BACKGROUND: The Boston Naming Test is frequently used to evaluate naming deficits. The scores usedin Brazil have been the same as those used in the American version. In the case of individuals with poorschooling associated to cerebral lesions, a frequent situation in our country, one runs the risk ofconsidering a poor performance as a deficit, what in fact is a consequence of lack of knowledge andcultural deprivation. AIM: to evaluate the influence of age and schooling in the naming ability ofnormal individuals, from São Paulo city, in a visual confrontation task. METHOD: 133 normal volunteers,aged between 28 and 70 years. RESULTS: the scores obtained in spontaneous naming were [mean (SD)]:[39.4 (9.8)]; per age group: 28 - 50 years [39.5 (10.5)], 51 - 70 years [39.1 (9.1)]; per schooling: 1 -4 years [33.7 (9.6)], 5 - 8 years [36.6 (7.9)], 9 or more [47.4 (6)]. The comparison between theperformances of the two age groups did not reveal any significant differences. Higher educational leveldetermined a better performance both in spontaneous and facilitated naming. Cues of stimuli werenecessary for the individuals to access the correct name, especially for the group with lower educationallevel. Phonemic cues, on the other hand, benefited individuals with more than eight years of formaleducation. The suggested cut-off score for the test to be use in Brazil was calculated by the ROC curveanalysis and based on the comparison between normal and aphasic individuals. CONCLUSION: schoolingwas the variable that had the greatest influence on performance. Although the level of difficulty of afew items may, to some extent, differ between English and Portuguese, the translated version of theBNT can be used without any adaptations for the Brazilian population, provided that the level ofeducation is taken in consideration when interpreting the results.
Language Tests; Brazil; Age Groups; Educational Status
