Swedish norms for word fluency tests: FAS, animals and verbs

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of psychology Vol. 49; no. 5; pp. 479 - 485
• Main Authors: TALLBERG, I. M., IVACHOVA, E., JONES TINGHAG, K., ÖSTBERG, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-10-2008
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Female; Humans; Intelligence; Kirurgi; Language Disorders - diagnosis; Language Disorders - psychology; Logopedi och foniatrik; Logopedics and phoniatrics; Male; MEDICIN; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; MEDICINE; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Otorhinolaryngologi; Otorhinolaryngology; Phonetics; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Semantics; Speech Production Measurement - statistics & numerical data; Surgery; Swedish norms; Word fluency
• ISSN: 0036-5564; 1467-9450; 1467-9450
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00653.x

Verbal fluency tests are useful measures of acquired language impairment and cognitive decline of various etiologies. The aim of this study was to provide normative data for the Swedish population on the three verbal fluency tests, FAS, Animals and Verbs. A group of 165 healthy participants ranging from 16 to 89 years of age were assessed with the verbal fluency tests and tests of level of intellectual functioning. The sample was stratified by education, age and gender. Level of education had a substantial influence on the performance on verbal fluency, most clearly so in FAS and Verbs. Intellectual level had a positive and significant correlation with all measures of word fluency. Moreover, there was an interaction between age and gender such that women aged between 30 and 64 years outperformed elderly men on FAS and Verbs. Guidelines for instructions and scoring in Swedish are given in the article.