Action verbal fluency normative data for the elderly

Abstract

An emerging body of literature points to the prominent role of the frontal lobes in the retrieval of verbs, whereas production of common and proper nouns arguably is mediated primarily by posterior and anterior temporal regions, respectively. Although the majority of studies examining the neuroanatomic distinctions between verb and noun retrieval have relied on action naming tasks (naming depicted activities, e.g., running) as indicators of verb retrieval abilities, recent studies have utilized an action (verb) verbal fluency measure, the Action Fluency Test (AFT), to assess verb retrieval. Findings from these studies suggest that action fluency is sensitive to the integrity of fronto-subcortical neural circuitry and that it is a valid measure of executive and language functions. The AFT is an easily administered executive function measure, but no normative data for the AFT or other action fluency tasks has been published. This study was undertaken to provide initial AFT normative data for a sample of 145 healthy elderly subjects. As education is significantly correlated with AFT scores, the normative data are stratified by educational level.