Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine whether performance on phonemic and semantic fluency tasks follows similar lifespan trajectories. Data from 1212 Hebrew-speakers aged 5-86 years were analyzed. Both linear and curvilinear quadratic models fit the data, reflecting a general increase in ability with age, as well as an increase followed by a decrease beyond this linear rise. A significant interaction between task type and the curvilinear effect demonstrated differential lifespan patterns of performance on each task. While scores improved similarly on the phonemic and semantic tasks during childhood, late-life decline was more noticeable on the semantic task, possibly due to the unique characteristics of aging-related word retrieval difficulties.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 751-763 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 9 Aug 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Yael Gutwein and Talia Pertman for their help in data preparation. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). This research was partly supported by the Open University of Israel [research fund no. 46310]. Address correspondence to: Gitit Kavé, Department of Education and Psychology, The Open Rothschild Campus, 1 University Road, Ra’anana 43537, Israel (E‑mail: gkave@012.net.il).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords
- Category fluency
- Cognitive aging
- Lifespan development
- Verbal fluency
- Word retrieval