Van der Elst Wim, Van Boxtel Martin P J, Van Breukelen Gerard J P, Jolles Jelle
Maastricht Brain and Behavior Institute, European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2006 Jan;12(1):80-9. doi: 10.1017/S1355617706060115.
Previous research has indicated that performance on verbal fluency tests (VFTs) is influenced by language and/or culture. Consequently, normative VFT data for English-speaking people cannot be used for people for whom English is not their first language. The aim of the present study was to provide normative data for the Animal Naming, Profession Naming, and Letter M Naming (four-letter words beginning with the letter M) VFTs for Dutch-speaking populations, based on a large sample (N = 1856) of healthy men and women aged 24-81 years of different educational levels. The results showed that age affected the performance of all VFTs profoundly, but the age effect was not uniform: in the Profession and Letter M Naming VFTs, performance was stable in young adulthood but declined strongly after age 50. In contrast, in the Animal Naming VFT, performance appeared to decline linearly, starting early in life. Furthermore, males had higher scores than females on the Profession Naming VFT, and higher educated participants outperformed their lower educated counterparts on all three VFTs. Regression-based normative data were prepared for the 3 VFTs, and the advantages of using a regression-based normative approach instead of a traditional normative approach are discussed.
先前的研究表明，言语流畅性测试（VFTs）的表现受语言和/或文化的影响。因此，以英语为母语者的VFTs常模数据不能用于不以英语为母语的人群。本研究的目的是基于一个由年龄在24 - 81岁、具有不同教育水平的1856名健康男性和女性组成的大样本，为荷兰语人群提供动物命名、职业命名和字母M命名（以字母M开头的四个字母的单词）VFTs的常模数据。结果显示，年龄对所有VFTs的表现都有深远影响，但年龄效应并不一致：在职业命名和字母M命名VFTs中，表现在成年早期稳定，但在50岁后大幅下降。相比之下，在动物命名VFT中，表现似乎从生命早期就开始呈线性下降。此外，男性在职业命名VFT上的得分高于女性，且在所有三项VFTs中，受教育程度较高的参与者表现优于受教育程度较低的参与者。为这三项VFTs准备了基于回归的常模数据，并讨论了使用基于回归的常模方法而非传统常模方法的优势。
