Abstract

SILVA, Thaís Bento Lima da; YASSUDA, Mônica Sanches; GUIMARAES, Vanessa Valente  and  FLORINDO, Alex Antônio. Verbal fluency and sociodemographic variables in the aging process: an epidemiological study. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 2011, vol.24, n.4, pp. 739-746. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722011000400014.

Verbal fluency is a marker of executive functions which involves the ability of searching and retrieving information, organizational skills, self-regulation and working memory. The objective of this paper was to identify differences in verbal fluency (number of animals, categories, clusters and category switching) associated with gender, age, education and income. Three hundred eighty three elderly (60 or older) participated in an epidemiological cross-sectional study. Participants answered sociodemographic questions and completed the verbal fluency animal category test. Verbal fluency variables were influenced by gender, age, and education. Higher performance was reported for men and participants with lower age and higher education. Results confirm that performance in verbal fluency must be interpreted in the light of sociodemographic information.

Keywords : Verbal Fluency; Executive Functions; Elderly; Aging.