A Local Normative Study on Semantic Association of Verbal Fluency in Healthy Middle Age and Elderly Individuals in North Taiwan

• Main Authors: Chin-Hsiu Chen, 陳勁秀
• Other Authors: Mau-Sun Hua
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/01268439233083334748

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 心理學研究所 === 98 === Semantic Association of Verbal Fluency task (SVF) is commonly used in neuropsychological assessment since it is easy to administer, sensitive to brain damage and cognitive deterioration. Besides, SVF is a relatively simple test used to assess frontal lobe function. SVF also has been applied in the investigation of illiterate and other low-level education groups as it does not require reading or writing skills. The SVF with a composite of fruit, fish and vegetable categories is the most popular criterion in Taiwanese clinical practice. However, related studies on the SVF and the normative data for the tests are scarce in Taiwan. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to expand the SVF test including the nonliving domain, to evaluate its psychometric properties, and to collect the normative data in healthy older adults in North Taiwan, as well as to examine the relationship between the test performance and demographic variables. The SVF were administered to 220 healthy individuals aged 45 to 85 years, with education level varied from 0 to 18 years. The Nelson’s Modified Card Sorting Test, the Color Trail Test, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, and the Vocabulary subtest from the WAIS-Ⅲ (Chinese version) were also administered to examine the validity of the SVF. Thirty of these 220 participants were retested 4 months later to examine the reliability of the SVF. The results revealed that both the item homogeneity and item discrimination were high. The SVF performances were negatively correlated with age, but positively correlated with education. The advantage performance of female subjects on the vegetable fluency task was also noted. Overall, age and education were the most important predictors of the SVF performances. However, the influence of demographic variables on SVF performances varied as different domains and individual category were concerned, justifying the necessity of establishing the norms for composite scores of SVF and each single SVF score individually. Stability coefficients of the composite scores of SVF ranged from .85 to .90, and the correlations between the SVF and the criterion validity tests were significant. Regression coefficients derived from demographic variables were used to adjust raw scores, and percentile rank norms for these adjusted scores were established. In conclusion, the SVF showed good test-retest reliability and validity, and the local normative data are applicable for the healthy individuals aged from 45 to 85 years. The composite scores of living domain SVF are particularly suitable for evaluating illiterates or people with low education level. For the effective use of the SVF in clinical settings, further studies of specific clinical populations are required.