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. © 1967.