Clinical research Normalization of the Verbal Fluency Test on the basis of results for healthy subjects, patients with schizophrenia, patients with organic lesions of the chronic nervous system and patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes

Abstract

IntroductionVerbal fluency is the ability to form and express words compatible with required criteria. Verbal fluency is necessary for optimal communication and for normal social and occupational functioning. The Verbal Fluency Test is a good indicator of frontal lobe dysfunction, particularly of the left frontal cortex.Material and methodsThe aim of the study was to compare verbal fluency in healthy subjects (n = 50), patients with paranoid schizophrenia (n = 36), patients with organic lesions of the central nervous system (CNS) (n = 33), and patients with diabetes (n = 62) – type 1 diabetes (n = 31) and type 2 diabetes (n = 31).ResultsHealthy subjects and patients with diabetes achieved the highest results in all categories of the Verbal Fluency Test. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia achieved significantly lower results. Sten norms of the Verbal Fluency Test were developed for the general population. Using these norms it was found that subjects with schizophrenia or with organic lesions of the CNS had very poor results more often and very high results less frequently compared to healthy subjects and also to patients with diabetes.ConclusionsThis observation is consistent with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia, in which cognitive functions of the frontal lobe (e.g. verbal fluency) play a major role in the psychopathological picture. We have also demonstrated that in patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes verbal fluency is comparable with healthy subjects.

Sex Differences in Verbal Fluency Among Young Adults

“…However, there are some population-based studies with wide age ranges. Wysokiński et al (2010) showed that healthy participants produce less words in the "sharp object" category than in the animal category, but did not investigate sex differences with respect to these categories.…”

“…Two types of verbal fluency are commonly distinguished: fluency congruent with a formal criterion (phonemic) and congruent with a content criterion (semantic; Troyer, 2000). A distinct type of more ambiguous categories within semantic fluency are, for example, "supermarket items" or "sharp objects", allowing one to produce words referring to more abstract categories (Szepietowska & Gawda, 2011;Wysokiński et al, 2010).…”

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Posterior Parietal Cortex (PPC) Enhances Figural Fluency: Implications for Creative Cognition

“…While verbal fluency is referred to the ability to generate and express words compatible with required criteria (Wysokiński et al 2010), nonverbal fluency concerns with generating unique nonverbal responses and is usually measured by figural or design fluency (Ruff et al 1986). Figural fluency tests are related to divergent thinking (Runco 1991) and creative cognition (Fink et al 2010;Forthmann et al 2016).…”

Attentional and emotional functioning in schizophrenia patients treated with conventional and atypical antipsychotic drugs

“…It has been argued that conventional antipsychotic drugs possess the capacity to restore emotional and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia [5,7,10,32]. …”