test battery.

PubMed

Hellwig, Sabine; Frings, Lars; Bormann, Tobias; Kreft, Annabelle; Amtage, Florian; Spehl, Timo S; Weiller, Cornelius; Tüscher, Oliver; Meyer, Philipp T

2013-11-01

We investigated disease-specific cognitive profiles and their neural correlates in Lewy-body diseases (LBD) and tauopathies by CERAD assessment and FDG-PET. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between reduced semantic fluency in tauopathies and impaired verbal learning in LBD. Semantic fluency discriminated between groups with high accuracy (83%). Compared to LBD, tauopathy patients showed bilateral hypometabolism of midbrain, thalamus, middle cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor/premotor cortex. In the reverse contrast, LBD patients exhibited bilateral hypometabolism in posterior parietal cortex, precuneus and inferior temporal gyrus extending into occipital and frontal cortices. In diagnosis-independent voxel-based analyses, verbal learning/memory correlated with left temporal and right parietal metabolism, while fluency was coupled to bilateral striatal and frontal metabolism. Naming correlated with left frontal metabolism and drawing with metabolism in bilateral temporal and left frontal regions. In line with disease-specific patterns of regional glucose metabolism, tauopathies and LBD show distinct cognitive profiles, which may assist clinical differentiation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Agreement between Computerized and Human Assessment of Performance on the Ruff Figural Fluency Test

PubMed Central

Elderson, Martin F.; Pham, Sander; van Eersel, Marlise E. A.; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H. R.; Kok, Johan; Gansevoort, Ron T.; Tucha, Oliver; van der Klauw, Melanie M.; Slaets, Joris P. J.

2016-01-01

The Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) is a sensitive test for nonverbal fluency suitable for all age groups. However, assessment of performance on the RFFT is time-consuming and may be affected by interrater differences. Therefore, we developed computer software specifically designed to analyze performance on the RFFT by automated pattern recognition. The aim of this study was to compare assessment by the new software with conventional assessment by human raters. The software was developed using data from the Lifelines Cohort Study and validated in an independent cohort of the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End Stage Disease (PREVEND) study. The total study population included 1,761 persons: 54% men; mean age (SD), 58 (10) years. All RFFT protocols were assessed by the new software and two independent human raters (criterion standard). The mean number of unique designs (SD) was 81 (29) and the median number of perseverative errors (interquartile range) was 9 (4 to 16). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the computerized and human assessment was 0.994 (95%CI, 0.988 to 0.996; p<0.001) and 0.991 (95%CI, 0.990 to 0.991; p<0.001) for the number of unique designs and perseverative errors, respectively. The mean difference (SD) between the computerized and human assessment was -1.42 (2.78) and +0.02 (1.94) points for the number of unique designs and perseverative errors, respectively. This was comparable to the agreement between two independent human assessments: ICC, 0.995 (0.994 to 0.995; p<0.001) and 0.985 (0.982 to 0.988; p<0.001), and mean difference (SD), -0.44 (2.98) and +0.56 (2.36) points for the number of unique designs and perseverative errors, respectively. We conclude that the agreement between the computerized and human assessment was very high and comparable to the agreement between two independent human assessments. Therefore, the software is an accurate tool for the assessment of performance on the RFFT. PMID:27661083

Discrimination and Reliance on Conceptual Fluency Cues are Inversely Related in Patients with Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Wolk, David A.; Gold, Carl A.; Signoff, Eric D.; Budson, Andrew E.

2009-01-01

Prior work suggests that patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) often base their recognition memory decisions on familiarity. It has been argued that conceptual fluency may play an important role in the feeling of familiarity. In the present study we measured the effect of conceptual fluency manipulations on recognition judgments of patients with mild AD and older adult controls. “Easy” and “hard” test conditions were created by manipulating encoding depth and list length to yield high and low discrimination, respectively. When the two participant groups performed identical procedures, AD patients displayed lower discrimination and greater reliance on fluency cues than controls. However, when the discrimination of older adult controls was decreased to the level of AD patients by use of a shallow encoding task, we found that controls reliance on fluency did not statistically differ from AD patients. Furthermore, we found that increasing discrimination using shorter study lists resulted in AD patients decreasing their reliance on fluency cues to a similar extent as controls. These findings support the notion that patients with AD are able to attribute conceptual fluency to prior experience. In addition these findings suggest that discrimination and reliance on fluency cues may be inversely related in both AD patients and older adult controls. PMID:19428418

Oral Reading Fluency in Second Language Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeon, Eun Hee

2012-01-01

This study investigated the role of oral reading fluency in second language reading. Two hundred and fifty-five high school students in South Korea were assessed on three oral reading fluency (ORF) variables and six other reading predictors. The relationship between ORF and other reading predictors was examined through an exploratory factor…

Intellectual Abilities That Discriminate Good and Poor Problem Solvers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Ruth Ann

1981-01-01

This study compared good and poor fourth-grade problem solvers on a battery of 19 "reference" tests for verbal, induction, numerical, word fluency, memory, perceptual speed, and simple visualization abilities. Results suggest verbal, numerical, and especially induction abilities are important to successful mathematical problem solving.…

Verbal Ability and Persistent Offending: A Race-Specific Test of Moffitt's Theory

PubMed Central

Bellair, Paul E.; McNulty, Thomas L.; Piquero, Alex R.

2014-01-01

Theoretical questions linger over the applicability of the verbal ability model to African Americans and the social control theory hypothesis that educational failure mediates the effect of verbal ability on offending patterns. Accordingly, this paper investigates whether verbal ability distinguishes between offending groups within the context of Moffitt's developmental taxonomy. Questions are addressed with longitudinal data spanning childhood through young-adulthood from an ongoing national panel, and multinomial and hierarchical Poisson models (over-dispersed). In multinomial models, low verbal ability predicts membership in a life-course-persistent-oriented group relative to an adolescent-limited-oriented group. Hierarchical models indicate that verbal ability is associated with arrest outcomes among White and African American subjects, with effects consistently operating through educational attainment (high school dropout). The results support Moffitt's hypothesis that verbal deficits distinguish adolescent-limited- and life-course-persistent-oriented groups within race as well as the social control model of verbal ability. PMID:26924885

Perceptual fluency and judgments of vocal aesthetics and stereotypicality.

PubMed

Babel, Molly; McGuire, Grant

2015-05-01

Research has shown that processing dynamics on the perceiver's end determine aesthetic pleasure. Specifically, typical objects, which are processed more fluently, are perceived as more attractive. We extend this notion of perceptual fluency to judgments of vocal aesthetics. Vocal attractiveness has traditionally been examined with respect to sexual dimorphism and the apparent size of a talker, as reconstructed from the acoustic signal, despite evidence that gender-specific speech patterns are learned social behaviors. In this study, we report on a series of three experiments using 60 voices (30 females) to compare the relationship between judgments of vocal attractiveness, stereotypicality, and gender categorization fluency. Our results indicate that attractiveness and stereotypicality are highly correlated for female and male voices. Stereotypicality and categorization fluency were also correlated for male voices, but not female voices. Crucially, stereotypicality and categorization fluency interacted to predict attractiveness, suggesting the role of perceptual fluency is present, but nuanced, in judgments of human voices. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Image Ambiguity and Fluency

PubMed Central

Jakesch, Martina; Leder, Helmut; Forster, Michael

2013-01-01

Ambiguity is often associated with negative affective responses, and enjoying ambiguity seems restricted to only a few situations, such as experiencing art. Nevertheless, theories of judgment formation, especially the “processing fluency account”, suggest that easy-to-process (non-ambiguous) stimuli are processed faster and are therefore preferred to (ambiguous) stimuli, which are hard to process. In a series of six experiments, we investigated these contrasting approaches by manipulating fluency (presentation duration: 10ms, 50ms, 100ms, 500ms, 1000ms) and testing effects of ambiguity (ambiguous versus non-ambiguous pictures of paintings) on classification performance (Part A; speed and accuracy) and aesthetic appreciation (Part B; liking and interest). As indicated by signal detection analyses, classification accuracy increased with presentation duration (Exp. 1a), but we found no effects of ambiguity on classification speed (Exp. 1b). Fifty percent of the participants were able to successfully classify ambiguous content at a presentation duration of 100 ms, and at 500ms even 75% performed above chance level. Ambiguous artworks were found more interesting (in conditions 50ms to 1000ms) and were preferred over non-ambiguous stimuli at 500ms and 1000ms (Exp. 2a - 2c, 3). Importantly, ambiguous images were nonetheless rated significantly harder to process as non-ambiguous images. These results suggest that ambiguity is an essential ingredient in art appreciation even though or maybe because it is harder to process. PMID:24040172

Lower Activation in Frontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex Observed during Sex Determination Test in Early-Stage Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.

PubMed

Rajmohan, Ravi; Anderson, Ronald C; Fang, Dan; Meyer, Austin G; Laengvejkal, Pavis; Julayanont, Parunyou; Hannabas, Greg; Linton, Kitten; Culberson, John; Khan, Hafiz; De Toledo, John; Reddy, P Hemachandra; O'Boyle, Michael W

2017-01-01

Face-labeling refers to the ability to classify faces into social categories. This plays a critical role in human interaction as it serves to define concepts of socially acceptable interpersonal behavior. The purpose of the current study was to characterize, what, if any, impairments in face-labeling are detectable in participants with early-stage clinically diagnosed dementia of the Alzheimer type (CDDAT) through the use of the sex determination test (SDT). In the current study, four (1 female, 3 males) CDDAT and nine (4 females, 5 males) age-matched neurotypicals (NT) completed the SDT using chimeric faces while undergoing BOLD fMRI. It was expected that CDDAT participants would have poor verbal fluency, which would correspond to poor performance on the SDT. This could be explained by decreased activation and connectivity patterns within the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). DTI was also performed to test the association of pathological deterioration of connectivity in the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and verbally-mediated performance. CDDAT showed lower verbal fluency test (VFT) performance, but VFT was not significantly correlated to SDT and no significant difference was seen between CDDAT and NT for SDT performance as half of the CDDAT performed substantially worse than NT while the other half performed similarly. BOLD fMRI of SDT displayed differences in the left superior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but not the FFA or ACC. Furthermore, although DTI showed deterioration of the right inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi, as well as the PCC, it did not demonstrate significant deterioration of UF tracts. Taken together, early-stage CDDAT may represent a common emerging point for the loss of face labeling ability.

Investigating the interaction between schizotypy, divergent thinking and cannabis use

PubMed Central

Schafer, Gráinne; Feilding, Amanda; Morgan, Celia J.A.; Agathangelou, Maria; Freeman, Tom P.; Valerie Curran, H.

2012-01-01

Cannabis acutely increases schizotypy and chronic use is associated with elevated rates of psychosis. Creative individuals have higher levels of schizotypy, however links between cannabis use, schizotypy and creativity have not been investigated. We investigated the effects of cannabis smoked naturalistically on schizotypy and divergent thinking, a measure of creativity. One hundred and sixty cannabis users were tested on 1 day when sober and another day when intoxicated with cannabis. State and trait measures of both schizotypy and creativity were administered. Quartile splits compared those lowest (n = 47) and highest (n = 43) in trait creativity. Cannabis increased verbal fluency in low creatives to the same level as that of high creatives. Cannabis increased state psychosis-like symptoms in both groups and the high creativity group were significantly higher in trait schizotypy, but this does not appear to be linked to the verbal fluency change. Acute cannabis use increases divergent thinking as indexed by verbal fluency in low creatives. PMID:22230356

Cross-Age Peer Tutoring and Fluency-Based Instruction to Achieve Fluency with Mathematics Computation Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Irene; Mc Tiernan, Aoife; Holloway, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The current study employed a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the use of peer tutoring and fluency-based instruction to increase mathematics fluency with addition and subtraction computation skills. Forty-one elementary school students between the ages of eight and 12 years participated in the 8-week study using cross-age peer tutoring, Say…

Health Literacy and Cognitive Performance among Older Adults

PubMed Central

Federman, Alex D.; Sano, Mary; Wolf, Michael S.; Siu, Albert L.; Halm, Ethan A.

2009-01-01

Objectives Specific cognitive abilities may explain the association of health literacy with health status. We studied the relationship between health literacy and memory and verbal fluency in older adults. Design Cross-sectional cohort. Setting Twenty senior centers and apartment buildings in New York City, NY. Participants Independently living, English and Spanish-speaking adults ages 60 and older (n=414). Measurements Health literacy was measured using the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). The associations of S-TOFHLA scores with immediate and delayed recall (Wechsler Memory Scale II), verbal fluency (Animal Naming), and global cognitive function (Mini Mental Status Exam, MMSE), were modeled with multivariable logistic and linear regression. Results Health literacy was inadequate in 24.3%. Impairment of immediate recall occurred in 20.4%; delayed recall, 15.0%; verbal fluency, 9.9%; and MMSE, 17.4%. Abnormal cognitive function was strongly associated with inadequate health literacy: immediate recall (AOR 3.44, 95% CI 1.71 to 6.94, p<.0001); delayed recall (AOR 3.48, 95% CI 1.58 to 7.67, p = .002); and verbal fluency (AOR 3.47, 95% CI 1.44 to 8.38, p=.006). These associations persisted in subgroups that excluded individuals with normal age-adjusted MMSE scores. Conclusion Memory and verbal fluency are strongly associated with health literacy, independently of education and health status, even among those with subtle cognitive dysfunction. Reducing the cognitive burden of health information might mitigate the detrimental effects of limited health literacy in older adults. Research that examines the impact of materials tailored to older adults' cognitive limitations on health literacy and health outcomes is needed. PMID:19515101

Verbal ability and delinquency: testing the moderating role of psychopathic traits.

PubMed

Muñoz, Luna C; Frick, Paul J; Kimonis, Eva R; Aucoin, Katherine J

2008-04-01

Impaired verbal abilities are one of the most consistent risk factors for serious antisocial and delinquent behavior. However, individuals with psychopathic traits often show serious antisocial behavior, despite showing no impairment in their verbal abilities. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine whether psychopathy moderates the relationship between verbal abilities and delinquent behavior in a sample of detained youth. The sample included 100 detained adolescent boys who were assessed on self-reported delinquent acts and psychopathic traits, as well as their age at first offense based on official records. Participants also completed a competitive computer task involving two levels of provocation, during which skin conductance was measured. A standard measure of receptive vocabulary was individually administered. As predicted, there was a significant interaction between callous-unemotional (CU) traits (a critical dimension of psychopathy) and verbal ability when predicting violent delinquency. Individuals who were high on CU traits with higher scores on the measure of verbal abilities reported the greatest violent delinquency. These individuals also showed the lowest level of skin conductance reactivity during the provocation task. The results suggest CU traits are an important moderator of the relation between verbal abilities and violent delinquency.

Implementing an Effective Mathematics Fact Fluency Practice Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riccomini, Paul J.; Stocker, James D., Jr.; Morano, Stephanie

2017-01-01

Proficiency in mathematics involves the seamless synchronization of conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge, computational fluency, and problem solving (NMAP, 2008). Clearly, fluency with mathematics facts is one element embedded within mathematical proficiency and important for students with disabilities to develop. As more and more…

Effects of grammar instruction and fluency training on the learning of the and a by native speakers of japanese

PubMed Central

Shimamune, Satoru; Jitsumori, Masako

1999-01-01

In a computer-assisted sentence completion task, the effects of grammar instruction and fluency training on learning the use of the definite and indefinite articles of English were examined. Forty-eight native Japanese-speaking students were assigned to four groups: with grammar/accuracy (G/A), without grammar/accuracy (N/A), with grammar/fluency (G/F), and without grammar/fluency (N/F). In the G/A and N/A groups, training continued until performance reached 100% accuracy (accuracy criterion). In the G/F and N/F groups, training continued until 100% accuracy was reached and the correct responses were made at a high speed (fluency criterion). Grammar instruction was given to participants in the G/A and G/F groups but not to those in the N/A and N/F groups. Generalization to new sentences was tested immediately after reaching the required criterion. High levels of generalization occurred, regardless of the type of mastery criterion and whether the grammar instruction was given. Retention tests were conducted 4, 6, and 8 weeks after training. Fluency training effectively improved retention of the performance attained without the grammar instruction. This effect was diminished when grammar instruction was given during training. Learning grammatical rules was not necessary for the generalized use of appropriate definite and indefinite articles or for the maintenance of the performance attained through fluency training. PMID:22477154

Is it really good to talk? Testing the impact of providing concurrent verbal protocols on driving performance.

PubMed

Salmon, Paul Matthew; Goode, Natassia; Spiertz, Antje; Thomas, Miles; Grant, Eryn; Clacy, Amanda

2017-06-01

Questions have been raised regarding the impact that providing concurrent verbal protocols has on task performance in various settings; however, there has been little empirical testing of this in road transport. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of providing concurrent verbal protocols on driving performance. Participants drove an instrumented vehicle around a set route, twice whilst providing a concurrent verbal protocol, and twice without. A comparison revealed no differences in behaviour related to speed, braking and steering wheel angle when driving mid-block, but a significant difference in aspects of braking and acceleration at roundabouts. When not providing a verbal protocol, participants were found to brake harder on approach to a roundabout and accelerate more heavily coming out of roundabouts. It is concluded that providing verbal protocols may have a positive effect on braking and accelerating. Practical implications related to driver training and future research are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Verbal protocol analysis is used by ergonomists to understand aspects of cognition and decision-making during complex tasks such as driving and control room operation. This study examines the impact that it has on driving performance, providing evidence to support its continued use in ergonomics applications.

The reliability and validity of qualitative scores for the Controlled Oral Word Association Test.

PubMed

Ross, Thomas P; Calhoun, Emily; Cox, Tara; Wenner, Carolyn; Kono, Whitney; Pleasant, Morgan

2007-05-01

The reliability and validity of two qualitative scoring systems for the Controlled Oral Word Association Test [Benton, A. L., Hamsher, de S. K., & Sivan, A. B. (1983). Multilingual aplasia examination (2nd ed.). Iowa City, IA: AJA Associates] were examined in 108 healthy young adults. The scoring systems developed by Troyer et al. [Troyer, A. K., Moscovich, M., & Winocur, G. (1997). Clustering and switching as two components of verbal fluency: Evidence from younger and older healthy adults. Neuropsychology, 11, 138-146] and by Abwender et al. [Abwender, D. A., Swan, J. G., Bowerman, J. T., & Connolly, S. W. (2001a). Qualitative analysis of verbal fluency output: Review and comparison of several scoring methods. Assessment, 8, 323-336] each demonstrated excellent interrater reliability (all indices at or above r(icc)=.9). Consistent with previous research [e.g., Ross, T. P. (2003). The reliability of cluster and switch scores for the COWAT. Archives of Clinical Psychology, 18, 153-164), test-retest reliability coefficients (N=53; M interval 44.6 days) for the qualitative scores were modest to poor (r(icc)=.6 to .4 range). Correlations among COWAT scores, measures of executive functioning, verbal learning, working memory, and vocabulary were examined. The idea that qualitative scores represent distinct executive functions such as cognitive flexibility or strategy utilization was not supported. We offer the interpretation that COWAT performance may require the ability to retrieve words in a non-routine manner while suppressing habitual responses and associated processing interference, presumably due to a spread of activation across semantic or lexical networks. This interpretation, though speculative at present, implies that clustering and switching on the COWAT may not be entirely deliberate, but rather an artifact of a passive (i.e., state-dependent) process. Ideas for future research, most noticeably experimental studies using cognitive methods (e.g., priming), are

A pilot study to test an intervention for dealing with verbal aggression.

PubMed

McLaughlin, Sue; Bonner, Gwen; Mboche, Catherine; Fairlie, Trish

Verbal aggression has been defined as communication with an intention to harm an individual through words, tone or manner, regardless of whether harm occurs. It includes verbal threat to harm, ridicule, openly hostile remarks, unjust persistent criticism, shouting or yelling insults, as well as more covert actions such as spreading hurtful rumours (Cox, 1987; Farrell et al, 2006). Receiving verbal aggression from a patient has been closely associated with psychological distress which may negatively affect work performance. A verbal aggression work book was developed to help nursing staff to deal with verbal aggression from patients in clinical practice. This was piloted over a six-week period with 18 nurses working on one acute psychiatric inpatient ward. Findings revealed that the intervention had some promising effects. However, much more attention needs to be paid to changing attitudes towards verbal aggression.

[Effects of temporal lobe epilepsy and idiopathic epilepsy on cognitive function and emotion in children].

PubMed

Yang, Xiao-Yan; Long, Li-Li; Xiao, Bo

2016-07-01

To investigate the effects of temporal lobe epilepsy and idiopathic epilepsy on cognitive function and emotion in children and the risk factors for cognitive impairment. A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 38 children with temporal lobe epilepsy and 40 children with idiopathic epilepsy. The controls were 42 healthy children. All subjects received the following neuropsychological tests: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale, verbal fluency test, digit span test, block design test, Social Anxiety Scale for Children (SASC), and Depression Self-rating Scale for Children (DSRSC). Compared with the control group, the temporal lobe epilepsy and idiopathic epilepsy groups showed significantly lower scores of MoCA, verbal fluency, digit span, and block design (P<0.05) and significantly higher scores on SASC and DSRSC (P<0.05). Compared with the idiopathic epilepsy group, the temporal lobe epilepsy group showed significantly lower scores of MoCA, verbal fluency, digit span, and block design (P<0.05) and significantly higher scores on SASC and DSRSC (P<0.05). In the temporal lobe epilepsy group, MoCA score was negatively correlated with SASC score, DSRSC score, and seizure frequency (r=-0.571, -0.529, and -0.545 respectively; P<0.01). In the idiopathic epilepsy group, MoCA score was also negatively correlated with SASC score, DSRSC score, and seizure frequency (r=-0.542, -0.487, and -0.555 respectively; P<0.01). Children with temporal lobe epilepsy and idiopathic epilepsy show impaired whole cognition, verbal fluency, memory, and executive function and have anxiety and depression, which are more significant in children with temporal lobe epilepsy. High levels of anxiety, depression, and seizure frequency are risk factors for impaired cognitive function.

Verbal and non-verbal intelligence changes in the teenage brain.

PubMed

Ramsden, Sue; Richardson, Fiona M; Josse, Goulven; Thomas, Michael S C; Ellis, Caroline; Shakeshaft, Clare; Seghier, Mohamed L; Price, Cathy J

2011-10-19

Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a standardized measure of human intellectual capacity that takes into account a wide range of cognitive skills. IQ is generally considered to be stable across the lifespan, with scores at one time point used to predict educational achievement and employment prospects in later years. Neuroimaging allows us to test whether unexpected longitudinal fluctuations in measured IQ are related to brain development. Here we show that verbal and non-verbal IQ can rise or fall in the teenage years, with these changes in performance validated by their close correlation with changes in local brain structure. A combination of structural and functional imaging showed that verbal IQ changed with grey matter in a region that was activated by speech, whereas non-verbal IQ changed with grey matter in a region that was activated by finger movements. By using longitudinal assessments of the same individuals, we obviated the many sources of variation in brain structure that confound cross-sectional studies. This allowed us to dissociate neural markers for the two types of IQ and to show that general verbal and non-verbal abilities are closely linked to the sensorimotor skills involved in learning. More generally, our results emphasize the possibility that an individual's intellectual capacity relative to their peers can decrease or increase in the teenage years. This would be encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve, and would be a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential.

Motor system contributions to verbal and non-verbal working memory.

PubMed

Liao, Diana A; Kronemer, Sharif I; Yau, Jeffrey M; Desmond, John E; Marvel, Cherie L

2014-01-01

Working memory (WM) involves the ability to maintain and manipulate information held in mind. Neuroimaging studies have shown that secondary motor areas activate during WM for verbal content (e.g., words or letters), in the absence of primary motor area activation. This activation pattern may reflect an inner speech mechanism supporting online phonological rehearsal. Here, we examined the causal relationship between motor system activity and WM processing by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to manipulate motor system activity during WM rehearsal. We tested WM performance for verbalizable (words and pseudowords) and non-verbalizable (Chinese characters) visual information. We predicted that disruption of motor circuits would specifically affect WM processing of verbalizable information. We found that TMS targeting motor cortex slowed response times (RTs) on verbal WM trials with high (pseudoword) vs. low (real word) phonological load. However, non-verbal WM trials were also significantly slowed with motor TMS. WM performance was unaffected by sham stimulation or TMS over visual cortex (VC). Self-reported use of motor strategy predicted the degree of motor stimulation disruption on WM performance. These results provide evidence of the motor system's contributions to verbal and non-verbal WM processing. We speculate that the motor system supports WM by creating motor traces consistent with the type of information being rehearsed during maintenance.

Repeated readings and science: Fluency with expository passages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostewicz, Douglas E.

The current study investigated the effects of repeated readings to a fluency criterion (RRFC) for seven students with disabilities using science text. The study employed a single subject design, specifically, two multiple probe multiple baselines across subjects, to evaluate the effects of the RRFC intervention. Results indicated that students met criterion (200 or more correct words per minute with 2 or fewer errors) on four consecutive passages. A majority of students displayed accelerations to correct words per minute and decelerations to incorrect words per minute on successive initial, intervention readings suggesting reading transfer. Students' reading scores during posttest and maintenance out performed pre-test and baseline readings provided additional measures of reading transfer. For a relationship to comprehension, students scored higher on oral retell measures after meeting criterion as compared to initial readings. Overall, the research findings suggested that the RRFC intervention improves science reading fluency for students with disabilities, and may also indirectly benefit comprehension.

Why Verbalization of Non-Verbal Memory Reduces Recognition Accuracy: A Computational Approach to Verbal Overshadowing.

PubMed

Hatano, Aya; Ueno, Taiji; Kitagami, Shinji; Kawaguchi, Jun

2015-01-01

Verbal overshadowing refers to a phenomenon whereby verbalization of non-verbal stimuli (e.g., facial features) during the maintenance phase (after the target information is no longer available from the sensory inputs) impairs subsequent non-verbal recognition accuracy. Two primary mechanisms have been proposed for verbal overshadowing, namely the recoding interference hypothesis, and the transfer-inappropriate processing shift. The former assumes that verbalization renders non-verbal representations less accurate. In contrast, the latter assumes that verbalization shifts processing operations to a verbal mode and increases the chance of failing to return to non-verbal, face-specific processing operations (i.e., intact, yet inaccessible non-verbal representations). To date, certain psychological phenomena have been advocated as inconsistent with the recoding-interference hypothesis. These include a decline in non-verbal memory performance following verbalization of non-target faces, and occasional failures to detect a significant correlation between the accuracy of verbal descriptions and the non-verbal memory performance. Contrary to these arguments against the recoding interference hypothesis, however, the present computational model instantiated core processing principles of the recoding interference hypothesis to simulate face recognition, and nonetheless successfully reproduced these behavioral phenomena, as well as the standard verbal overshadowing. These results demonstrate the plausibility of the recoding interference hypothesis to account for verbal overshadowing, and suggest there is no need to implement separable mechanisms (e.g., operation-specific representations, different processing principles, etc.). In addition, detailed inspections of the internal processing of the model clarified how verbalization rendered internal representations less accurate and how such representations led to reduced recognition accuracy, thereby offering a computationally

Why Verbalization of Non-Verbal Memory Reduces Recognition Accuracy: A Computational Approach to Verbal Overshadowing

PubMed Central

Hatano, Aya; Ueno, Taiji; Kitagami, Shinji; Kawaguchi, Jun

2015-01-01

Verbal overshadowing refers to a phenomenon whereby verbalization of non-verbal stimuli (e.g., facial features) during the maintenance phase (after the target information is no longer available from the sensory inputs) impairs subsequent non-verbal recognition accuracy. Two primary mechanisms have been proposed for verbal overshadowing, namely the recoding interference hypothesis, and the transfer-inappropriate processing shift. The former assumes that verbalization renders non-verbal representations less accurate. In contrast, the latter assumes that verbalization shifts processing operations to a verbal mode and increases the chance of failing to return to non-verbal, face-specific processing operations (i.e., intact, yet inaccessible non-verbal representations). To date, certain psychological phenomena have been advocated as inconsistent with the recoding-interference hypothesis. These include a decline in non-verbal memory performance following verbalization of non-target faces, and occasional failures to detect a significant correlation between the accuracy of verbal descriptions and the non-verbal memory performance. Contrary to these arguments against the recoding interference hypothesis, however, the present computational model instantiated core processing principles of the recoding interference hypothesis to simulate face recognition, and nonetheless successfully reproduced these behavioral phenomena, as well as the standard verbal overshadowing. These results demonstrate the plausibility of the recoding interference hypothesis to account for verbal overshadowing, and suggest there is no need to implement separable mechanisms (e.g., operation-specific representations, different processing principles, etc.). In addition, detailed inspections of the internal processing of the model clarified how verbalization rendered internal representations less accurate and how such representations led to reduced recognition accuracy, thereby offering a computationally

The 15-item version of the Boston Naming Test as an index of English proficiency.

PubMed

Erdodi, Laszlo A; Jongsma, Katherine A; Issa, Meriam

2017-01-01

The present study was designed to examine the potential of the Boston Naming Test - Short Form (BNT-15) to provide an objective estimate of English proficiency. A secondary goal was to examine the effect of limited English proficiency (LEP) on neuropsychological test performance. A brief battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 79 bilingual participants (40.5% male, M Age  = 26.9, M Education  = 14.2). The majority (n = 56) were English dominant (EN), and the rest were Arabic dominant (AR). The BNT-15 was further reduced to 10 items that best discriminated between EN and AR (BNT-10). Participants were divided into low, intermediate, and high English proficiency subsamples based on BNT-10 scores (≤6, 7-8, and ≥9). Performance across groups was compared on neuropsychological tests with high and low verbal mediation. The BNT-15 and BNT-10 respectively correctly identified 89 and 90% of EN and AR participants. Level of English proficiency had a large effect (partial η 2  = .12-.34; Cohen's d = .67-1.59) on tests with high verbal mediation (animal fluency, sentence comprehension, word reading), but no effect on tests with low verbal mediation (auditory consonant trigrams, clock drawing, digit-symbol substitution). The BNT-15 and BNT-10 can function as indices of English proficiency and predict the deleterious effect of LEP on neuropsychological tests with high verbal mediation. Interpreting low scores on such measures as evidence of impairment in examinees with LEP would likely overestimate deficits.

Normative Study of the Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES) Test in the French-Canadian Population

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcotte, Karine; McSween, Marie-Pier; Pouliot, Monica; Martineau, Sarah; Pauze, Anne-Marie; Wiseman-Hakes, Catherine; MacDonald, Sheila

2017-01-01

Purpose: The Functional Assessment of Verbal Reasoning and Executive Strategies (FAVRES; MacDonald, 2005) test was designed for use by speech-language pathologists to assess verbal reasoning, complex comprehension, discourse, and executive skills during performance on a set of challenging and ecologically valid functional tasks. A recent French…

Facilitating English-Language Learners' Oral Reading Fluency with Digital Pen Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chih-Ming; Tan, Chia-Chen; Lo, Bey-Jane

2016-01-01

Oral reading fluency is an indicator of overall reading competence. Many studies have claimed that repeated reading can promote oral reading fluency. Currently, novel Web- or computer-based reading technologies offer interactive digital materials that promote English oral reading fluency using the repeated reading strategy; however, paper-based…

Developing Mathematical Fluency: Comparing Exercises and Rich Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Colin

2018-01-01

Achieving fluency in important mathematical procedures is fundamental to students' mathematical development. The usual way to develop procedural fluency is to practise repetitive exercises, but is this the only effective way? This paper reports three quasi-experimental studies carried out in a total of 11 secondary schools involving altogether 528…

Can verbal working memory training improve reading?

PubMed

Banales, Erin; Kohnen, Saskia; McArthur, Genevieve

2015-01-01

The aim of the current study was to determine whether poor verbal working memory is associated with poor word reading accuracy because the former causes the latter, or the latter causes the former. To this end, we tested whether (a) verbal working memory training improves poor verbal working memory or poor word reading accuracy, and whether (b) reading training improves poor reading accuracy or verbal working memory in a case series of four children with poor word reading accuracy and verbal working memory. Each child completed 8 weeks of verbal working memory training and 8 weeks of reading training. Verbal working memory training improved verbal working memory in two of the four children, but did not improve their reading accuracy. Similarly, reading training improved word reading accuracy in all children, but did not improve their verbal working memory. These results suggest that the causal links between verbal working memory and reading accuracy may not be as direct as has been assumed.

Ictal mnemestic aura and verbal memory function.

PubMed

Vederman, Aaron C; Holtzer, Roee; Zimmerman, Molly E; Devinsky, Orrin; Barr, William B

2010-04-01

Déjà vu aura is a well-known phenomenon experienced by some patients with epilepsy. This study sought to explore the relationship between verbal memory and the experience of déjà vu or other types of mnemestic auras in 42 individuals with intractable seizures and 42 age- and education-matched patient controls. Verbal memory was assessed with indices of learning, long delay recall, and recognition from the California Verbal Learning Test. Results indicated that auras of any type were not associated with memory performance on the California Verbal Learning Test. As expected, age and education were related to verbal memory performance. Mnemestic auras were associated with clinical indices of illness, suggesting that the presence of these auras may be regarded as a risk factor for greater chronicity and severity in epilepsy. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Educational Factors and Experiences in English Language Learner Reading Fluency Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Christina J. T.

2013-01-01

Reading fluency has been an area of struggle for students. Certain populations of students, such as English language learners (ELLs), have struggled even more so, affecting their overall achievement. Interventions have been implemented and studied regarding the reading fluency of ELLs, yet reading fluency has continued to be problematic in this…

Language Networks Associated with Computerized Semantic Indices

PubMed Central

Pakhomov, Serguei V. S.; Jones, David T.; Knopman, David S.

2014-01-01

Tests of generative semantic verbal fluency are widely used to study organization and representation of concepts in the human brain. Previous studies demonstrated that clustering and switching behavior during verbal fluency tasks is supported by multiple brain mechanisms associated with semantic memory and executive control. Previous work relied on manual assessments of semantic relatedness between words and grouping of words into semantic clusters. We investigated a computational linguistic approach to measuring the strength of semantic relatedness between words based on latent semantic analysis of word co-occurrences in a subset of a large online encyclopedia. We computed semantic clustering indices and compared them to brain network connectivity measures obtained with task-free fMRI in a sample consisting of healthy participants and those differentially affected by cognitive impairment. We found that semantic clustering indices were associated with brain network connectivity in distinct areas including fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal and fusiform gyrus regions. This study shows that computerized semantic indices complement traditional assessments of verbal fluency to provide a more complete account of the relationship between brain and verbal behavior involved organization and retrieval of lexical information from memory. PMID:25315785

Language networks associated with computerized semantic indices.

PubMed

Pakhomov, Serguei V S; Jones, David T; Knopman, David S

2015-01-01

Tests of generative semantic verbal fluency are widely used to study organization and representation of concepts in the human brain. Previous studies demonstrated that clustering and switching behavior during verbal fluency tasks is supported by multiple brain mechanisms associated with semantic memory and executive control. Previous work relied on manual assessments of semantic relatedness between words and grouping of words into semantic clusters. We investigated a computational linguistic approach to measuring the strength of semantic relatedness between words based on latent semantic analysis of word co-occurrences in a subset of a large online encyclopedia. We computed semantic clustering indices and compared them to brain network connectivity measures obtained with task-free fMRI in a sample consisting of healthy participants and those differentially affected by cognitive impairment. We found that semantic clustering indices were associated with brain network connectivity in distinct areas including fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal and fusiform gyrus regions. This study shows that computerized semantic indices complement traditional assessments of verbal fluency to provide a more complete account of the relationship between brain and verbal behavior involved organization and retrieval of lexical information from memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Embodied Memory Judgments: A Case of Motor Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Shu-Ju; Gallo, David A.; Beilock, Sian L.

2009-01-01

It is well known that perceptual and conceptual fluency can influence episodic memory judgments. Here, the authors asked whether fluency arising from the motor system also impacts recognition memory. Past research has shown that the perception of letters automatically activates motor programs of typing actions in skilled typists. In this study,…

Motor system contributions to verbal and non-verbal working memory

PubMed Central

Liao, Diana A.; Kronemer, Sharif I.; Yau, Jeffrey M.; Desmond, John E.; Marvel, Cherie L.

2014-01-01

Working memory (WM) involves the ability to maintain and manipulate information held in mind. Neuroimaging studies have shown that secondary motor areas activate during WM for verbal content (e.g., words or letters), in the absence of primary motor area activation. This activation pattern may reflect an inner speech mechanism supporting online phonological rehearsal. Here, we examined the causal relationship between motor system activity and WM processing by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to manipulate motor system activity during WM rehearsal. We tested WM performance for verbalizable (words and pseudowords) and non-verbalizable (Chinese characters) visual information. We predicted that disruption of motor circuits would specifically affect WM processing of verbalizable information. We found that TMS targeting motor cortex slowed response times (RTs) on verbal WM trials with high (pseudoword) vs. low (real word) phonological load. However, non-verbal WM trials were also significantly slowed with motor TMS. WM performance was unaffected by sham stimulation or TMS over visual cortex (VC). Self-reported use of motor strategy predicted the degree of motor stimulation disruption on WM performance. These results provide evidence of the motor system’s contributions to verbal and non-verbal WM processing. We speculate that the motor system supports WM by creating motor traces consistent with the type of information being rehearsed during maintenance. PMID:25309402

The California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version: relation to factor indices of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition.

PubMed

O'Jile, Judith R; Schrimsher, Gregory W; O'Bryant, Sid E

2005-10-01

The California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version (CVLT-C) provides clinicians with a method of assessing various aspects of children's verbal memory and has been found to be sensitive to memory deficits resulting from a variety of neurological conditions. Intuitively, the CVLT-C would be expected to be highly related to a child's verbal cognitive abilities; however, with only a few exceptions, the relationship of this test to various domains of cognitive function has not been broadly studied empirically. To examine this issue, we evaluated the amount of unique variance in CVLT-C scores that could be predicted by the Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Freedom from Distractibility, and Processing Speed indices of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III) beyond that accounted for by age and gender in a sample of 62 children referred to an outpatient psychiatry clinic for neuropsychological evaluation. While the Processing Speed Index predicted a significant amount of variance for both short and long delay free and cued recall, the Verbal Comprehension Index was a poor predictor of CVLT-C performance on all outcome variables, accounting for only 1.5 to 4.5% additional variance above age and gender. These findings indicate that while the CVLT-C may be relatively independent of influences of verbal intelligence and abstract verbal reasoning, general speed and efficiency of processing play an important role in successful encoding for later retrieval on the CVLT-C.

Fluency variation in adolescents.

PubMed

Furquim de Andrade, Claudia Regina; de Oliveira Martins, Vanessa

2007-10-01

The Speech Fluency Profile of fluent adolescent speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, were examined with respect to gender and neurolinguistic variations. Speech samples of 130 male and female adolescents, aged between 12;0 and 17;11 years were gathered. They were analysed according to type of speech disruption; speech rate; and frequency of speech disruptions. Statistical analysis did not find significant differences between genders for the variables studied. However, regarding the phases of adolescence (early: 12;0-14;11 years; late: 15;0-17;11 years), statistical differences were observed for all of the variables. As for neurolinguistic maturation, a decrease in the number of speech disruptions and an increase in speech rate occurred during the final phase of adolescence, indicating that the maturation of the motor and linguistic processes exerted an influence over the fluency profile of speech.

Fluency Training. NetNews . Volume 4, Number 5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LDA of Minnesota, 2004

2004-01-01

In the past, researchers believed that reading fluency developed as a result of good word recognition skills; however, it is now believed that fluency must be explicitly taught and practiced orally in order to develop. Readers who are not fluent in reading will be less motivated to practice, have more difficulty learning academic content, and…

Laughing through Rereadings: Using Joke Books to Build Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ness, Molly

2009-01-01

The author explores how the use of joke books can promote fluency in young readers. One young girl's fluency improved measurably, and her engagement and motivation to read the particular kind of text involved played a significant role. (Contains 2 tables.)

Verbal memory outcome in patients with normal preoperative verbal memory and left mesial temporal sclerosis.

PubMed

LoGalbo, Anthony; Sawrie, Stephen; Roth, David L; Kuzniecky, Ruben; Knowlton, Robert; Faught, Edward; Martin, Roy

2005-05-01

Previous studies have shown that structural integrity (i.e., presence/absence of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS)) of the left mesial temporal lobe is associated with verbal memory outcome following left anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL). However, the functional integrity of the left temporal lobe, as exemplified by preoperative verbal memory performance, has also been associated with verbal memory outcome following surgery. We investigated the risk of verbal memory loss in patients with known structural abnormality (i.e., left mesial temporal sclerosis by MRI) and normal preoperative verbal memory performance who undergo left ATL. Seventeen patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy, MRI-based exclusive left MTS, and normal preoperative verbal memory were identified. Normal verbal memory was defined as performance on both Acquisition (learning across trials 1-5) and Retrieval (long delayed free recall) portions of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) above a T score of 40 (>16%ile). Postoperative verbal memory outcome was established by incorporating standardized regression-based (SRB) change scores. Postoperative declines across both CVLT Retrieval T scores and Acquisition T scores (average 20% and average 15% declines from baseline scores, respectively) were measured for the group. The average CVLT Retrieval SRB change score was -2.5, and the average CVLT Acquisition SRB change score was -1.0. A larger proportion of patients demonstrated postoperative declines on Retrieval scores than Acquisition scores (64.7% vs 17.6%, respectively). Even in the presence of left MTS, patients exhibiting normal presurgical verbal memory are at risk for verbal memory declines following ATL. These results suggest that the functional integrity of the left mesial temporal lobe may play an important role in the verbal memory outcome in this patient group.

Cognitive effects of creatine monohydrate adjunctive therapy in patients with bipolar depression: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

PubMed

Toniolo, Ricardo Alexandre; Fernandes, Francy de Brito Ferreira; Silva, Michelle; Dias, Rodrigo da Silva; Lafer, Beny

2017-12-15

Depressive episodes and cognitive impairment are major causes of morbidity and dysfunction in individuals suffering from bipolar disorder (BD). Novel treatment approaches that target clinical and cognitive aspects of bipolar depression are needed, and research on pathophysiology suggests that mitochondrial modulators such as the nutraceutical creatine monohydrate might have a therapeutic role for this condition. Eighteen (N=18) patients with bipolar depression according to DSM-IV criteria who were enrollled in a 6-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of creatine monohydrate 6g daily as adjunctive therapy were submitted to neuropsychological assessments (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition, Stroop Color-Word Test, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test, FAS Verbal Fluency Test) at baseline and week 6. There was a statistically significant difference between the treatment groups of the change on the total scores after 6 weeks in the verbal fluency test, with improvement in the group receiving adjunctive treatment with creatine. We did not find significant differences between the groups of the changes on other neuropsychological tests. Small sample and lack of a control group of healthy subjects. Our trial, which was the first to investigate the cognitive effects of creatine monohydrate on bipolar depression, indicates that supplementation with this nutraceutical for 6 weeks is associated with improvement in verbal fluency tests in patients with this condition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Category and design fluency in mild cognitive impairment: Performance, strategy use, and neural correlates.

PubMed

Peter, Jessica; Kaiser, Jannis; Landerer, Verena; Köstering, Lena; Kaller, Christoph P; Heimbach, Bernhard; Hüll, Michael; Bormann, Tobias; Klöppel, Stefan

2016-12-01

The exploration and retrieval of words during category fluency involves different strategies to improve or maintain performance. Deficits in that task, which are common in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), mirror either impaired semantic memory or dysfunctional executive control mechanisms. Relating category fluency to tasks that place greater demands on either semantic knowledge or executive functions might help to determine the underlying cognitive process. The aims of this study were to compare performance and strategy use of 20 patients with aMCI to 30 healthy elderly controls (HC) and to identify the dominant component (either executive or semantic) for better task performance in category fluency. Thus, the relationship between category fluency, design fluency and naming was examined. As fluency tasks have been associated with the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the temporal pole, we further explored the relationship between gray matter volume in these areas and both performance and strategy use. Patients with aMCI showed significantly lower performance and significantly less strategy use during fluency tasks compared to HC. However, both groups equally improved their performance when repeatedly confronted with the same task. In aMCI, performance during category fluency was significantly predicted by design fluency performance, while in HC, it was significantly predicted by naming performance. In HC, volume of the SFG significantly predicted both category and design fluency performance, and strategy use during design fluency. In aMCI, the SFG and the IFG predicted performance during both category and design fluency. The IFG significantly predicted strategy use during category fluency in both groups. The reduced category fluency performance in aMCI seems to be primarily due to dysfunctional executive control mechanisms rather than impaired semantic knowledge. This finding is directly relevant to

Exploring "fringe" consciousness: the subjective experience of perceptual fluency and its objective bases.

PubMed

Reber, Rolf; Wurtz, Pascal; Zimmermann, Thomas D

2004-03-01

Perceptual fluency is the subjective experience of ease with which an incoming stimulus is processed. Although perceptual fluency is assessed by speed of processing, it remains unclear how objective speed is related to subjective experiences of fluency. We present evidence that speed at different stages of the perceptual process contributes to perceptual fluency. In an experiment, figure-ground contrast influenced detection of briefly presented words, but not their identification at longer exposure durations. Conversely, font in which the word was written influenced identification, but not detection. Both contrast and font influenced subjective fluency. These findings suggest that speed of processing at different stages condensed into a unified subjective experience of perceptual fluency.

What Research Has to Say about Fluency Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuels, S. Jay, Ed.; Farstrup, Alan E., Ed.

2006-01-01

The editors of "What Research Has to Say about Reading Instruction" present the most recent research on fluency and show how it can be put into practice. A resource for classroom teachers and teacher educators alike, the reader-friendly text offers a range of expert perspectives on the key aspects of fluency such as: (1) history and definitions;…

Frontotemporal white matter changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Abrahams, Sharon; Goldstein, Laura H; Suckling, John; Ng, Virginia; Simmons, Andy; Chitnis, Xavier; Atkins, Louise; Williams, Steve C R; Leigh, P N

2005-03-01

Cognitive dysfunction can occur in some patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who are not suffering from dementia. The most striking and consistent cognitive deficit has been found using tests of verbal fluency. ALS patients with verbal fluency deficits have shown functional imaging abnormalities predominantly in frontotemporal regions using positron emission tomography (PET). This study used automated volumetric voxel-based analysis of grey and white matter densities of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to explore the underlying pattern of structural cerebral change in nondemented ALS patients with verbal fluency deficits. Two groups of ALS patients, defined by the presence or absence of cognitive impairment on the basis of the Written Verbal Fluency Test (ALSi, cognitively impaired, n=11; ALSu, cognitively unimpaired n=12) were compared with healthy age matched controls (n=12). A comparison of the ALSi group with controls revealed significantly (p<0.002) reduced white matter volume in extensive motor and non-motor regions, including regions corresponding to frontotemporal association fibres. These patients demonstrated a corresponding cognitive profile of executive and memory dysfunction. Less extensive white matter reductions were revealed in the comparison of the ALSu and control groups in regions corresponding to frontal association fibres. White matter volumes were also found to correlate with performance on memory tests. There were no significant reductions in grey matter volume in the comparison of either patient group with controls. The structural white matter abnormalities in frontal and temporal regions revealed here may underlie the cognitive and functional imaging abnormalities previously reported in non-demented ALS patients. The results also suggest that extra-motor structural abnormalities may be present in ALS patients with no evidence of cognitive change. The findings support the hypothesis of a continuum of extra

Lower Activation in Frontal Cortex and Posterior Cingulate Cortex Observed during Sex Determination Test in Early-Stage Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

PubMed Central

Rajmohan, Ravi; Anderson, Ronald C.; Fang, Dan; Meyer, Austin G.; Laengvejkal, Pavis; Julayanont, Parunyou; Hannabas, Greg; Linton, Kitten; Culberson, John; Khan, Hafiz; De Toledo, John; Reddy, P. Hemachandra; O’Boyle, Michael W.

2017-01-01

Face-labeling refers to the ability to classify faces into social categories. This plays a critical role in human interaction as it serves to define concepts of socially acceptable interpersonal behavior. The purpose of the current study was to characterize, what, if any, impairments in face-labeling are detectable in participants with early-stage clinically diagnosed dementia of the Alzheimer type (CDDAT) through the use of the sex determination test (SDT). In the current study, four (1 female, 3 males) CDDAT and nine (4 females, 5 males) age-matched neurotypicals (NT) completed the SDT using chimeric faces while undergoing BOLD fMRI. It was expected that CDDAT participants would have poor verbal fluency, which would correspond to poor performance on the SDT. This could be explained by decreased activation and connectivity patterns within the fusiform face area (FFA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). DTI was also performed to test the association of pathological deterioration of connectivity in the uncinate fasciculus (UF) and verbally-mediated performance. CDDAT showed lower verbal fluency test (VFT) performance, but VFT was not significantly correlated to SDT and no significant difference was seen between CDDAT and NT for SDT performance as half of the CDDAT performed substantially worse than NT while the other half performed similarly. BOLD fMRI of SDT displayed differences in the left superior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), but not the FFA or ACC. Furthermore, although DTI showed deterioration of the right inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi, as well as the PCC, it did not demonstrate significant deterioration of UF tracts. Taken together, early-stage CDDAT may represent a common emerging point for the loss of face labeling ability. PMID:28588478

Vitamin D status is associated with executive function a decade later: Data from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project.

PubMed

Goodwill, Alicia M; Campbell, Stephen; Simpson, Steven; Bisignano, Maria; Chiang, Cherie; Dennerstein, Lorraine; Szoeke, Cassandra

2018-01-01

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with cognitive decline and dementia in older adults. However, there is a paucity of studies assessing whether this association manifests from midlife. Given the long prodromal stage of dementia, we investigated the association between midlife vitamin D and cognition 10 years later. 252 participants (aged 55-67 years) from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project had baseline (2002) vitamin D and neuropsychological measures assessed. Of these, 170 (aged 65-77 years) had follow-up neuropsychological testing (2012). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) was measured using an automated chemiluminescence system. The neuropsychological tests used were: Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD), California Verbal Learning Test Second Edition (CVLT-II), verbal fluency and Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B). Composite scores for verbal episodic memory (CERAD and CVLT-II) and executive function (verbal fluency and TMT-B) were obtained by summating standardized scores for each test. Analyses were adjusted for age, education and body mass index (BMI). Further adjustment for physical activity, depression, vascular risk factors, supplementation and APOE4-genotype did not materially change the results. At baseline, those with vitamin D>25nmol/L performed better on verbal fluency (β=2.46, 95%CI=0.53,4.40) and TMT-B time (β=-18.23, 95%CI=-32.86,-3.61), with higher executive function (β=1.40, 95%CI=0.44,2.37). These relationships persisted 10 years later for TMT-B (β=-15.38, 95%CI=-30.82,0.07) and executive function (β=1.05, 95%CI=0.14,1.95). There were no associations with tests of verbal episodic memory. Midlife vitamin D>25nmol/L is associated with improved aspects of executive function in ageing. Findings highlight a potential therapeutic age window where midlife vitamin D repletion could be neuroprotective against cognitive decline. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Neuronal loss associated with cognitive performance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: an (11C)-flumazenil PET study.

PubMed

Wicks, Paul; Turner, Martin R; Abrahams, Sharon; Hammers, Alexander; Brooks, David J; Leigh, P Nigel; Goldstein, Laura H

2008-02-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multi-system disorder. Mild cognitive deficits are present in a subgroup of non-demented patients with ALS. Detailed neuropsychological assessments reveal deficits of word retrieval including impairments on tests of verbal fluency and confrontation naming. The PET GABA(A) receptor ligand [11C]-flumazenil is a marker of neuronal dysfunction in ALS. This study used [11C]-flumazenil PET to identify correlations between cortical regions and impairments in word retrieval. Twelve patients with ALS underwent [11C]-flumazenil PET and neuropsychological assessment, including tests of written letter fluency and confrontation naming. Poorer performance on verbal fluency correlated with decreased [11C]-flumazenil binding in a region including the right inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and anterior insula. Poorer performance on a test of confrontation naming correlated with decreased binding in the left middle frontal gyrus (extending to Broca's area) and left cuneus. This study indicates that [11C]-flumazenil PET can be used to help localize cortical regions associated with cognitive deficits in ALS.

Global-local processing relates to spatial and verbal processing: implications for sex differences in cognition.

PubMed

Pletzer, Belinda; Scheuringer, Andrea; Scherndl, Thomas

2017-09-05

Sex differences have been reported for a variety of cognitive tasks and related to the use of different cognitive processing styles in men and women. It was recently argued that these processing styles share some characteristics across tasks, i.e. male approaches are oriented towards holistic stimulus aspects and female approaches are oriented towards stimulus details. In that respect, sex-dependent cognitive processing styles share similarities with attentional global-local processing. A direct relationship between cognitive processing and global-local processing has however not been previously established. In the present study, 49 men and 44 women completed a Navon paradigm and a Kimchi Palmer task as well as a navigation task and a verbal fluency task with the goal to relate the global advantage (GA) effect as a measure of global processing to holistic processing styles in both tasks. Indeed participants with larger GA effects displayed more holistic processing during spatial navigation and phonemic fluency. However, the relationship to cognitive processing styles was modulated by the specific condition of the Navon paradigm, as well as the sex of participants. Thus, different types of global-local processing play different roles for cognitive processing in men and women.

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test forced-choice recognition task: Base-rate data and norms.

PubMed

Poreh, Amir; Bezdicek, Ondrej; Korobkova, Irina; Levin, Jennifer B; Dines, Philipp

2016-01-01

The present study describes a novel Forced-Choice Response (FCR) index for detecting poor effort on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). This retrospective study analyzes the performance of 4 groups on the new index: clinically referred patients with suspected dementia, forensic patients identified as not exhibiting adequate effort on other measures of response bias, students who simulated poor effort, and a large normative sample collected in the Gulf State of Oman. Using sensitivity and specificity analyses, the study shows that much like the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition FCR index, the RAVLT FCR index misses a proportion of individuals with inadequate effort (low sensitivity), but those who fail this measure are highly likely to be exhibiting poor effort (high specificity). The limitations and benefits of utilizing the RAVLT FCR index in clinical practice are discussed.

A Comparison of Group-Oriented Contingencies for Addition Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Thomas J.; Duhon, Gary J.; Shutte, Greg; Rowland, Julie E.

2016-01-01

Math fact fluency is critical for understanding complex mathematics. Explicit timing interventions have shown promise for improving math fluency, and they may benefit from being paired with group-oriented contingencies. Further, investigations of independent and dependent group-oriented contingencies would help to identify their relative…

Carry-over fluency induced by extreme prolongations: A new behavioral paradigm.

PubMed

Briley, P M; Barnes, M P; Kalinowski, J S

2016-04-01

Extreme prolongations, which can be generated via extreme delayed auditory feedback (DAF) (e.g., 250-500 ms) or mediated cognitively with timing applications (e.g., analog stopwatch) at 2 s per syllable, have long been behavioral techniques used to inhibit stuttering. Some therapies have used this rate solely to establish initial fluency, while others use extremely slowed speech to establish fluency and add other strategic techniques such as easy onsets and diaphragmatic breathing. Extreme prolongations generate effective, efficient, and immediate forward flowing fluent speech, removing the signature behaviors of discrete stuttering (i.e., syllable repetitions and audible and inaudible postural fixations). Prolonged use of extreme prolongations establishes carry-over fluency, which is spontaneous, effortless speech absent of most, if not all, overt and covert manifestations of stuttering. The creation of this immediate fluency and the immense potential of extreme prolongations to generate long periods of carry-over fluency have been overlooked by researchers and clinicians alike. Clinicians depart from these longer prolongation durations as they attempt to achieve the same fluent results at a near normal rate of speech. Clinicians assume they are re-teaching fluency and slow rates will give rise to more normal rates with less control, but without carry-over fluency, controls and cognitive mediation are always needed for the inherently unstable speech systems of persons who stutter to experience fluent speech. The assumption being that the speech system is untenable without some level of cognitive and motoric monitoring that is always necessary. The goal is omnipresent "near normal rate sounding fluency" with continuous mediation via cognitive and motoric processes. This pursuit of "normal sounding fluency" continues despite ever-present relapse. Relapse has become so common that acceptance of stuttering is the new therapy modality because relapse has come to be

Global brain atrophy is associated with physical performance and the risk of falls in older adults with cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Yamada, Minoru; Takechi, Hajime; Mori, Shuhei; Aoyama, Tomoki; Arai, Hidenori

2013-04-01

Falls are common in patients with cognitive disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine whether global brain atrophy is associated with cognitive function, physical performance and fall incidents in older adults with mild cognitive disorder. A total of 31 older adults with mild cognitive disorders (mean age 78.9 ± 7.3 years) were studied, and 10 of them had experienced falls and the others had not in the past 1 year. Cognitive function and physical performance were measured in these patients. Global brain atrophy was determined by the Voxel-Based Specific Regional Analysis System for Alzheimer's Disease software. Fallers showed significantly worse scores than the non-fallers in the Global Brain Atrophy Index, Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Verbal Fluency Test (animal), maximum walking time and Timed Up & Go (TUG) Test. The Global Brain Atrophy Index was correlated with the Verbal Fluency Test (animal; r = -0.522), the Verbal Fluency Test with letter (ka; r = -0.337), CDT (r = -0.547), TUG (r = 0.276) and Five Chair Stands Test (r = 0.303) by age-adjusted correlation analyses. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the Global Brain Atrophy Index (β = 1.265, 95% CI 1.022-1.567) was a significant and independent determinant of falls (R(2) = 0.356, P = 0.003). Global brain atrophy might be indicated as one of the risk factors for falls in older adults with mild cognitive disorders. © 2012 Japan Geriatrics Society.

Designing persuasive health materials using processing fluency: a literature review.

PubMed

Okuhara, Tsuyoshi; Ishikawa, Hirono; Okada, Masahumi; Kato, Mio; Kiuchi, Takahiro

2017-06-08

Health materials to promote health behaviors should be readable and generate favorable evaluations of the message. Processing fluency (the subjective experience of ease with which people process information) has been increasingly studied over the past decade. In this review, we explore effects and instantiations of processing fluency and discuss the implications for designing effective health materials. We searched seven online databases using "processing fluency" as the key word. In addition, we gathered relevant publications using reference snowballing. We included published records that were written in English and applicable to the design of health materials. We found 40 articles that were appropriate for inclusion. Various instantiations of fluency have a uniform effect on human judgment: fluently processed stimuli generate positive judgments (e.g., liking, confidence). Processing fluency is used to predict the effort needed for a given task; accordingly, it has an impact on willingness to undertake the task. Physical perceptual, lexical, syntactic, phonological, retrieval, and imagery fluency were found to be particularly relevant to the design of health materials. Health-care professionals should consider the use of a perceptually fluent design, plain language, numeracy with an appropriate degree of precision, a limited number of key points, and concrete descriptions that make recipients imagine healthy behavior. Such fluently processed materials that are easy to read and understand have enhanced perspicuity and persuasiveness.

Silent Reading Fluency Using Underlining: Evidence for an Alternative Method of Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Katherine W.; Meisinger, Elizabeth B.; Louwerse, Max M.; D'Mello, Sidney K.

2012-01-01

Assessing silent reading fluency in classroom environments is challenging. This article reports on a method of assessing silent reading using underlining, an approach that solves many problems other silent reading fluency assessment measures face. This method computationally monitors readers' silent reading fluency by the speed they underline…

Young children's coding and storage of visual and verbal material.

PubMed

Perlmutter, M; Myers, N A

1975-03-01

36 preschool children (mean age 4.2 years) were each tested on 3 recognition memory lists differing in test mode (visual only, verbal only, combined visual-verbal). For one-third of the children, original list presentation was visual only, for another third, presentation was verbal only, and the final third received combined visual-verbal presentation. The subjects generally performed at a high level of correct responding. Verbal-only presentation resulted in less correct recognition than did either visual-only or combined visual-verbal presentation. However, because performances under both visual-only and combined visual-verbal presentation were statistically comparable, and a high level of spontaneous labeling was observed when items were presented only visually, a dual-processing conceptualization of memory in 4-year-olds was suggested.

Evaluating Student Comprehension Performance Measured by Oral Reading Fluency and Retell Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGann, Rachel M.

2017-01-01

This dissertation investigated student comprehension and its relationship to oral reading fluency. The DIBELS Next reading assessment was used to determine the relationship between these reading skills. This research also examined the relationship between the two comprehension measures of the DIBELS Next assessment that are identified by the…

Developmental relations between reading fluency and reading comprehension: A longitudinal study from grade one to two

PubMed Central

Kim, Young-Suk; Wagner, Richard K.; Lopez, Danielle

2012-01-01

From a developmental framework, relations among list reading fluency, oral and silent reading fluency, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension might be expected to change as children’s reading skills develop. We examined developmental relations among these constructs in a latent-variable longitudinal study of first- and second-grade students. Results showed that list reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension in grade one, but not in grade two after accounting for text reading fluency (oral or silent) and listening comprehension. In contrast, text reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension in grade two, but not in grade one, after accounting for list reading fluency and listening comprehension. When oral and silent reading fluency were compared, oral reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension after accounting for silent reading fluency in grade one whereas in grade two, silent reading fluency was uniquely related to reading comprehension after accounting for oral reading fluency. PMID:22726256

Enhanced verbal abilities in the congenitally blind.

PubMed

Occelli, Valeria; Lacey, Simon; Stephens, Careese; Merabet, Lotfi B; Sathian, K

2017-06-01

Numerous studies have found that congenitally blind individuals have better verbal memory than their normally sighted counterparts. However, it is not known whether this reflects superiority of verbal or memory abilities. In order to distinguish between these possibilities, we tested congenitally blind participants and normally sighted control participants, matched for age and education, on a range of verbal and spatial tasks. Congenitally blind participants were significantly better than sighted controls on all the verbal tasks but the groups did not differ significantly on the spatial tasks. Thus, the congenitally blind appear to have superior verbal, but not spatial, abilities. This may reflect greater reliance on verbal information and the involvement of visual cortex in language processing in the congenitally blind.

Enhanced Verbal Abilities in The Congenitally Blind

PubMed Central

Occelli, Valeria; Lacey, Simon; Stephens, Careese; Merabet, Lotfi B.; Sathian, K.

2017-01-01

Numerous studies have found that congenitally blind individuals have better verbal memory than their normally sighted counterparts. However, it is not known whether this reflects superiority of verbal or memory abilities. In order to distinguish between these possibilities, we tested congenitally blind participants and normally sighted control participants, matched for age and education, on a range of verbal and spatial tasks. Congenitally blind participants were significantly better than sighted controls on all the verbal tasks but the groups did not differ significantly on the spatial tasks. Thus, the congenitally blind appear to have superior verbal, but not spatial, abilities. This may reflect greater reliance on verbal information and the involvement of visual cortex in language processing in the congenitally blind. PMID:28280879

The medium helps the message: Early sensitivity to auditory fluency in children’s endorsement of statements

PubMed Central

Bernard, Stéphane; Proust, Joëlle; Clément, Fabrice

2014-01-01

Recently, a growing number of studies have investigated the cues used by children to selectively accept testimony. In parallel, several studies with adults have shown that the fluency with which information is provided influences message evaluation: adults evaluate fluent information as more credible than dysfluent information. It is therefore plausible that the fluency of a message could also influence children’s endorsement of statements. Three experiments were designed to test this hypothesis with 3- to 5-year-olds where the auditory fluency of a message was manipulated by adding different levels of noise to recorded statements. The results show that 4 and 5-year-old children, but not 3-year-olds, are more likely to endorse a fluent statement than a dysfluent one. The present study constitutes a first attempt to show that fluency, i.e., ease of processing, is recruited as a cue to guide epistemic decision in children. An interpretation of the age difference based on the way cues are processed by younger children is suggested. PMID:25538662

The Effects of Reading Fluency Interventions on the Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension Performance of Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Research from 2001 to 2014

PubMed Central

Stevens, Elizabeth A.; Walker, Melodee A.; Vaughn, Sharon

2016-01-01

Fluent word reading is hypothesized to facilitate reading comprehension by improving automatic word reading, thus releasing a reader’s cognitive resources to focus on meaning. Many students with learning disabilities (LD) struggle to develop reading fluency, which affects reading comprehension. This synthesis extends Chard, Vaughn, and Tyler’s (2002) review, synthesizing fluency intervention research from 2001 to 2014. The search yielded 19 studies examining reading fluency and comprehension outcomes of reading fluency interventions for students with LD in kindergarten through 5th grade. Results showed repeated reading (RR), multicomponent interventions, and assisted reading with audiobooks produced gains in reading fluency and comprehension. Providing a model of fluent reading and performance feedback, using easier level text, setting a performance criterion, and practicing RR with peers also contributed to improved outcomes. Findings suggest that RR remains the most effective intervention for improving reading fluency for students with LD. Limitations include sample size, only three group design studies, and infrequent use of standardized measures. PMID:27067939

The Effects of Reading Fluency Interventions on the Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension Performance of Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Research from 2001 to 2014.

PubMed

Stevens, Elizabeth A; Walker, Melodee A; Vaughn, Sharon

Fluent word reading is hypothesized to facilitate reading comprehension by improving automatic word reading, thus releasing a reader's cognitive resources to focus on meaning. Many students with learning disabilities (LD) struggle to develop reading fluency, which affects reading comprehension. This synthesis extends Chard, Vaughn, and Tyler's (2002) review, synthesizing fluency intervention research from 2001 to 2014. The search yielded 19 studies examining reading fluency and comprehension outcomes of reading fluency interventions for students with LD in kindergarten through 5th grade. Results showed repeated reading (RR), multicomponent interventions, and assisted reading with audiobooks produced gains in reading fluency and comprehension. Providing a model of fluent reading and performance feedback, using easier level text, setting a performance criterion, and practicing RR with peers also contributed to improved outcomes. Findings suggest that RR remains the most effective intervention for improving reading fluency for students with LD. Limitations include sample size, only three group design studies, and infrequent use of standardized measures.

Linguistic Skills and Speaking Fluency in a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Jong, Nivja H.; Steinel, Margarita P.; Florijn, Arjen; Schoonen, Rob; Hulstijn, Jan H.

2013-01-01

This study investigated how individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing skills relate to individual differences in speaking fluency. Speakers of Dutch as a second language ("N" = 179) performed eight speaking tasks, from which several measures of fluency were derived such as measures for pausing, repairing, and speed…

The Model Identification Test: Perceptual Bias of Elementary School Children Using a Limited Verbal Evaluation Instrument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Patrick J.

1974-01-01

Reported is a study to verify the pattern of bias associated with the Model Identification Test and to determine its source. This instrument is a limited verbal science test designed to determine the knowledge possessed by elementary school children of selected concepts related to "the particle nature of matter." (PEB)

Verbal Skills in Children with ADHD. Short Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andreou, G.; Agapitou, P.; Karapetsas, A.

2005-01-01

The present study examined whether ADHD children exhibit low verbal IQ (VIQ) and distinguishable test profile on the Verbal comprehension (VC) and Freedom from distractibility (FFD) factors, and whether gender influences their verbal abilities. At the Laboratory of Neuropsychology of the Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly,…

What Do We Mean by Writing Fluency and How Can It Be Validly Measured?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdel Latif, Muhammad M. Mahmoud

2013-01-01

Fluency is an essential component in writing ability and development. Writing fluency research is important to researchers and teachers interested in facilitating students' written text production and in assessing writing. This calls for reaching a better understanding of writing fluency and how it should be measured. Although fluency is the…

Accuracy of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency Measure for Predicting Third Grade Reading Comprehension Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roehrig, Alysia D.; Petscher, Yaacov; Nettles, Stephen M.; Hudson, Roxanne F.; Torgesen, Joseph K.

2008-01-01

We evaluated the validity of DIBELS ("Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills") ORF ("Oral Reading Fluency") for predicting performance on the "Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test" (FCAT-SSS) and "Stanford Achievement Test" (SAT-10) reading comprehension measures. The usefulness of previously…

Effects of Repeated Reading and Listening Passage Preview on Oral Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swain, Kristine D.; Leader-Janssen, Elizabeth M.; Conley, Perry

2017-01-01

This case study examined the effectiveness of three fluency interventions (i.e., repeated reading, audio listening passage preview and teacher modeled listening passage preview) with a fifth grade student struggling with fluency skills. When compared to baseline, each intervention increased oral reading fluency by the end of the 7 weeks of…

Liberating the Arts: Promoting IT Fluency through the Pedagogy of Digital Storytelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Kenneth Xavier, Jr.

2011-01-01

Fluency in information technology (IT Fluency) is a component of life-long learning necessary for a Liberal Arts student's post-graduate success in the global and digital economy. While challenging, promoting IT fluency at Liberal Arts colleges can be achieved through the integration of digital storytelling pedagogy in existing humanities…

Verbal monitoring in Parkinson’s disease: A comparison between internal and external monitoring

PubMed Central

Mertens, Jolien; Mariën, Peter; Santens, Patrick; Pickut, Barbara A.; Hartsuiker, Robert J.

2017-01-01

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) display a variety of impairments in motor and non-motor language processes; speech is decreased on motor aspects such as amplitude, prosody and speed and on linguistic aspects including grammar and fluency. Here we investigated whether verbal monitoring is impaired and what the relative contributions of the internal and external monitoring route are on verbal monitoring in patients with PD relative to controls. Furthermore, the data were used to investigate whether internal monitoring performance could be predicted by internal speech perception tasks, as perception based monitoring theories assume. Performance of 18 patients with Parkinson’s disease was measured on two cognitive performance tasks and a battery of 11 linguistic tasks, including tasks that measured performance on internal and external monitoring. Results were compared with those of 16 age-matched healthy controls. PD patients and controls generally performed similarly on the linguistic and monitoring measures. However, we observed qualitative differences in the effects of noise masking on monitoring and disfluencies and in the extent to which the linguistic tasks predicted monitoring behavior. We suggest that the patients differ from healthy subjects in their recruitment of monitoring channels. PMID:28832595

Effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension and the mediator role of reading fluency from grades 2 to 4.

PubMed

Li, Liping; Wu, Xinchun

2015-01-01

This study examined the contribution of metalinguistic awareness including morphological awareness, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness to reading comprehension, and the role of reading fluency as a mediator of the effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension from grades 2 to 4. Four hundred and fifteen elementary students in China mainland were administered a test battery that included measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographical awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension and IQ. Hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM) were used to analyze the data. Morphological awareness uniquely explained 9%, 10% and 13% variance of reading comprehension respectively from grade 2 to grade 4, however, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness did not contribute to reading comprehension; Reading fluency partially mediated the effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension in grades 2-4. These findings indicated that reading fluency and morphological awareness should be facilitated in the Chinese instruction. Morphological awareness played an important role in Chinese reading and affected reading comprehension in grades 2 to 4; Reading fluency was a significant link between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in grades 2-4.

Modeling Learning and Memory Using Verbal Learning Tests: Results From ACTIVE

PubMed Central

Gross, Alden L.

2013-01-01

Objective. To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. Method. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study of community-dwelling adults older than age 65 (n = 1,401). We decomposed trial-level recall in the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) into initial recall and learning across trials using latent growth models. Results. Trial-level increases in words recalled in the AVLT and HVLT at each follow-up visit followed an approximately logarithmic shape. Over the 5-year study period, memory training was associated with slower decline in Trial 1 AVLT recall (Cohen’s d = 0.35, p = .03) and steep pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning (d = 1.56, p < .001). Findings were replicated using the HVLT (decline in initial recall, d = 0.60, p = .01; pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning, d = 3.10, p < .001). Because of the immediate training boost, the memory-trained group had a higher level of recall than the control group through the end of the 5-year study period despite faster decline in learning. Discussion. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which training benefits memory and expands current knowledge by reporting long-term changes in initial recall and learning, as measured from growth models and by characterization of the impact of memory training on these components. Results reveal that memory training delays the worsening of memory span and boosts learning. PMID:22929389

Modeling learning and memory using verbal learning tests: results from ACTIVE.

PubMed

Gross, Alden L; Rebok, George W; Brandt, Jason; Tommet, Doug; Marsiske, Michael; Jones, Richard N

2013-03-01

To investigate the influence of memory training on initial recall and learning. The Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study of community-dwelling adults older than age 65 (n = 1,401). We decomposed trial-level recall in the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) into initial recall and learning across trials using latent growth models. Trial-level increases in words recalled in the AVLT and HVLT at each follow-up visit followed an approximately logarithmic shape. Over the 5-year study period, memory training was associated with slower decline in Trial 1 AVLT recall (Cohen's d = 0.35, p = .03) and steep pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning (d = 1.56, p < .001). Findings were replicated using the HVLT (decline in initial recall, d = 0.60, p = .01; pre- and posttraining acceleration in learning, d = 3.10, p < .001). Because of the immediate training boost, the memory-trained group had a higher level of recall than the control group through the end of the 5-year study period despite faster decline in learning. This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms by which training benefits memory and expands current knowledge by reporting long-term changes in initial recall and learning, as measured from growth models and by characterization of the impact of memory training on these components. Results reveal that memory training delays the worsening of memory span and boosts learning.

When Two Sources of Fluency Meet One Cognitive Mindset

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reggev, Niv; Hassin, Ran R.; Maril, Anat

2012-01-01

Fluency, the subjective experience of ease associated with information processing, has been shown to affect a host of judgments. Previous research has typically focused on specific factors that affect the use of a single, specific fluency source. In the present study we examine how cognitive mindsets, or processing modes, moderate fluency…

Long-term memory for verbal and visual information in Down syndrome and Williams syndrome: performance on the Doors and People test.

PubMed

Jarrold, Christopher; Baddeley, Alan D; Phillips, Caroline

2007-02-01

Previous studies have suggested that Williams syndrome and Down syndrome may be associated with specific short-term memory deficits. Individuals with Williams syndrome perform relatively poorly on tests of visuo-spatial short-term memory and individuals with Down syndrome show a relative deficit on verbal short-term memory tasks. However, these patterns of impairments may reflect the impact of generally impaired visuo-spatial processing skills in Williams syndrome, and verbal abilities in Down syndrome. The current study explored this possibility by assessing long-term memory among 15 individuals with Williams syndrome and 20 individuals with Down syndrome using the Doors and People test, a battery which assesses recall and recognition of verbal and visual information. Individuals' performance was standardised for age and level of intellectual ability with reference to that shown by a sample of 110 typically developing children. The results showed that individuals with Down syndrome have no differential deficits in long-term memory for verbal information, implying that verbal short-term memory deficits in this population are relatively selective. Instead both individuals with Down syndrome and with Williams syndrome showed some evidence of relatively poor performance on tests of long-term memory for visual information. It is therefore possible that visuo-spatial short-term memory deficits that have previously been demonstrated in Williams syndrome may be secondary to more general problems in visuo-spatial processing in this population.

Neuropsychological deficits in long-term frequent cannabis users.

PubMed

Messinis, Lambros; Kyprianidou, Anthoula; Malefaki, Sonia; Papathanasopoulos, Panagiotis

2006-03-14

The authors examined neuropsychological functioning in 20 long-term (LT), 20 shorter term (ST) heavy frequent cannabis users, and 24 controls after abstinence for > or =24 hours prior to testing. LT users performed significantly worse on verbal memory and psychomotor speed. LT and ST users had a higher proportion of deficits on verbal fluency, verbal memory, attention, and psychomotor speed. Specific cognitive domains appear to deteriorate with increasing years of heavy frequent cannabis use.

Longitudinal Study on Fluency among Novice Learners of Japanese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirotani, Maki; Matsumoto, Kazumi; Fukada, Atsusi

2012-01-01

The present study examined various aspects of the development of learners' fluency in Japanese using a large set of speech samples collected over a long period, using an online speaking practice/assessment system called "Speak Everywhere." The purpose of the present study was to examine: (1) how the fluency related measures changed over…

Untimed Design Fluency in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: Psychometrics and Normative Data.

PubMed

Sunderaraman, Preeti; Sokolov, Elisaveta; Cines, Sarah; Sullo, Elizabeth; Orly, Aidan; Lerer, Bianca; Karlawish, Jason; Huey, Edward; Cosentino, Stephanie

2015-01-01

Design fluency tests, commonly used in both clinical and research contexts to evaluate nonverbal concept generation, have the potential to offer useful information in the differentiation of healthy versus pathological aging. Although normative data for older adults (OAs) are available for multiple timed versions of this test, similar data have been unavailable for a previously published untimed test, the Graphic Pattern Generation Test (GPG). Time constraints common to almost all of the available design fluency tests may cloud interpretation of higher-level executive abilities-for example, in individuals with slow processing speed. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the GPG and presents normative data in a sample of 167 healthy OAs and 110 individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results suggest that a brief version of the GPG can be administered reliably and that this short form has high test-retest and interrater reliability. Number of perseverations was higher in individuals with AD as compared with OAs. A cutoff score of 4 or more perseverations showed a moderate degree of sensitivity (76%) and specificity (37%) in distinguishing individuals with AD and OAs. Finally, perseverations were associated with nonmemory indexes, thereby underscoring the nonverbal nature of this error in OAs and individuals with AD.

Some verbal behavior about verbal behavior

PubMed Central

Salzinger, Kurt

2003-01-01

Beginning with behavior analysts' tendency to characterize verbal behavior as “mere” verbal behavior, the author reviews his own attempt to employ it to influence both his staff and policies of our government. He then describes its role in psychopathology, its effect on speakers in healing themselves and on engendering creativity. The paper ends by calling to our attention the role of verbal behavior in the construction of behavior analysis. PMID:22478393

Story Problem Formats: Verbal Versus Telegraphic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyer, John C.; And Others

1984-01-01

Students in grades three to seven were given tests on which problems were presented in either verbal or telegraphic format. Only in grade six was a significant difference found, favoring the verbal format. Problems with conventional syntax appeared to be easier to interpret than those with bare bones syntax. (MNS)

Construct Validity of Fluency and Implications for the Factorial Structure of Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jewsbury, Paul A.; Bowden, Stephen C.

2017-01-01

Fluency is an important construct in clinical assessment and in cognitive taxonomies. In the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model, Fluency is represented by several narrow factors that form a subset of the long-term memory encoding and retrieval (Glr) broad factor. The CHC broad classification of Fluency was evaluated in five data sets, and the CHC…

A Cross-Culture Study of Sex Differences Among First-Graders on A Verbal Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quijano, Teresa

The purposes of a study conducted in Texas and Mexico were to examine the language performance of boys and girls in 3 cultures (Mexican, Mexican American, and Anglo American), and to determine if girls exceeded boys in verbal performance in each of these cultures. The Van Alstyne Picture Vocabulary Test (an English language instrument translated…

The Relationship Between a Silent Reading Fluency Instructional Protocol on Students’ Reading Comprehension and Achievement in an Urban School Setting

PubMed Central

Rasinski, Timothy; Samuels, S. Jay; Hiebert, Elfrieda; Petscher, Yaacov; Feller, Karen

2015-01-01

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component in effective literacy instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000). Instruction in reading fluency has been shown to lead to improvements in reading achievement. Reading fluency instruction is most commonly associated with guided repeated oral reading instruction. In the present retrospective study we examine the effects of a computer-based silent reading fluency instructional system called Reading Plus (Taylor Associates, Winooski, Vermont, USA) on the reading comprehension and overall reading achievement of a large corpus of students in an urban school setting. Findings indicate that the program resulted in positive, substantial, and significant improvements in reading comprehension and overall reading achievement on a criterion referenced reading test for Grades 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and on a norm-referenced test of reading achievement for Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10. Moreover, mean gains made by students in the Reading Plus intervention were greater than mean gains for all students at the state and district level. The findings were generally positive for all subpopulations studied, including special education and regular education students. Qualitative reports from teachers who participated in the study were also supportive of the program. Implications for the study are explored for particular subgroups of students and for the role of fluency instruction with struggling adolescent readers. PMID:26347186

Brief Report: Testing the Impairment of Initiation Processes Hypothesis in Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carmo, Joana C.; Duarte, Elsa; Souza, Cristiane; Pinho, Sandra; Filipe, Carlos N.

2017-01-01

In the present study we aim at providing further evidences for the validity of an initiation processes impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We applied different verbal fluency tasks designed to decrease or enhance this limitation. A group of high-functioning individuals with ASD and a group of typically developed individuals matched for…

Shiraz Verbal Learning Test (SVLT): Normative Data for Neurologically Intact Speakers of Persian.

PubMed

Rahmani, Fahimeh; Haghshenas, Hassan; Mehrabanpour, Abdolrasoul; Mani, Arash; Mahmoodi, Mohammad

2017-08-01

Memory assessment plays an important role in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. Several tests, such as the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), have been developed for this purpose, yet a variety of different factors can affect one's performance on such tests, the most important of which are demographic and cultural variables. The present study examined the norming process performed on the CVLT-revised and aimed to devise a new test, the Shiraz Verbal Learning Test (SVLT), to better meet the needs of speakers of Persian. In order to collect normative data, a group of 1275 Persian-speaking individuals consisting of both sexes (676 women and 599 men) aged 20-89 years old were selected for this study. The results of Pearson's Correlation analysis indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between age and SVLT performance and a positive one between education and SVLT performance (p < .001) among the whole sample. Moreover, between-group analyses showed that the female participants performed significantly better than their male counterparts on nearly all subtests (Total Trails 1-5, Short-Delay Free Recall, Short-Delay Cued Recall, Long-Delay Free Recall, Long-Delay Cued Recall, and Total Learning Slope), with the only exception being Long-Delay Yes/No Recognition. These results suggest that the SVLT has the potential to be further developed among different culture and language groups. This test can also be used for clinical and research purposes for patients with neuropsychiatric disorders who need further neuropsychological assessment. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Chilean version of the INECO Frontal Screening (IFS-Ch): psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy

PubMed Central

Jory, Josefina Ihnen; Bruna, Andrés Antivilo; Muñoz-Neira, Carlos; Chonchol, Andrea Slachevsky

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE This study sought to analyze the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the Chilean version of the INECO Frontal Screening (IFS-Ch) in a sample of dementia patients and control subjects. METHODS After adapting the instrument to the Chilean context and obtaining content validity evidence through expert consultation, the IFS-Ch was administered to 31 dementia patients and 30 control subjects together with other executive assessments (Frontal Assessment Battery [FAB], Modified version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test [MCST], phonemic verbal fluencies [letters A and P] and semantic verbal fluency [animals]) and global cognitive efficiency tests (Mini mental State Examination [MMSE] and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised [ACE-R]). Caregivers of dementia patients and proxies of control subjects were interviewed with instruments measuring dysexecutive symptoms (Dysexecutive Questionnaire [DEX]), dementia severity (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale [CDR]) and functional status in activities of daily living (Activities of Daily Living Scale [IADL] and Technology-Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire [T-ADLQ]). Convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency reliability, cut-off points, sensitivity and specificity for the IFS-Ch were estimated. RESULTS Evidence of content validity was obtained. Evidence of convergent validity was also found showing significant correlations (p<0.05) between the IFS-Ch and the other instruments measuring: executive functions (FAB, r=0.935; categories achieved in the MCST, r=0.791; perseverative errors in the MCST, r= -0.617; animal verbal fluency, r=0.728; "A" verbal fluency, r=0.681; and "P" verbal fluency, r=0.783), dysexecutive symptoms in daily living (DEX, r= -0.494), dementia severity (CDR, r= -0.75) and functional status in activities of daily living (T-ADLQ, r= -0.745; IADL, r=0.717). Regarding reliability, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.905 was obtained. For diagnostic accuracy, a cut

The Effect of Lexical Bundles on Iranian EFL Learners Linguistic Production Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ranjbar, Nosrat; Pazhakh, Abdolreza; Gorjian, Bahman

2012-01-01

The present study attempted to investigate the effects of lexical bundles on Iranian EFL learners' paragraph writing production fluency. To achieve this purpose, an English language proficiency test was administered to 120 language learners studying TEFL at Islamic Azad University of Dehloran. Ultimately, 90 language learners were selected and…

Modulating phonemic fluency performance in healthy subjects with transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left or right lateral frontal cortex.

PubMed

Smirni, Daniela; Turriziani, Patrizia; Mangano, Giuseppa Renata; Bracco, Martina; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Cipolotti, Lisa

2017-07-28

A growing body of evidence have suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can improve the performance of aphasic patients in language tasks. For example, application of inhibitory rTMS or tDCs over the right frontal lobe of dysphasic patients resulted in improved naming abilities. Several studies have also reported that in healthy controls (HC) tDCS application over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) improve performance in naming and semantic fluency tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate in HC, for the first time, the effects of inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS) over left and right lateral frontal cortex (BA 47) on two phonemic fluency tasks (FAS or FPL). 44 right-handed HCs were administered rTMS or sham over the left or right lateral frontal cortex in two separate testing sessions, with a 24h interval, followed by the two phonemic fluency tasks. To account for possible practice effects, an additional 22 HCs were tested on only the phonemic fluency task across two sessions with no stimulation. We found that rTMS-inhibition over the left lateral frontal cortex significantly worsened phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. In contrast, rTMS-inhibition over the right lateral frontal cortex significantly improved phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. These results were not accounted for practice effects. We speculated that rTMS over the right lateral frontal cortex may induce plastic neural changes to the left lateral frontal cortex by suppressing interhemispheric inhibitory interactions. This resulted in an increased excitability (disinhibition) of the contralateral unstimulated left lateral frontal cortex, consequently enhancing phonemic fluency performance. Conversely, application of rTMS over the left lateral frontal cortex may induce a temporary, virtual lesion, with effects similar to those reported in left frontal

Processing Fluency in Education: How Metacognitive Feelings Shape Learning, Belief Formation, and Affect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reber, Rolf; Greifeneder, Rainer

2017-01-01

Processing fluency--the experienced ease with which a mental operation is performed--has attracted little attention in educational psychology, despite its relevance. The present article reviews and integrates empirical evidence on processing fluency that is relevant to school education. Fluency is important, for instance, in learning,…

Neural correlates of continuous causal word generation.

PubMed

Wende, Kim C; Straube, Benjamin; Stratmann, Mirjam; Sommer, Jens; Kircher, Tilo; Nagels, Arne

2012-09-01

Causality provides a natural structure for organizing our experience and language. Causal reasoning during speech production is a distinct aspect of verbal communication, whose related brain processes are yet unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the continuous generation of cause-and-effect coherences during overt word production. During fMRI data acquisition participants performed three verbal fluency tasks on identical cue words: A novel causal verbal fluency task (CVF), requiring the production of multiple reasons to a given cue word (e.g. reasons for heat are fire, sun etc.), a semantic (free association, FA, e.g. associations with heat are sweat, shower etc.) and a phonological control task (phonological verbal fluency, PVF, e.g. rhymes with heat are meat, wheat etc.). We found that, in contrast to PVF, both CVF and FA activated a left lateralized network encompassing inferior frontal, inferior parietal and angular regions, with further bilateral activation in middle and inferior as well as superior temporal gyri and the cerebellum. For CVF contrasted against FA, we found greater bold responses only in the left middle frontal cortex. Large overlaps in the neural activations during free association and causal verbal fluency indicate that the access to causal relationships between verbal concepts is at least partly based on the semantic neural network. The selective activation in the left middle frontal cortex for causal verbal fluency suggests that distinct neural processes related to cause-and-effect-relations are associated with the recruitment of middle frontal brain areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fingerspelling as a Novel Gateway into Reading Fluency in Deaf Bilinguals

PubMed Central

Stone, Adam; Kartheiser, Geo; Hauser, Peter C.; Petitto, Laura-Ann; Allen, Thomas E.

2015-01-01

Studies have shown that American Sign Language (ASL) fluency has a positive impact on deaf individuals’ English reading, but the cognitive and cross-linguistic mechanisms permitting the mapping of a visual-manual language onto a sound-based language have yet to be elucidated. Fingerspelling, which represents English orthography with 26 distinct hand configurations, is an integral part of ASL and has been suggested to provide deaf bilinguals with important cross-linguistic links between sign language and orthography. Using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, this study examined the relationship of age of ASL exposure, ASL fluency, and fingerspelling skill on reading fluency in deaf college-age bilinguals. After controlling for ASL fluency, fingerspelling skill significantly predicted reading fluency, revealing for the first-time that fingerspelling, above and beyond ASL skills, contributes to reading fluency in deaf bilinguals. We suggest that both fingerspelling—in the visual-manual modality—and reading—in the visual-orthographic modality—are mutually facilitating because they share common underlying cognitive capacities of word decoding accuracy and automaticity of word recognition. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that the development of English reading proficiency may be facilitated through strengthening of the relationship among fingerspelling, sign language, and orthographic decoding en route to reading mastery, and may also reveal optimal approaches for reading instruction for deaf and hard of hearing children. PMID:26427062

Fingerspelling as a Novel Gateway into Reading Fluency in Deaf Bilinguals.

PubMed

Stone, Adam; Kartheiser, Geo; Hauser, Peter C; Petitto, Laura-Ann; Allen, Thomas E

2015-01-01

Studies have shown that American Sign Language (ASL) fluency has a positive impact on deaf individuals' English reading, but the cognitive and cross-linguistic mechanisms permitting the mapping of a visual-manual language onto a sound-based language have yet to be elucidated. Fingerspelling, which represents English orthography with 26 distinct hand configurations, is an integral part of ASL and has been suggested to provide deaf bilinguals with important cross-linguistic links between sign language and orthography. Using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, this study examined the relationship of age of ASL exposure, ASL fluency, and fingerspelling skill on reading fluency in deaf college-age bilinguals. After controlling for ASL fluency, fingerspelling skill significantly predicted reading fluency, revealing for the first-time that fingerspelling, above and beyond ASL skills, contributes to reading fluency in deaf bilinguals. We suggest that both fingerspelling--in the visual-manual modality--and reading--in the visual-orthographic modality--are mutually facilitating because they share common underlying cognitive capacities of word decoding accuracy and automaticity of word recognition. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that the development of English reading proficiency may be facilitated through strengthening of the relationship among fingerspelling, sign language, and orthographic decoding en route to reading mastery, and may also reveal optimal approaches for reading instruction for deaf and hard of hearing children.

Effects of generation mode in fMRI adaptations of semantic fluency: Paced production and overt speech

PubMed Central

Basho, Surina; Palmer, Erica D.; Rubio, Miguel A.; Wulfeck, Beverly; Müller, Ralph-Axel

2007-01-01

Verbal fluency is a widely used neuropsychological paradigm. In fMRI implementations, conventional unpaced (self-paced) versions are suboptimal due to uncontrolled timing of responses, and overt responses carry the risk of motion artifact. We investigated the behavioral and neurofunctional effects of response pacing and overt speech in semantic category-driven word generation. Twelve right-handed adults (8 female) ages 21–37 were scanned in four conditions each: Paced-Overt, Paced-Covert, Unpaced-Overt, and Unpaced-Covert. There was no significant difference in the number of exemplars generated between overt versions of the paced and unpaced conditions. Imaging results for category-driven word generation overall showed left-hemispheric activation in inferior frontal cortex, premotor cortex, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and basal ganglia. Direct comparison of generation modes revealed significantly greater activation for the paced compared to unpaced conditions in right superior temporal, bilateral middle frontal, and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, including regions associated with sustained attention, motor planning, and response inhibition. Covert (compared to overt) conditions showed significantly greater effects in right parietal and anterior cingulate, as well as left middle temporal and superior frontal regions. We conclude that paced overt paradigms are useful adaptations of conventional semantic fluency in fMRI, given their superiority with regard to control over and monitoring of behavioral responses. However, response pacing is associated with additional non-linguistic effects related to response inhibition, motor preparation, and sustained attention. PMID:17292926

Effect of Edmark Program on Reading Fluency in Third-Grade Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meeks, Bryce T.; Martinez, James; Pienta, Rachel S.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to determine if the Edmark Reading Program increased reading fluency, attitudes, and engagement in third-grade students with disabilities (N = 7). Student fluency was measured using estimated oral reading fluency determined by the STAR reading assessment. A statistically significant difference was found…

Intuitive (in)coherence judgments are guided by processing fluency, mood and affect.

PubMed

Sweklej, Joanna; Balas, Robert; Pochwatko, Grzegorz; Godlewska, Małgorzata

2014-01-01

Recently proposed accounts of intuitive judgments of semantic coherence assume that processing fluency results in a positive affective response leading to successful assessment of semantic coherence. The present paper investigates whether processing fluency may indicate semantic incoherence as well. In two studies, we employ a new paradigm in which participants have to detect an incoherent item among semantically coherent words. In Study 1, we show participants accurately indicating an incoherent item despite not being able to provide an accurate solution to coherent words. Further, this effect is modified by affective valence of solution words that are not retrieved from memory. Study 2 replicates those results and extend them by showing that mood moderates incoherence judgments independently of affective valence of solutions. The results support processing fluency account of intuitive semantic coherence judgments and show that it is not fluency per se but fluency variations that drive judgments.

Linguistic Familiarity in Short-Term Memory: A Role for (Co-)Articulatory Fluency?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodward, Amelia J.; Macken, William J.; Jones, Dylan M.

2008-01-01

Enhanced serial recall for linguistically familiar material is usually attributed to a process of item redintegration. The possibility tested here is that familiarity influences memory at the sequence level by enhancing the fluency with which items may be assembled into sequences. Experiment 1 showed that with practice, serial recall of nonwords…

Effects of Metalinguistic Awareness on Reading Comprehension and the Mediator Role of Reading Fluency from Grades 2 to 4

PubMed Central

Li, Liping; Wu, Xinchun

2015-01-01

Purpose This study examined the contribution of metalinguistic awareness including morphological awareness, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness to reading comprehension, and the role of reading fluency as a mediator of the effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension from grades 2 to 4. Methods Four hundred and fifteen elementary students in China mainland were administered a test battery that included measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographical awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension and IQ. Hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM) were used to analyze the data. Results Morphological awareness uniquely explained 9%, 10% and 13% variance of reading comprehension respectively from grade 2 to grade 4, however, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness did not contribute to reading comprehension; Reading fluency partially mediated the effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension in grades 2-4. Conclusions These findings indicated that reading fluency and morphological awareness should be facilitated in the Chinese instruction. Morphological awareness played an important role in Chinese reading and affected reading comprehension in grades 2 to 4; Reading fluency was a significant link between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in grades 2-4. PMID:25799530

Cognitive Associates of Current and More Intensive Control of Hypertension: Findings From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

PubMed

Lamar, Melissa; Wu, Donghong; Durazo-Arvizu, Ramon A; Brickman, Adam M; Gonzalez, Hector M; Tarraf, Wassim; Daviglus, Martha L

2017-06-01

Hypertension control in Hispanics/Latinos lag behind general US trends by 10-15%. Intensive systolic blood pressure (SBP) management <120 mm Hg may significantly reduce morbidity/mortality risk in adults with hypertension; less is known about cognition. We investigated cross-sectional associations of cognition with observed hypertension control at currently recommended (SBP < 140 mm Hg) and more intensive (SBP < 120 mm Hg) levels using baseline data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. From this multicenter cohort study, we focused on 1,735 Hispanic/Latino men and women ages 45-74 years with hypertension and verified antihypertensive use. Verbal fluency, information processing speed, learning, and memory were tested in Spanish or English. Separate linear regressions revealed that being on 1 vs. >1 antihypertensive medication was not associated with cognition; however, individuals with SBP controlled to currently recommended levels outperformed individuals with uncontrolled SBP on verbal fluency [Beta = 1.44 (0.52), P < 0.01] and information processing speed [Beta = 3.01 (0.89), P < 0.001] in age-adjusted regression analyses; only information processing speed remained significant (P < 0.05) after additional adjustments including acculturation, health insurance, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. When regrouping individuals based on more intensive SBP control, individuals with levels <120 mm Hg outperformed individuals with higher SBP on verbal fluency regardless of adjustments (P < 0.01). More intensive rather than currently recommended levels of control associated with higher verbal fluency performance regardless of adjustments (P < 0.05). Individual cognitive test scores related to distinct SBP management with more intensive management appearing more robust against confounders. While cognitive associations with hypertension in Hispanics/Latinos may be multifactorial, different levels of SBP control should be considered in future

Executive functions in becoming writing readers and reading writers: note taking and report writing in third and fifth graders.

PubMed

Altemeier, Leah; Jones, Janine; Abbott, Robert D; Berninger, Virginia W

2006-01-01

Results are reported for a study of 2 separate processes of report writing-taking notes while reading source material and composing a report from those notes-and related individual differences in executive functions involved in integrating reading and writing during these writing activities. Third graders (n = 122) and 5th graders (n = 106; overall, 127 girls and 114 boys) completed two reading-writing tasks-read paragraph (mock science text)-write notes and use notes to generate written report, a reading comprehension test, a written expression test, four tests of executive functions (inhibition, verbal fluency, planning, switching attention), and a working memory test. For the read-take notes task, the same combination of variables was best (explained the most variance and each variable added unique variance) for 3rd graders and 5th graders: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition (WIAT-II) Reading Comprehension, Process Assessment of the Learner Test for Reading and Writing (PAL) Copy Task B, WIAT-II Written Expression, and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Inhibition. For the use notes to write report task, the best combinations of variables depended on grade level: For 3rd graders, WIAT-II Reading Comprehension, WIAT-II Written Expression, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency, and Tower of Hanoi; for 5th graders, WIAT-II Reading Comprehension, D-KEFS Verbal Fluency, WIAT-II Written Expression, and PAL Alphabet Task. These results add to prior research findings that executive functions contribute to the writing development of elementary-grade students and additionally support the hypothesis that executive functions play a role in developing reading-writing connections.

How Do Utterance Measures Predict Raters' Perceptions of Fluency in French as a Second Language?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Préfontaine, Yvonne; Kormos, Judit; Johnson, Daniel Ezra

2016-01-01

While the research literature on second language (L2) fluency is replete with descriptions of fluency and its influence with regard to English as an additional language, little is known about what fluency features influence judgments of fluency in L2 French. This study reports the results of an investigation that analyzed the relationship between…

Together I Can! Joint Attention Boosts 3- to 4-Year-Olds' Performance in a Verbal False-Belief Test.

PubMed

Psouni, Elia; Falck, Andreas; Boström, Leni; Persson, Martin; Sidén, Lisa; Wallin, Maria

2018-04-20

Effects of joint attention were addressed on 3- to 4-year-olds' performance in a verbal false-Belief Test (FBT), featuring the experimenter as co-watcher rather than narrator. In two experiments, children (N = 183) watched a filmed-FBT jointly with a test leader, disjointed from a test leader, or alone. Children attending jointly with a test leader were more likely to pass the FBT compared with normative data and to spontaneously recall information indicating false-belief understanding, suggesting that joint attention strengthens the plausibility of the FBT and renders plot-critical information more salient. In a third experiment (N = 59), results were replicated using a typical, image-based FBT. Overall findings highlight the profound impact of experimenter as social context in verbal FBTs, and link recall of specific story features to false-belief understanding. © 2018 Society for Research in Child Development.

APOE, MAPT, and SNCA genes and cognitive performance in Parkinson disease.

PubMed

Mata, Ignacio F; Leverenz, James B; Weintraub, Daniel; Trojanowski, John Q; Hurtig, Howard I; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M; Ritz, Beate; Rausch, Rebecca; Rhodes, Shannon L; Factor, Stewart A; Wood-Siverio, Cathy; Quinn, Joseph F; Chung, Kathryn A; Peterson, Amie L; Espay, Alberto J; Revilla, Fredy J; Devoto, Johnna; Hu, Shu-Ching; Cholerton, Brenna A; Wan, Jia Y; Montine, Thomas J; Edwards, Karen L; Zabetian, Cyrus P

2014-11-01

Cognitive impairment is a common and disabling problem in Parkinson disease (PD) that is not well understood and is difficult to treat. Identification of genetic variants that influence the rate of cognitive decline or pattern of early cognitive deficits in PD might provide a clearer understanding of the etiopathogenesis of this important nonmotor feature. To determine whether common variation in the APOE, MAPT, and SNCA genes is associated with cognitive performance in patients with PD. We studied 1079 PD patients from 6 academic centers in the United States who underwent assessments of memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised [HVLT-R]), attention and executive function (Letter-Number Sequencing Test and Trail Making Test), language processing (semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests), visuospatial skills (Benton Judgment of Line Orientation test), and global cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment). Participants underwent genotyping for the APOE ε2/ε3/ε4 alleles, MAPT H1/H2 haplotypes, and SNCA rs356219. We used linear regression to test for association between genotype and baseline cognitive performance with adjustment for age, sex, years of education, disease duration, and site. We used a Bonferroni correction to adjust for the 9 comparisons that were performed for each gene. Nine variables derived from 7 psychometric tests. The APOE ε4 allele was associated with lower performance on the HVLT-R Total Recall (P = 6.7 × 10(-6); corrected P [Pc] = 6.0 × 10(-5)), Delayed Recall (P = .001; Pc = .009), and Recognition Discrimination Index (P = .004; Pc = .04); a semantic verbal fluency test (P = .002; Pc = .02); the Letter-Number Sequencing Test (P = 1 × 10(-5); Pc = 9 × 10(-5)); and Trail Making Test B minus Trail Making Test A (P = .002; Pc = .02). In a subset of 645 patients without dementia, the APOE ε4 allele was associated with lower scores on the HVLT-R Total Recall (P = .005; Pc = .045) and the semantic verbal

Attentional Regulation in Young Twins with Probable Stuttering, High Nonfluency, and Typical Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felsenfeld, Susan; van Beljsterveldt, Catharina Eugenie Maria; Boomsma, Dorret Irene

2010-01-01

Purpose: Using a sample of 20,445 Dutch twins, this study examined the relationship between speech fluency and attentional regulation in children. A secondary objective was to identify etiological overlap between nonfluency and poor attention using fluency-discordant twin pairs. Method: Three fluency groups were created at age 5 using a parent…

Manipulation of Frontal Brain Asymmetry by Cognitive Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papousek, Ilona; Schulter, Gunter

2004-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether verbal fluency tasks may specifically induce relatively greater left than right hemispheric activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The effectiveness of the manipulation was evaluated by EEG, which was recorded during performance of the verbal fluency task and during two control…

The association of pathological laughing and crying and cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Hanna, Joshua; Feinstein, Anthony; Morrow, Sarah A

2016-02-15

Pathological laughing and crying (PLC) is common in multiple sclerosis (MS), defined as emotional expression that is exaggerated/incongruent with underlying mood. In other neurological disorders, PLC is associated with cognitive impairment (CI). Few studies have examined this relationship in MS. To determine the association between PLC and CI in an MS population. Retrospective chart review study of 153 MS subjects assessed in an outpatient clinic for CI. Data was collected on the minimal assessment of cognitive function in MS (MACFIMS), the Center for neurological study-lability scale (CNS-LS), a screening measure for PLC symptoms and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Analyses of covariance compared performance on the MACFIMS between PLC (CNS-LS score ≥ 17, HADS-D ≤ 7) and non-PLC groups. MS subjects positive for PLC on the CNS-LS but without depression had lower scores on the controlled oral word association test, a measure of verbal fluency, and the California verbal learning test - 2 immediate recall score, a verbal memory measure. This study demonstrates a connection between CI, specifically verbal fluency and verbal learning, and PLC in MS subjects. Further studies are warranted to explore the causative relationship between CI and PLC. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Fluency heuristic: a model of how the mind exploits a by-product of information retrieval.

PubMed

Hertwig, Ralph; Herzog, Stefan M; Schooler, Lael J; Reimer, Torsten

2008-09-01

Boundedly rational heuristics for inference can be surprisingly accurate and frugal for several reasons. They can exploit environmental structures, co-opt complex capacities, and elude effortful search by exploiting information that automatically arrives on the mental stage. The fluency heuristic is a prime example of a heuristic that makes the most of an automatic by-product of retrieval from memory, namely, retrieval fluency. In 4 experiments, the authors show that retrieval fluency can be a proxy for real-world quantities, that people can discriminate between two objects' retrieval fluencies, and that people's inferences are in line with the fluency heuristic (in particular fast inferences) and with experimentally manipulated fluency. The authors conclude that the fluency heuristic may be one tool in the mind's repertoire of strategies that artfully probes memory for encapsulated frequency information that can veridically reflect statistical regularities in the world. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Cognitive performance in transient global hypoxic brain injury due to moderate drowning.

PubMed

Nucci, Mariana Penteado; Lukasova, Katerina; Vieira, Gilson; Sato, João Ricardo; Amaro Júnior, Edson

2018-06-01

Drowning is a serious and frequently neglected public health threat. Primary respiratory impairment after submersion often leads to brain dysfunction. Depending on the period of global hypoxia (respiratory failure), clinical aspects of neurological dysfunction are evident on the first evaluation after the water rescue. Nowadays, many neuropsychological assessments after drowning are inconclusive, with some studies reporting only minor neurological or cognitive impairments. The aim of this study is to identify measures in neuropsychological tests that most contribute to classify volunteers as moderate drowning subjects or healthy controls. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first neuropsychological prospective case-control study of moderate drowning in a country with large coastal cities. Fifteen moderate drowning patients (DP), who met the inclusion criteria, were compared with 18 healthy controls (HC). All subjects were assessed on memory, learning, visual spatial ability, executive function, attention, and general intellectual functioning and underwent structural magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the brain at 3.0 T, in order to exclude subjects with anatomic abnormalities. Neuropsychological tests assessing learning, execution function, and verbal fluency-Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) general learning ability, Digit Span total, Phonological Verbal Fluency (total FAS correct), and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMT) correct recognition-have the strongest discriminating ability, using predictive models via the partial least squares (PLS) approach for data classification, while the other tests have shown similar predictive values between groups. Learning, execution function, and verbal fluency domains were the most critically affected domains. Serious impairments in the same domains have already been reported in severe drowning cases, and we hypothesize that subtle alterations found in moderate drowning cases, although not

Verbal and Nonverbal Predictors of Spelling Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadoski, Mark; Willson, Victor L.; Holcomb, Angelia; Boulware-Gooden, Regina

2005-01-01

Verbal and nonverbal predictors of spelling performance in Grades 1-12 were investigated using the national norming data from a standardized spelling test. Verbal variables included number of letters, phonemes, syllables, digraphs, blends, silent markers, r-controlled vowels, and the proportion of grapheme-phoneme correspondence. The nonverbal…

Peer-Mediated vs. Individual Writing: Measuring Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy in Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soleimani, Maryam; Modirkhamene, Sima; Sadeghi, Karim

2017-01-01

Drawing upon Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (SCT), this study aimed at investigating the effect of two writing modes, namely, peer-mediated/collaborative vs. individual writing on measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity of female EFL learners' writing. Based on an in-house placement test and the First Certificate in English writing paper, a…

Sustained attention is favored by progesterone during early luteal phase and visuo-spatial memory by estrogens during ovulatory phase in young women.

PubMed

Solís-Ortiz, S; Corsi-Cabrera, M

2008-08-01

Studies examining the influence of the menstrual cycle on cognitive function have been highly contradictory. The maintenance of attention is key to successful information processing, however how it co-vary with other cognitive functions and mood in function of phases of the menstrual cycle is not well know. Therefore, neuropsychological performance of nine healthy women with regular menstrual cycles was assessed during ovulation (OVU), early luteal (EL), late luteal (LL) and menstrual (MEN) phases. Neuropsychological test scores of sustained attention, executive functions, manual coordination, visuo-spatial memory, verbal fluency, spatial ability, anxiety and depression were obtained and submitted to a principal components analysis (PCA). Five eigenvectors that accounted the 68.31% of the total variance were identified. Performance of the sustained attention was grouped in an independent eigenvector (component 1), and the scores on verbal fluency and visuo-spatial memory were grouped together in an eigenvector (component 5), which explained 17.69% and 12.03% of the total variance, respectively. The component 1 (p<0.034) and the component 5 (p<0.003) showed significant variations during the menstrual cycle. Sustained attention showed an increase in the EL phase, when the progesterone is high. Visuo-spatial memory was increased, while that verbal fluency was decreased during the OVU phase, when the estrogens levels are high. These results indicate that sustained attention is favored by early luteal phase progesterone and do not covaried with any other neuropsychological variables studied. The influence of the estrogens on visuo-spatial memory was corroborated, and covaried inversely with verbal fluency.

Fluency and reading comprehension in students with reading difficulties.

PubMed

Nascimento, Tânia Augusto; Carvalho, Carolina Alves Ferreira de; Kida, Adriana de Souza Batista; Avila, Clara Regina Brandão de

2011-12-01

To characterize the performance of students with reading difficulties in decoding and reading comprehension tasks as well as to investigate the possible correlations between them. Sixty students (29 girls) from 3rd to 5th grades of public Elementary Schools were evaluated. Thirty students (Research Group - RG), ten from each grade, were nominated by their teachers as presenting evidences of learning disabilities. The other thirty students were indicated as good readers, and were matched by gender, age and grade to the RG, composing the Comparison Group (CG). All subjects were assessed regarding the parameters of reading fluency (rate and accuracy in words, pseudowords and text reading) and reading comprehension (reading level, number and type of ideas identified, and correct responses on multiple choice questions). The RG presented significantly lower scores than the CG in fluency and reading comprehension. Different patterns of positive and negative correlations, from weak to excellent, among the decoding and comprehension parameters were found in both groups. In the RG, low values of reading rate and accuracy were observed, which were correlated to low scores in comprehension and improvement in decoding, but not in comprehension, with grade increase. In CG, correlation was found between different fluency parameters, but none of them was correlated to the reading comprehension variables. Students with reading and writing difficulties show lower values of reading fluency and comprehension than good readers. Fluency and comprehension are correlated in the group with difficulties, showing that deficits in decoding influence reading comprehension, which does not improve with age increase.

Strategic Key Word Instruction: Increasing Fluency in Connected Expository Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coulter, Gail; Lambert, Michael C.

2015-01-01

The effects of preteaching key words on fluency in connected text were examined with three third-grade general education participants. Researchers used a multiple base-line design (i.e., Baseline and Wordlist Intervention) and found that preteaching increased fluency in connected text written above the participant's instructional level of reading…

A Strategic Necessity: Building Senior Leadership's Fluency in Digital Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolomitz, Kara; Cabellon, Edmund T.

2016-01-01

This chapter describes the opportunity for senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) to develop an increased digital fluency to meet the needs of various constituencies in the digital age. The authors explore what a digital fluency is, how it might impact SSAOs' leadership potential, and the benefits for their respective divisions.

Talking the Test: Using Verbal Report Data in Looking at the Processing of Cloze Tasks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Bob

1997-01-01

The use of verbal report procedures as a research tool for gaining insight into the language learning process is discussed. Specifically, having second language students complete think-aloud protocols when they take cloze tests can provide useful information about what is being measured and how it has been learned. Use of such introspective…

Construct Validity of the California Verbal Learning Test--Children's Version (CVLT-C) after Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mottram, Lisa; Donders, Jacobus

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the latent structure of the California Verbal Learning Test--Children's Version (CVLT-C; D. Delis, J. Kramer, E.Kaplan, & B. Ober, 1994) in a sample of 175 children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test 6 competing hypothetical models…

Training for Fluency and Generalization of Math Facts Using Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Musti-Rao, Shobana; Lynch, Tom Liam; Plati, Erin

2015-01-01

As American students struggle with basic mathematical skills, the importance of math fact fluency has gained the attention of educators and researchers. Generalization of math fact fluency is also important for the transfer of skills to other settings and formats, assisting students in the completion of more varied and complicated math tasks. This…

Teaching Reading Fluency to Struggling Readers: Method, Materials, and Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy; Homan, Susan; Biggs, Marie

2009-01-01

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component in reading and in learning to read. Moreover, a significantly large number of students who experience difficulty in reading manifest difficulties in reading fluency that appear to contribute to their overall struggles in reading. In this article we explore the nature of effective instruction…

Corporate Versus Academic Perceptions of the Need for Language Fluency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vande Berg, Camille Kennedy

1997-01-01

Discusses the academic emphasis on students acquiring fluency in a second language to foster their advancement in the business world of international commerce. Notes that human resource experts in U.S.-based international corporations often give a low priority to linguistic fluency and emphasize the need for cultural expertise. (Seven references)…

Biological Dialogues: How to Teach Your Students to Learn Fluency in Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, S. Randolph; Cook, David L.; May, Marilyn K.

2013-01-01

Biology courses have thousands of words to learn in order to intelligently discuss the subject and take tests over the material. Biological fluency is an important goal for students, and practical methods based on constructivist pedagogies can be employed to promote it. We present a method in which pairs of students write dialogues from…

Psychometric Features of the General Aptitude Test-Verbal Part (GAT-V): A Large-Scale Assessment of High School Graduates in Saudi Arabia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center