Acceso usuarios
Fabien Gierski, Anne-Marie Ergis
Verbal fluency tasks are frequently used in neuropsychological examinations in order to assess semantic storage integrity and strategic word retrieval in long term memory. Performance is usually analyzed in terms of the total number of correct words belonging to a given semantic category or beginning with a given letter generated in a limited time. However, a quantitative analysis of performance may not fully capture the complexity of the underlying cognitive processes. To address this issue, Troyer et al. (1997) proposed a qualitative analysis method based on the distinction between two dissociable components of fluency performance : « clustering » and « switching ».
The aim of the present paper is to review the literature about verbal fluency and to present the method elaborated by Troyer and colleagues, as well as its limitations. The contribution of recent neuropsychological findings in understanding the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying these tasks is emphasized.
