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Autism Research : Official Journal of... Apr 2022Verbal fluency is a cognitive function reflecting executive functions and the ability to retrieve the appropriate information from memory quickly. Previous studies...
Verbal fluency is a cognitive function reflecting executive functions and the ability to retrieve the appropriate information from memory quickly. Previous studies reported conflicting results-impaired and intact verbal fluency-in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most studies concentrate on overall word productivity, errors, perseverations, clustering, or switching. We used a comprehensive approach to evaluate the reported discrepancy in the literature and introduced a new angle using the concept of word abstraction and imageability. Moreover, we analyzed the performance in two-time intervals (0-30 s and 31-60 s) to assess the temporal dynamics of verbal fluency and a possible activation or initiation deficit in autism. Sixteen adults with ASD and 16 neurotypical control participants, matched by gender, age, and education level, participated in our study. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find a significant difference between groups in word productivity, the number of errors, clustering, or temporal dynamics, neither in semantic nor in phonemic fluency tasks. Surprisingly, the two study groups' performance did not differ in terms of imageability or concreteness characteristics either. Our results raise the possibility that verbal fluency performance is intact in autism. We also suggest using a comprehensive approach when measuring fluency in autism. LAY SUMMARY: People with autism tend to think and communicate differently. In our study, we tested whether people with autism come up with more concrete or imageable words and whether their performance is better compared with neurotypicals in the beginning or in the later phase of a task measuring how many words they can produce in a minute. We did not detect any difference between the two groups; however, we recommend studying verbal fluency in autism from more and different angles in the future.
Topics: Adult; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Phonetics; Semantics; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 35048566
DOI: 10.1002/aur.2672 -
Neuropsychology Review Mar 2021Verbal fluency is a neuropsychological measure commonly used to examine cognitive-linguistic performance as reported in pediatric TBI literature. We synthesized the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Verbal fluency is a neuropsychological measure commonly used to examine cognitive-linguistic performance as reported in pediatric TBI literature. We synthesized the scholarly literature of verbal fluency performance in pediatric TBI and estimated the effects of TBI according to: (i) type of verbal fluency task (phonemic or semantic), (ii) severity of TBI, and (iii) time post-injury. Meta-analysis revealed that childhood TBI negatively impacted phonemic fluency and semantic fluency and that effect sizes were larger for children with more severe TBI. The negative effect of TBI was evident across time post injury within each level of severity. Verbal fluency tasks are efficient indicators of potential underlying impairments in lexical knowledge and executive functioning in children with TBI regardless of severity of injury or time post injury. Future research employing verbal fluency tasks are encouraged to explore if age at injury differentiates semantic versus phonemic fluency outcomes across severity levels.
Topics: Brain Injuries, Traumatic; Child; Executive Function; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Semantics; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 33398784
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-020-09475-z -
Applied Neuropsychology. Adult 2022Verbal fluency tasks are considered clinically valuable measures of cognitive impairment for they are short, easy to score and administer, and of low costs....
Verbal fluency tasks are considered clinically valuable measures of cognitive impairment for they are short, easy to score and administer, and of low costs. Sociodemographic, cultural, and linguistic variables have been shown to affect verbal fluency performance. Information concerning the effects of sociodemographic variables on semantic verbal fluency (SVF) performance in Lebanon and other Arabic-speaking countries is lacking. This study examined the effects of age, educational level, and sex on SVF performance in healthy Lebanese-speaking adults. Data were obtained from 70 adult Lebanese speakers ages 19-79. Participants were presented with fourteen categories, each at a time, and were asked to generate as many exemplars as they could in 60 seconds. Results from regression analyses showed that age ( < .001) and educational level ( = .002) variables had significant effects on overall SVF performance resulting in younger adults and adults with higher educational levels achieving higher SVF scores. Overall, sex did not emerge a predictor of SVF performance. Category-specific differences demonstrate variability. Consequently, the effects education and age present on SVF may be due to their critical roles in the semantic and non-semantic components of SVF, respectively.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Cognitive Dysfunction; Educational Status; Humans; Language; Linguistics; Middle Aged; Semantics; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 32936011
DOI: 10.1080/23279095.2020.1821031 -
Neurologia 2020Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) perform poorly on semantic verbal fluency (SVF) tasks. Completing these tasks successfully involves multiple cognitive...
INTRODUCTION
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.
OBJECTIVES
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.
METHODS
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).
RESULTS
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).
CONCLUSIONS
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.
Topics: Adult; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe; Female; Humans; Male; Mexico; Semantics; Task Performance and Analysis; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 28863828
DOI: 10.1016/j.nrl.2017.07.001 -
Psychological Assessment Feb 2021The current study involved an investigation of the construct validity of the Emotion Word Fluency Test (EWFT) via conceptual replication and extension of Abeare, Freund,...
The current study involved an investigation of the construct validity of the Emotion Word Fluency Test (EWFT) via conceptual replication and extension of Abeare, Freund, Kaploun, McAuley, and Dumitrescu (2017). Participants were 143 undergraduates ( = 19.57, = 2.31). Correlations among the EWFT, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System-Verbal Fluency (letter and category conditions), and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21: Total and Stress scores were similar to previous research. Prior research with the EWFT did not include an assessment of Theory of Mind. Thus, two Theory of Mind tasks, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Unexpected Outcomes Test, were also investigated. A confirmatory factor analysis with verbal fluency and Theory of Mind as latent variables had good model fit and suggested that the EWFT is both a verbal fluency task as well as a Theory of Mind task. EWFT score was not significantly correlated with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test score. However, multiple regression analyses indicated that scores on the Unexpected Outcomes Test, which requires understanding and interpreting others' emotions and intentions, accounted for significant variance in EWFT total score beyond the shared variance among verbal fluency tasks. These findings provide initial evidence that the EWFT captures a specific emotion-related component vis-à-vis letter and (nonemotion) category fluency tasks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adult; Emotions; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychological Tests; Reproducibility of Results; Semantics; Theory of Mind; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 33151730
DOI: 10.1037/pas0000965 -
Neurobiology of Aging Nov 2021To determine if sex differences in verbal memory in AD are related to differences in extent or distribution of pathological tau, we studied 275 participants who were...
To determine if sex differences in verbal memory in AD are related to differences in extent or distribution of pathological tau, we studied 275 participants who were amyloid PET positive and carried clinical classifications of normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, and had tau (AV1451) PET. We compared tau distribution between men and women, and as a function of genetic risk. In MCI we further explored the relationship between quantity and distribution of tau in relation to verbal memory scores. Women had more tau burden overall, but this was driven by sex differences at the MCI stage. There was no significant difference in tau load by APOE e4 status. Within the MCI group the association between tau and performance in verbal memory tasks was stronger in women than men. The topography of the associations between tau and verbal memory also differed in MCI; women demonstrated stronger relationships between tau distribution and verbal memory performance, especially in the left hemisphere. These findings have implications for understanding tau distribution and spread, and in interpretation of verbal memory performance.
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease; Apolipoproteins E; Brain; Cognitive Dysfunction; Female; Humans; Male; Memory; Sex Characteristics; Verbal Behavior; tau Proteins
PubMed: 34399127
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.05.013 -
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of... May 2023Intraverbal behavior is a type of verbal behavior in which the response form has no point-to-point correspondence with its verbal stimulus. However, the form and...
Intraverbal behavior is a type of verbal behavior in which the response form has no point-to-point correspondence with its verbal stimulus. However, the form and occurrence of most intraverbals is under the control of multiple variables. Establishing this form of multiple control may depend on a variety of preestablished skills. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to evaluate these potential prerequisites with adult participants using a multiple probe design. The results suggest that training was not required for each putative prerequisite. In Experiment 2, probes for all skills were conducted following convergent intraverbal probes. The results showed that convergent intraverbals only emerged when proficiency of each skill was demonstrated. Finally, Experiment 3 evaluated alternating training of multiple tact and intraverbal categorization. The results showed that this procedure was effective for half of the participants.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Verbal Behavior; Tellurium
PubMed: 36800892
DOI: 10.1002/jeab.837 -
Psicothema May 2020Most studies suggest that immigrant youth are more likely to be victimized than their non-immigrant counterparts. In Italy, a country in which the number of foreign...
BACKGROUND
Most studies suggest that immigrant youth are more likely to be victimized than their non-immigrant counterparts. In Italy, a country in which the number of foreign migrants has grown exponentially over recent decades, this line of research is particularly interesting. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between peer victimization, gender, and immigrant status in a large sample of students.
METHOD
The research used data from a cross-sectional Italian survey on the "Integration of Second Generations", which was administered to 68,127 students in grades 6 through 13 (49% female; 47% immigrant). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between immigrant status and gender with verbal, physical, and relational victimization, after adjusting for socio-demographic variables.
RESULTS
Immigrant and male participants were more likely to be classified as frequently victimized. The significant interaction effect between immigrant status and gender revealed that male immigrant students were more likely to belong to the frequently relationally victimized category compared to their counterparts.
CONCLUSIONS
The study highlights the importance of including immigrant status disparities in peer victimization research. Prevention efforts and intervention strategies should be implemented to create safe environments in Italy.
Topics: Acculturation; Adolescent; Bullying; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emigrants and Immigrants; Female; Humans; Italy; Logistic Models; Male; Peer Group; Physical Abuse; Sex Factors; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 32249747
DOI: 10.7334/psicothema2019.236 -
The European Journal of Neuroscience Oct 2019Perception and behavior are strongly influenced by the verbal information conveyed by other individuals (e.g., verbal suggestion) and by learning (e.g., conditioning)....
Perception and behavior are strongly influenced by the verbal information conveyed by other individuals (e.g., verbal suggestion) and by learning (e.g., conditioning). This influence is well represented by the placebo and nocebo effects, in which positive verbal suggestion associated with positive conditioning induces beneficial outcomes (placebo effect), while the opposite is true for the negative counterpart (nocebo effect). It is still unclear whether verbal suggestion and conditioning exert distinctive roles in influencing perception, behavior and motor system activity when they occur in opposite directions. To this purpose, fifty-three healthy volunteers were assigned to four groups characterized by either congruent or incongruent verbal suggestion and conditioning. Participants were asked to perform a force motor task by pressing a piston as strongly as possible. Transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor cortex was used to record motor evoked potentials (MEP) and cortical silent period (CSP) from the muscle involved in the task. We found that negative verbal suggestion counteracted positive conditioning and induced sense of weakness, effort, and force decrements. MEP amplitude was stable, whereas the CSP duration shortened in all the groups throughout the procedure, indicating the involvement of cortical inhibitory circuits, independently of the type of verbal suggestion or conditioning. Our findings highlight a prevalent role of verbal suggestion over conditioning in determining a worsening (nocebo effect) but not an improvement (placebo effect) of motor performance. These results suggest that words associated with treatments should be chosen carefully to avoid negative outcomes, especially in sports and clinical settings.
Topics: Conditioning, Psychological; Electromyography; Evoked Potentials, Motor; Female; Fingers; Humans; Male; Motor Activity; Motor Cortex; Muscle Strength; Muscle, Skeletal; Nocebo Effect; Perception; Speech; Suggestion; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Young Adult
PubMed: 31209960
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14489 -
Topics in Cognitive Science Oct 2019This chapter introduces an epistemic perspective on narration and illustrates, based on data from storytelling in free natural conversation, how collaborative...
This chapter introduces an epistemic perspective on narration and illustrates, based on data from storytelling in free natural conversation, how collaborative remembering can instantiate distributed cognition: first, when tellers deploy expressions of forgetfulness or explicitly enlist the aid of other participants; second, during various forms of collaborative turn sequencing with rapid speaker shift and a high degree of overlap; third, when conversational participants cooperate to produce a mosaic-like narrative consisting of their partially separate perspectives and contributions; and fourth, when they weave their voices into a single narrative thread in a Goffmanian team performance.
Topics: Cognition; Communication; Humans; Mental Recall; Narration; Social Behavior; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 30194752
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12378