March Evrim Gocer, Pattison Philippa
Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Australia.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2006 May;28(4):549-66. doi: 10.1080/13803390590949502.
This study aimed to expand extant Alzheimer's disease (AD) research on cluster size and switching strategies in semantic verbal fluency (SVF). First, it addressed a significant shortcoming in research, that is, the use of a single semantic category (i.e., Animal). Second, it examined subjects of lower education levels, as research to date has primarily focussed on tertiary education. Subjects were 26 mild to moderate AD patients and 26 healthy elderly, 65 years old and over, with less than 12 years of schooling. The study examined the cluster size and switching variables, together with the number of subcategories, in two semantic categories (i.e., Animal and Supermarket). Furthermore, it investigated the error patterns (i.e., repetitions and categorical errors) across three semantic categories (i.e., Animal, Supermarket and Furniture). The findings provide preliminary support for category-specific effects on qualitative aspects of SVF highlighting the need to incorporate multiple semantic categories to research and clinical practice.
本研究旨在拓展现存关于语义流畅性（SVF）中聚类大小和转换策略的阿尔茨海默病（AD）研究。首先，它解决了研究中的一个重大缺陷，即使用单一语义类别（即动物）。其次，它研究了受教育程度较低的受试者，因为迄今为止的研究主要集中在高等教育人群。受试者为26名轻度至中度AD患者和26名65岁及以上、受教育年限少于12年的健康老年人。该研究考察了两个语义类别（即动物和超市）中的聚类大小、转换变量以及子类别数量。此外，它还研究了三个语义类别（即动物、超市和家具）中的错误模式（即重复和分类错误）。这些发现为语义流畅性定性方面的类别特异性效应提供了初步支持，强调了在研究和临床实践中纳入多个语义类别的必要性。
