Word Association Research Articles

CLESR: Context-Based Label Knowledge Enhanced Span Recognition for Named Entity Recognition

Named entity recognition (NER) stands as a pivotal task in natural language processing, bearing profound implications for diverse downstream applications. Recent scholarship underscores the substantial performance gains attainable by integrating label knowledge into token representations, effectively treating named entity recognition as a machine reading comprehension task. Nevertheless, extant methodologies often inadequately leverage the potential of label knowledge. In response to this limitation, we introduce the Context-based Label Knowledge Enhanced Span Recognition (CLESR) architecture, designed to augment label knowledge through the assimilation of contextual information. We formulate an annotation paradigm tailored to nested scenarios, concurrently training external context-based label knowledge using conventional word association learning algorithms. The ensuing context-based label knowledge is seamlessly integrated into the model via a dedicated label attention module, thereby fortifying label learning capabilities during training. To adeptly manage both flat and nested entities, we implement a global pointer as our decoding strategy, enabling direct predictions of the positions and corresponding categories of named entities. Rigorous experimentation across six widely recognized benchmarks substantiates the efficacy of CLESR in both flat and nested tasks. Impressively, our model achieves performance enhancements surpassing those of the baseline BERT-MRC model, with gains of + 0.29%, + 0.77%, + 0.39%, + 1.9%, and + 0.47% on English CoNLL2003, English OntoNotes 4.0, Chinese MSRA, English ACE2004, and English ACE2005, respectively.

Understanding food consumer behavior using projective methods and the big five personality traits model: The case of traditional Mexican cheeses

AbstractThis research aimed to use two projective methods and the Big Five Personality Traits (BFPT) model to study food consumer behavior in the case of traditional Mexican cheeses. Based on an online survey (n = 197), this study employs the Word Association and Mason‐Haire's Shopping List projective techniques with two shopping lists (traditional vs. supermarket). Several factors influencing consumers' perceptions of traditional cheeses were identified, such as hedonism, sensory characteristics, quality and freshness. The shopping list allowed the identification of factors related to food consumption and consumer personality traits. Conscientiousness and Neuroticism were associated with the profile of the consumer who purchases food in supermarkets. In contrast, the personalities of Agreeableness and Openness were associated with the profile of the consumer of traditional Mexican cheeses. The results of this research could be helpful in promoting and marketing traditional foods, considering consumers' personality traits.Practical applicationsThis research identified consumer perceptions of traditional cheeses produced in the central region of Mexico and the personality traits associated with the consumer profile of these food products. The results can be of great use to the cheese‐producing agroindustry, considering that consumers are aware that by purchasing these products, they are contributing to the development and support of the local economy. Therefore, it is essential for producers and sellers to consider the attributes that consumers associate with traditional cheeses, such as artisanal and local characteristics, hedonic value, and consumers' personality traits.

Use of distinct projective techniques in investigating participants' perception of a clean label dairy product: A study on the presence of additives/stabilizers in Ultra high temperature processing milk's label in Brazil

AbstractUsing an online questionnaire, the perception of additives/stabilizers in ultra‐high temperature (UHT) milk was investigated using different projective techniques. Clustering data on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) identified two groups of participants, Moderates and Judicious, with the latter assigning significantly higher agreement scores for all FCQ items. In the Word Association task, clean label UHT milk was more associated with “Nutrients and Constituents” by the Moderates and less by the Judicious, suggesting that for part of the interviewed participants, the absence of stabilizers increases the general quality of the product. In the Product Personality Profiling task, the same product was related to “young people” and a “balanced diet” by the Moderates. At the same time, the Judicious was designed for a stereotype of healthy living. Finally, the methodologies used provide valuable insights into the dairy sector, holistically highlighting the nuances in consumer preferences and expectations, offering a significant strategic opportunity for developing and promoting new clean‐label products in the segment.Practical ApplicationInvestigating consumer perceptions regarding the absence of additives offers valuable insights for marketing strategies and product development aimed at different consumer market segments, especially the dairy sector, and contributes to consumer psychology and behavioral research. At the same time, the food industry can use these findings to improve attribute communication, build consumer confidence, and adapt products to identified preferences, reflecting a practical intersection between academia and the industry.

A Human Word Association Based Model for Topic Detection in Social Networks

A Human Word Association Based Model for Topic Detection in Social Networks

Quality of life at work from the perspective of regulatory agency employees

The aim of this study was to identify regulatory agency workers' perceptions regarding the concept of Quality of Life at Work (QWL), based on their representations of well-being and ill-being in the work environment. Regarding the methodology, it is a qualitative and descriptive research, with a cross-sectional design and primary data collection. Information was gathered between June 2023 and September 2023 from a sample of 94 workers, with the majority being female (61.0%), aged between 43 and 57 years (41.0%), holding a specialization/MBA degree (38.0%), earning between R$ 5,500 and R$ 11,000 (40.0%), and the majority working in agencies located in Pernambuco (58.0%). With the assistance of openEVOC and Excel software, analyses were conducted using the Word Association technique, and subsequently, the data were categorized to develop the Word Association Diagram. The main results indicated that QWL was represented by the following core elements: 1) balanced/reduced working hours; 2) living close to work; 3) good building infrastructure; 4) comfortable equipment and furniture; 5) possibility of telecommuting and flexibility; 6) professional recognition and stability. It is expected that the findings of this research may contribute to the implementation of actions aimed at people management, with potential impacts on productivity, the quality of services provided to society, and the optimization of institutional outcomes.

Association between Visceral Adipose Tissue Metabolism and Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Patients with Cognitive Impairment.

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) dysfunction has been recently recognized as a potential contributor to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to explore the relationship between VAT metabolism and cerebral glucose metabolism in patients with cognitive impairment. This cross-sectional prospective study included 54 patients who underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) brain and torso positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), and neuropsychological evaluations. VAT metabolism was measured by 18F-FDG torso PET/CT, and cerebral glucose metabolism was measured using 18F-FDG brain PET/CT. A voxel-based analysis revealed that the high-VAT-metabolism group exhibited a significantly lower cerebral glucose metabolism in AD-signature regions such as the parietal and temporal cortices. In the volume-of-interest analysis, multiple linear regression analyses with adjustment for age, sex, and white matter hyperintensity volume revealed that VAT metabolism was negatively associated with cerebral glucose metabolism in AD-signature regions. In addition, higher VAT metabolism was correlated with poorer outcomes on cognitive assessments, including the Korean Boston Naming Test, Rey Complex Figure Test immediate recall, and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. In conclusion, our study revealed significant relationships among VAT metabolism, cerebral glucose metabolism, and cognitive function. This suggests that VAT dysfunction actively contributes to the neurodegenerative processes characteristic of AD, making VAT dysfunction targeting a novel AD therapy approach.

Creative connections: the neural correlates of semantic relatedness are associated with creativity

The associative theory of creativity proposes that creative ideas result from connecting remotely related concepts in memory. Previous research found that higher creative individuals exhibit a more flexible organization of semantic memory, generate more uncommon word associations, and judge remote concepts as more related. In this study (N = 93), we used fMRI to investigate brain regions involved in judging the relatedness of concepts that vary in their semantic distance, and how such neural involvement relates to individual differences in creativity. Brain regions where activity increased with semantic relatedness mainly overlapped with default, control, salience, semantic control, and multiple demand networks. The default and semantic control networks exhibited increased involvement when evaluating more remote associations. Finally, higher creative people, who provided higher relatedness judgements on average, exhibited lower activity in those regions, possibly reflecting higher neural efficiency. We discuss these findings in the context of the neurocognitive processing underlying creativity. Overall, our findings indicate that judging remote concepts as related reflects a cognitive mechanism underlying creativity and shed light on the neural correlates of this mechanism.

Cognitive function in severe progressive multiple sclerosis.

Cognitive impairment is common in multiple sclerosis and negatively impacts quality of life. Cognitive status has yet to be described in people with severe progressive multiple sclerosis, in whom conventional neuropsychological testing is exceptionally difficult. The objective for the study was to characterize cognitive performance in severe progressive multiple sclerosis and compare them with age-, sex- and disease duration-matched less disabled people with multiple sclerosis using a specifically developed auditory, non-motor test of attention/cognitive processing speed-Auditory Test of Processing Speed. Also, we aimed to determine the relationship between cognitive performance and MRI-based outcomes in these matched cohorts. The Comprehensive Assessment of Severely Affected Multiple Sclerosis study was carried out at the University at Buffalo and the Boston Home, a skilled nursing facility in Dorchester, MA. Inclusion criteria were age 30-80 years and expanded disability status scale 3.0-6.5 for community-dwelling and 7.0-9.5 for skilled nursing facility people with multiple sclerosis. The cognitive assessment was performed using the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis consisting of Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, California Verbal Learning Test-2nd edition along with Auditory Test of Processing Speed, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-3 second and Controlled Oral Word Association Test. MRI scans were retrospectively collected and analysed for lesion and volumetric brain measurements. The rate of completion and performance of the cognitive tests was compared between the groups, and the relationship with MRI measures was determined using sex, age and years of education-adjusted linear regression models. Significantly greater percentage of the severe multiple sclerosis group completed Auditory Test of Processing Speed when compared with the current gold standard of Symbol Digit Modalities Test (93.2% versus 65.9%). Severe progressive multiple sclerosis had worse cognitive performance in all cognitive domains with greatest differences for cognitive processing speed (Symbol Digit Modalities Test > Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-3 second > Auditory Test of Processing Speed, Cohen's d < 2.13, P < 0.001), learning and memory (Cohen's d < 1.1, P < 0.001) and language (Controlled Oral Word Association Test with Cohen's d = 0.97, P < 0.001). Multiple cognitive domains were significantly associated with lower thalamic (standardized β < 0.419, P < 0.006) and cortical (standardized β < 0.26, P < 0.031) volumes. Specially designed (auditory) cognitive processing speed tests may provide more sensitive screening of cognitive function in severe progressive multiple sclerosis. The cognitive profile of severe multiple sclerosis is proportional to their physical outcomes and best explained by decreased grey matter volume.

Examining the cognitive structure of elementary school students regarding science, energy sources, and health using the word association method

We explored the cognitive structure of students in grade 1-grade 4 using word association in three topics (science, energy sources, and health) with six-six keywords (stimulus words) per topic. Based on the common associations given to the stimulus words, we calculated the relatedness coefficient for the stimulus word pairs. This was used to draw a cognitive structure, the conceptual network, characteristic of each group of learners. We found that the verbal version of the word association test is suitable for studying the cognitive structure of young schoolchildren. The typical conceptual network of the student groups shows a strong correlation with the knowledge structure of experts in grade 4 (in all three topics), as well as in grade 1 and grade 3 (in the topic of health). Using word association tests, we have been able to demonstrate that the number and strength of connections in the conceptual networks for groups of learners increases with the learners’ grade and their everyday experience of the topic.

Keystrokes: A practical exploration of semantic drift in timed word association tasks.

This study investigates the phenomena of semantic drift through the lenses of language and situated simulation (LASS) and the word frequency effect (WFE) within a timed word association task. Our primary objectives were to determine whether semantic drift can be identified over the short time (25 seconds) of a free word association task (a predicted corollary of LASS), and whether more frequent terms are generated earlier in the process (as expected due to the WFE). Respondents were provided with five cue words (tree, dog, quality, plastic and love), and asked to write as many associations as they could. We hypothesized that terms generated later in the task (fourth time quartile, the last 19-25 seconds) would be semantically more distant (cosine similarity) from the cue word than those generated earlier (first quartile, the first 1-7 seconds), indicating semantic drift. Additionally, we explored the WFE by hypothesizing that earlier generated words would be more frequent and less diverse. Utilizing a dataset matched with GloVe 300B word embeddings, BERT and WordNet synsets, we analysed semantic distances among 1569 unique term pairs for all cue words across time. Our results supported the presence of semantic drift, with significant evidence of within-participant, semantic drift from the first to fourth time (LASS) and frequency (WFE) quartiles. In terms of the WFE, we observed a notable decrease in the diversity of terms generated earlier in the task, while more unique terms (greater diversity and relative uniqueness) were generated in the 4th time quartile, aligning with our hypothesis that more frequently used words dominate early stages of a word association task. We also found that the size of effects varied substantially across cues, suggesting that some cues might invoke stronger and more idiosyncratic situated simulations. Theoretically, our study contributes to the understanding of LASS and the WFE. It suggests that semantic drift might serve as a scalable indicator of the invocation of language versus simulation systems in LASS and might also be used to explore cognition within word association tasks more generally. The findings also add a temporal and relational dimension to the WFE. Practically, our research highlights the utility of word association tasks in understanding semantic drift and the diffusion of word usage over a sub-minute task, arguably the shortest practically feasible timeframe, offering a scalable method to explore group and individual changes in semantic relationships, whether via the targeted diffusion of influence in a marketing campaign, or seeking to understand differences in cognition more generally. Possible practical uses and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Effects of Errorless Learning-based Semantic Feature Analysis Treatment on Naming and Cognitive Abilities for Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

Objectives: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients characteristically show a decline in various cognitive functions, including memory and language skills. Additionally, naming deficits are evident from the early stages of dementia in AD patients. This study aimed to consider these characteristics of AD patients and develop a semantic feature analysis based on errorless learning. The effect of this naming treatment on the language and cognitive abilities of AD patients was examined, with participants divided into treatment group and control groups. Methods: Ten patients with early to severe AD were divided into a treatment group and a control group. The noun list was individualized for each participant, and to prevent the production of errors, the researcher provided the names and semantic features of the nouns, which the AD patients then learned. Results: The treatment group showed statistically significant improvements in naming trained nouns, semantically related non-treatment nouns, and semantically unrelated non-treatment nouns. The control group did not show statistically significant improvements in overall noun naming. In the treatment group, the performance in the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), specifically in naming animals, significantly increased post-treatment compared to pretreatment. In contrast, the control group showed a significant decrease in digit span test performance post-treatment compared to pre-treatment. Conclusion: A semantic feature analysis based on errorless learning was effective in improving naming performance in AD patients. It also had a positive impact on the enhancement and maintenance of performance in language and cognitive tests.

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PARENTS IN THE KAZAKH CULTURE: ETHNOPSYCHOLINGUISTIC STUDY

Cultural values, comprising socially formed beliefs and standards, govern individuals within a specific group’s behavior and are seen as an essential component of a society’s identity, frequently reflecting long-standing practices, traditions, and ideas. Family is regarded as the main foundation of many societies and cultures, in which parents are regarded as protectors, caretakers of children and are treated with great respect. The purpose of our study is to describe the conceptualization of parents in the linguistic consciousness of the Kazakh language and culture bearers and define the ethnic content of the value ата-ана / parents in the Kazakh linguistic culture. The study employed a complex of methods including lexicographic, linguistic, content, and cognitive analysis, as well as the word association test among 563 Kazakh language and culture bearers. The research data comprised dictionaries of the Kazakh language, Kazakh paroemia and aphorisms, and association responses. The results showed that parents are conceptualized as loving and caring beloved family members, which upbringing is very important for their children, and have a great value such as wealth and gift in the Kazakh linguistic culture. The study findings will contribute to a more in-depth knowledge of the concept under consideration and its function in Kazakh society from a psycholinguistic standpoint. The practical value of the research findings can be seen in effective cross-cultural relationships and the utilization of study materials in linguistic courses. Keywords: linguistic consciousness, Kazakh culture, parents, value, conceptualization.

Aspect-specific Parsimonious Segmentation via Attention-based Graph Convolutional Network for Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis

Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) involves determining sentiment polarity in sentences concerning specific aspects. Recent approaches in ABSA have incorporated dependency parsing to gain a deeper understanding of word associations within aspect-related terms. Nevertheless, these models typically concentrate solely on dependency connections while neglecting their specific characteristics or types. This can lead to sentiment inconsistencies, particularly when analyzing sentences with multiple aspects and diverse polarities. To address this challenge, we propose an innovative solution known as Aspect-specific Parsimonious Segmentation via Attention-based Graph Convolutional Network (APSA-GCN) for ABSA. Our model consists of two key modules that harness a variety of features, including syntax, semantics, and lexicon-based representations. The aspect-specific parsimonious segmentation framework segments the data and directs it to parsimonious dual filters, retaining only aspect-specific sentences called explicit data for lexicon-based representation. Subsequently, the Attention-based Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) is employed to extract syntactic and semantic features more explicitly, thereby enriching the representation of aspect-related features. Extensive experiments were conducted on various benchmark datasets, and the results confirm the model’s efficacy as our method achieves state-of-the-art performance. Moreover, our introduced APS framework can be effortlessly incorporated into other benchmark models to enhance the outcomes of ABSA.

Consumer’s Perception and Sensory Analysis of Unconventional Food Plants: Case Study with a Sweet-And-Sour Sauce

ABSTRACT The aim of the present work was to evaluate consumers’ perception and sensory analysis of a sweet-sour sauces with gila pulp and jaboticaba extract. Social representation theory was used to explore the main word associations of 102 volunteers, whose perceptions were solidified and unlikely to change. Samples with 70%, 75% and 80% sugar and vinegar were tested sensorially with a satisfactory overall acceptance. Results of the study indicate that the sweet-and-sour sauces developed with an unconventional food plant (UFP) and a Brazilian native fruit can be an innovative product to be presented to consumers.

한국어 교사, 한국어 학습자, 한국인 모어 화자의 단어 연상 의미 관계 비교 연구

Objectives This study investigates the semantic relations of associated words between Korean language teachers, Korean language learners and Korean native speakers through word association test. Methods This word association task was conducted with 3 subject groups. They were given 10 stimulus words which were derived from the novice level in Korean language text books, then they were asked to associate and write 3 associative words to 10 stimulus words. Results This study reveals three important results. First, Korean native speakers’ group showed the most associated words among the 3 groups. Second, Korean language teachers’ group showed the least number of associative words. Third, Korean language learnes’ group and Korean teachers’ group had the the most common associated words. Conclusions The result that Korean teachers’ group showed that least number of assciated words suggests that the diversity of associative words may have emerged due to occupational influences but it also means that the trained teachers focused on the language learners’ proficiency and associated the words which they use in teaching or from textbooks. Second, whereas the associative words of native Koreans are very authentic and various, other two groups’ associative words seemed more focused on the vocabulary in the textbook so they had more associated words in common. Therefore, in order to teach and use the authentic Korean words to foreign Korean language learners, we may utilize the word association test to find and develop more ways to use the authentic words which are frequently used in each field.

Emerging Research Topics in Drone Healthcare Delivery

The application of drones to assist with healthcare delivery has grown rapidly over the last decade. This industry is supported by a growing research field, and we have undertaken a systematic review of the published literature. Web-based searches returned 290 relevant manuscripts published between 2010 and 2024. We applied Topic Modelling to this corpus of literature, which examines word association and connectedness within the research papers. The modelling identified two emerging research themes with little connection between them: those who used drones to deliver time-critical medical items and those who used drones to deliver non-time-critical medical items. The former was in response to medical emergencies, while the latter was for enhancing resilience in the healthcare supply chain. The topics within these research themes exhibited notable differences. The delivery of time-critical medical items theme comprised the topics of ‘Emergency Response’, ‘Defibrillator and Organ Delivery’, and ‘Search and Rescue’, whilst non-time-critical delivery researched the topics of ‘Supply Chain Optimisation’ and ‘Cost-Effectiveness’, ‘Overcoming Remoteness’, and ‘Pandemic Response’. Research on ‘Engineering and Design Considerations’ and ‘Ethical and Social Considerations’ cut across both research themes. We undertook further analysis to assess research topic alignment and identify knowledge gaps. We found that efforts are needed to establish a more standardised terminology for better alignment across the two emerging research themes. Future studies should focus on evaluating the impact of drone delivery on patient health using systematic methods. Additionally, exploring the economic viability of drone-based health services and addressing regulatory barriers are crucial for efficient and effective drone deployment in healthcare delivery systems.

Comparing child word associations to adult associative norms: Evidence for child-specific associations with a strong priming effect in 3-year-olds

Investigating how infants first establish relationships between words is a necessary step towards understanding how an interconnected network of semantic relationships develops in the adult lexical-semantic system. Stimuli selection for these child studies is critical since words must be both familiar and highly imageable. However, there has been a reliance on adult word association norms to inform stimuli selection in English infant studies to date, as no resource currently exists for child-specific word associations. We present three experiments that explore the strength of word–word relationships in 3-year-olds. Experiment 1 collected children’s word associations (WA) (N = 150; female = 84, L1 = British English) and compared them to adult associative norms (Moss & Older, 1996; Nelson et al., 2004 (Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(3), 402–407)). Experiment 2 replicated WAs from Experiment 1 in an online adaptation of the task (N = 24: 13 female, L1 = British English). Both experiments indicated a high proportion of child-specific WAs not represented in adult norms (Moss & Older, 1996; Nelson et al., 2004 (Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(3), 402–407)). Experiment 3 tested noun–noun WAs from these responses in an online semantic priming study (N = 40: 19 female, L1 = British English) and found that association type modulated priming (F(2.57, 100.1) = 13.13, p <. 0001, generalized η2 = .19). This research presents a resource of child-specific imageable noun–noun word pair stimuli suitable for testing young children in word recognition and semantic priming studies.

Wayward associations: When and why people think of similar-sounding words

Words with similar meanings sometimes sound similar, which carries both risks, such as confusion, and rewards, such as ease of comprehension. It has been argued that languages evolve to balance these competing pressures, so words more often overlap in both form and meaning when they are less likely to be confused. By measuring the phonological similarity of responses to English cues in a word association megastudy, we provide evidence of a tendency to activate similar-sounding words in response to words that reside in sparse semantic neighbourhoods and in response to words for abstract concepts. Crucially, we provide evidence that the availability of similar-sounding associates helps people retrieve and represent the meanings of words from sparse neighbourhoods and words for abstract concepts, as measured by reaction time in semantic decisions and by accuracy in recognition memory. We propose that phonological connections compensate for weak semantic connections when representing word meanings, which we discuss in terms of multiplex networks, models of word-meaning access, and theories of language evolution.

A phase II study of plerixafor combined with whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.

2075 Background: Plerixafor inhibits the binding of stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1a / CXCL12) to its receptor on CD11b+ monocytes, inhibiting vasculogenesis and tumor recurrence in preclinical models. An early phase trial demonstrated that Plerixafor administration decreased cerebral blood volume (CBV) within the irradiated field of glioblastoma patients, and that the majority of recurrences occurred outside of the irradiated field (Thomas R. et al, Clin Cancer Res). This follow up study investigates the efficacy of Plerixafor in combination with WBRT, with the hypothesis that widening the radiation therapy (RT) field with WBRT may reduce out-of-field tumor recurrence and improve survival. Methods: This was a Phase II, open-label, non-randomized, single-arm trial.Adults between 18-75 years old with newly diagnosed high grade glioma as defined by WHO 2016 criteria and KPS ≥ 60 were eligible for enrollment. Patients underwent maximal safe resection followed by 6 weeks of concurrent radiation therapy and temozolomide (TMZ). Of note, modifications to the conventional treatment paradigm included completing 30 Gy of standard intensity-modulated RT followed by 30 Gy of WBRT, as well as completing a 4-week continuous infusion of Plerixafor dosed at 400 µg/kg/day. Patients then started adjuvant TMZ after completing Plerixafor. Primary endpoint was 6-month progression free survival (PFS6) after chemoradiation. Secondary endpoints included median overall survival (mOS), adverse events (AEs), MRI-based patterns of recurrence, and neurocognitive outcomes measured by the Trail Making Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test. Additionally, maximum arterial spin labeling-cerebral blood flow (ASL-CBF) values of primary lesions were compared over various time points during the study. Results: 14 of 17 enrolled patients completed the Plerixafor infusion, and all 17 patients completed WBRT. Median age was 57 years. 15 patients (88.2%) were IDH wildtype and 13 patients (76.5%) were pMGMT unmethylated. 13 patients (76.5%) underwent gross total resection, 2 (11.8%) underwent subtotal resection, and 2 (11.8%) underwent biopsy only. The PFS6 was 91.7%. The mOS was 15.11 months. 3 patients discontinued Plerixafor early due to rash (n=1), rising creatinine (n=1), or worsening confusion and agitation (n=1). Common Gr2 treatment-related AEs included alopecia (n=4), nausea (n=4), and vomiting (n=2). 1 patient had Gr3 alopecia. There were no Grade 4/5 AEs. 80% of patients scored worse on their neurocognitive assessments at 6 months compared to screening. ASL-CBF values of primary lesions appeared relatively stable throughout the study. Conclusions: The combination of Plerixafor and WBRT did not improve mOS compared to the original study using focused RT only. There was an overall decline in neurocognitive performance over the course of the study. Clinical trial information: NCT03746080 .

Phonemic verbal fluency in non-WEIRD populations: Demographic differences in performance in the Controlled Oral Word Association Test-FAS

This study aimed to investigate whether age, level of education, gender, number of spoken languages, and the self-reported position of language within this multilingual experience predicted performance on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT-FAS). Using a cross-sectional research design, the phonemic verbal fluency of a sample (n = 156) of healthy adults (ages 18–60 years) with different linguistic and educational backgrounds from a non-WEIRD (western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) context was assessed using the COWAT-FAS (including the F, A, S, total correct, repetition, incorrect, and total errors). Pearson’s correlations showed significant negative associations between age and most of the COWAT scores, including the total (r = –0.47; p 0.01) and significant positive associations between years of education and all of the COWAT scores, including the total (r = 0.49; p 0.01). The number of languages spoken was not significantly correlated with any of the COWAT scores, but multilinguals who identified English as a first language performed significantly better than those who identified English as a secondary language for several COWAT scores, including the total (t154 = 3.85; p 0.001; d = 0.79). Age (B = –0.32; p 0.001), years of education (B = 0.35; p 0.001), and language position (B = –0.20; p 0.01) also significantly predicted the COWAT total score (r2 = 0.38; F = 18.34; p 0.001; f2 = 0.61). The implications of these findings for use of the COWAT-FAS in multilingual and non-WEIRD contexts are discussed.Contribution: This article supports the importance of understanding the role demographic variables play in cognitive performance and how they represent a source of bias in cognitive testing, particularly in the COWAT-FAS. It highlights how age, level of education, and the correspondence, or lack thereof, between first language and language of assessment, impacts phonemic fluency tasks. This knowledge may help to manage biases when conducting verbal fluency assessments with multilingual individuals and in non-WEIRD contexts.