Word fluency and brain damage☆
Abstract
A group of sixty-six adult subjects was given the task of producing as many words as possible beginning with specified letters of the alphabet. The number of words produced during a period of 60 sec correlated highly both with a frequency count derived from the Thorndike-Lorge norms and with estimates derived from the dictionary of the number of words in the English language beginning with each letter.
In a second experiment, eight letters representing three levels of difficulty as found in normal subjects were given to thirty brain-damaged and thirty hospitalized control patients. Results in terms of verbal productivity indicated that, for patients of high intelligence, difficult letters (i.e. J and U) showed the greatest discrimination. On the other hand, for patients of low intelligence, easy letters (i.e. F, S, P and T) were more effective in differentiating the brain-damage and control groups.
The findings also indicated that difficult letters may be particularly effective in distinguishing between patients with right and left hemisphere damage. An analysis of order of presentation indicated that practice and fatigue effects were not related to verbal fluency when as many as eight letters were administered. It is suggested that the addition of difficult letters to standard word fluency tests may yield more precise discriminations between brain-damaged and control patients when overall level of intellectual functioning is taken into account.
Résumé
Un groupe de soixante-six sujets adultes fut soumis á une épreuve consistent á produire autant de mots que possible commençant par certaines lettres de l'alphabet indiquées par l'observateur. Le nombre de mots produits durant une période de 60 sec avait une haute corrélation á la fois avec le compte de fréquence dérivé de la liste de Thorndike-Lorge et avec des estimations, faites, d'aprés le dictionnaire, du nombre de mots anglais commençant selon chacune des letteres données.
Dens une seconde expérience huit lettres représentant trois niveaux de difficultés pour les normaux, étaient données á trente sujets avec lésion cérébrale et á trente sujets hospitalisés de contrôle. Les résultats en terme de productivité verbale indiquaient que pour les sujets de haut niveau intellectuel les lettres difficiles (c'est á dire J et U) se révélaient les plus discriminatives. D'autre part, pour les sujets de bas niveau intellectual les lettres les plus faciles (F, S, P et T) étaient plus efficaces pour différencier le groupe avec atteinte cérébrale et le groupe de contrôle.
Les constatations indiquaient aussi que les lettres difficiles peuvent être spécialement efficaces pour distinguer les sujets avec atteinte de l'hémisphére droit de ceux avec atteinte de l'hémisphére gauche. Une analyse de l'ordre de présentation indiquait que les effets de pratique et de fatigue n'étaient pas en relation avec la fluence verbale lorsqu'au moins huit lettres étaient données. On suggére que l'addition de lettres difficiles au test standard de fluence verbale peut permettre des discriminations plus précises entre les sujets avec lésion cérébrale et les sujets de contrôle lorsque le niveau général de fonctionnement intellectual est retenu.
Zusammenfassung
Eine Gruppe von sechsundsechzig erwachsenen Versuchspersonen erheilt die Aufgabe, so viele Worte wie möglich zu finden, die mit einem bestimmten Buchstaben des Alphabets beginnen. Die Zahl der Worte, die innerhalb von 60 Sek produziert werden konnten, korrelierte hoch mit einem von den Lorge-Thorndike Normen abgeleiteten Erscheinungsfrequenzwert und mit einem aus Wörterbüchern abgeleiteten Schätzwert der Häufigkeit des Auftretens von Worten mit jedem der einzelnen Buchstaben in der Englischen Sprache.
In einem zweiten Experiment wurden acht Buchstaben, die drei verschiedene Schwierigkeitsgrade bei den normalen Versuchspersonen repräsentieren, bei dreissig Hirngeschädigten und bei dreissig nicht-hirngeschädigten Krankenhauspatienten angewandt. Die Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der verbalen Produktivität zeigten, dass bei Patienten mit überdurchschnittlicher Intelligenz die schwierigen Buchstaben (d.h. J and U) die beste Gruppenunterscheidung liefern. Einfache Buchstaben (d.h. F, S, P und T) dagegen ergaben eine bessere Trennung von Hirngeschädigten und Kontrollpatienten mit niedrigerer Intelligenz.
Die Ergebnisse wiesen ferner darauf hin, dass schwierige Buchstaben besonders wirksam in der Unterscheidung von Patienten mit Schädigungen in der rechten und linken Hirnhemisphäre sein können. Eine Analyse der Reihenfolge der Buchstaben zeigte, dass Übungsund Ermüdungseffekte keinen Einfluss auf die verbale Produktivität haben, wenn bis zu acht Buchstaben in einer Sitzung angeboten werden. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, dass durch die zusätzliche Verwendung von Schwierigen Buchstaben bei den üblichen Wortflüssigkeitstests eine bessere Unterscheidung zwischen Hirngeschädigten und Kontrollpatienten erzielt werden kann, wenn das allgemeine Intelligenzniveau dabei berücksichtigt wird.
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This investigation was supported by Research Grant NB-00616 and Program-Project Grant NB-03354 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness. Neurosensory Center Publication No. 118.
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Now at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, U.S.A.