David del Río

Background: Verbal fluency (VF) tasks are consistently included in neuropsychological assessment protocols because they provide a rapid and sensitive measure of lexical retrieval and executive functioning across a wide range of neurological conditions. In addition to considering the number of words produced by the individual, examining other variables can provide highly valuable information about their cognitive performance. Aims: This study examines the clinical utility of looking into specific components of VF tasks by comparing the performance of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to that of healthy controls. Method and Procedures: Twenty‐seven individuals with TBI and 29 matched controls completed a neuropsychological assessment including phonological and semantic VF tasks, along with measures of processing speed, working memory (WM) and executive functioning. Group differences were analyzed across all variables, and within‐group correlations were explored between VF components (total correct responses, perseverations, mean cluster size, and number of switches) and cognitive processes. Outcomes and Results: Significant group differences emerged for all cognitive measures and VF components, except for mean cluster size. In the TBI group, total correct responses on both VF tasks were associated with processing speed and WM measures. Additionally, the number of switches in phonological VF correlated with cognitive flexibility measures, while mean cluster size in semantic VF was related to a measure of WM. In contrast, within the control group, total correct responses and switching in phonological VF, as well as mean cluster size in semantic VF, were associated with WM performance. Conclusions and Implications: These findings highlight the sensitivity of VF tasks in detecting cognitive dysfunction following TBI. Importantly, the analysis of qualitative components (such as clustering and switching) provides a more detailed understanding of the executive mechanisms underlying VF performance. Thus, beyond simple word counts, these measures enhance the diagnostic and clinical value of VF tasks as tools for assessing cognitive functioning in both research and applied settings. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Verbal fluency (VF) tasks, in both their phonological and semantic variations, are simple neuropsychological assessment tools that are sensitive to the cognitive performance of healthy individuals as well as patients with neurological conditions. Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between this task and cognitive processes related to language, processing speed, and components of executive functions; nevertheless, the evidence remains inconclusive. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and health controls showed distinct patterns of performance across cognitive measures including VF components. In controls, VF indices were mainly associated with working memory (WM), whereas in TBI, total correct responses correlated with WM and processing speed; additionally, switching in phonological VF was linked to cognitive flexibility, and clustering in semantic VF to WM. What are the potential or actual clinical implications for this work? VF tasks should be regarded as complex cognitive measures. Beyond word counts, analyzing qualitative components provides valuable insights into executive processes, thereby enhancing their clinical applicability.

Verbal fluency (VF) tasks are used in cognitive assessments to detect early signs of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. This study aimed to assess the contribution of VF tasks with varying executive processing loads to the early identification of cognitive impairment in the preclinical stage of subjective cognitive decline (SCD). A total of 97 older adults were classified into three groups: healthy controls (HC), SCD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Participants completed phonemic, semantic, alternating and orthographic VF tasks. Education level significantly affected VF performance, with gender differences being inconsistent. The HC and SCD groups performed similarly in phonemic and semantic tasks but differed significantly in high-executive-load tasks, where SCD participants performed worse. MCI patients showed lower performance across all VF tasks. Discriminant and ROC analyses identified alternating and orthographic VF tasks as effective markers for distinguishing cognitive status, supporting their potential for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

Existe un interés cada vez mayor por entender cómo el uso de teléfonos inteligentes puede afectar el desarrollo infantil temprano. En este estudio, adoptamos un enfoque de variable latente para examinar las prácticas parentales relacionadas con el uso de estos dispositivos y sus efectos en el desarrollo ejecutivo-lingüístico temprano. Específicamente, consideramos dos factores relacionados con este uso: un factor de cantidad, que comprende varias medidas de exposición a estos dispositivos, y un factor de calidad, que refleja la frecuencia con la que las familias emplean estrategias que promueven interacciones contingentes y que apoyan el aprendizaje durante el tiempo frente a pantallas. Además, exploramos el papel de la educación parental en la configuración de estas prácticas. Los resultados indican que una mayor exposición tiene efectos perjudiciales en el funcionamiento ejecutivo y el desempeño comunicativo-lingüístico de los niños pequeños. Por el contrario, una mayor calidad influye positivamente en las habilidades del lenguaje expresivo que, a su vez, se asocian con mejores habilidades ejecutivas. En este contexto, la educación materna no solo muestra un impacto positivo directo en el desarrollo ejecutivo-lingüístico temprano, sino también un efecto indirecto en las habilidades comunicativo-lingüísticas a través de una mayor frecuencia de interacciones de alta calidad entre niños y adultos durante el tiempo frente a pantallas. Estos hallazgos apuntan a la necesidad de minimizar la exposición a estos dispositivos en estas edades, al tiempo que destacan la importancia de integrar su uso en entornos que optimicen el tiempo frente a pantallas. También destacan el papel de la educación familiar en las prácticas implementadas en el hogar relacionadas con las pantallas.

The loss of a sense, such as vision, forces individuals to adapt to their environment and its demands in a variety of ways. In the case of blindness, significant neurofunctional and cognitive changes have been documented. However, there is no clear consensus on the differences in performance between adult blind participants and sighted controls in cognitive processes such as working memory (WM). Two variables are important, including the cognitive task used to measure working memory and the age at which vision loss occurs. This review is aimed at exploring potential disparities in verbal and spatial WM performance between blind and sighted adults, as well as understanding how these differences may be influenced by the age of vision loss. A systematic search across PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Medline, and Web of Science databases identified 21 pertinent studies. The studies were categorized, and effect sizes were calculated through meta-analysis, distinguishing between verbal (auditory simple forward and backward span, complex span, and n-back) and visuospatial WM tasks (adapted Corsi-block and simple storage tasks, imagery tasks, and complex storage tasks). Visual sensory loss induces adaptations affecting WM function in blind participants. In the verbal domain, improved phonological processing and/or serial item position encoding might facilitate WM retrieval. In contrast, in spatial WM, an over-reliance on serial processing may hinder strategic grouping in blind individuals. This review highlights the need to further explore the role of age at the time of vision loss. Although evidence suggests that adaptations to serial processing may be more pronounced in early development, particularly in comparison to those who become blind in adulthood, the available data are limited. The study calls for further research to deepen our understanding of cognitive adaptations and their temporal dynamics in response to vision loss.

Ageing entails different functional brain changes. Education, reading experience, and leisure activities, among others, might contribute to the maintenance of cognitive performance among older adults and are conceptualised as proxies for cognitive reserve. However, ageing also conveys a depletion of working memory capacity, which adversely impacts language comprehension. This study investigated how cognitive reserve proxies and working memory jointly predict the performance of healthy older adults in a sentence reading comprehension task, and how their predictive value changes depending on sentence structure and task demands. Cognitively healthy older adults (n = 120) completed a sentence–picture verification task under two conditions: concurrent viewing of the sentence and picture or their sequential presentation, thereby imposing greater demands on working memory. They also completed a questionnaire on cognitive reserve proxies as well as a verbal working memory test. The sentence structure was manipulated by altering the canonical word order and modifying the amount of propositional information. While the cognitive reserve was the main predictor in the concurrent condition, the predictive role of working memory increased under the sequential presentation, particularly for complex sentences. These findings highlight the complementary roles played by cognitive reserve and working memory in the reading comprehension of older adults.

Verbal fluency tests are easy and quick to use in neuropsychological assessments, so they have been counted among the most classical tools in this context. To date, several normative data for verbal fluency tests have been provided in different languages and countries. A systematic review was carried out with studies that provide normative data for verbal fluency tests. Studies were collected from Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science. 183 studies were retrieved from the database search, of which 73 finally met the inclusion criteria. An analysis of the risk of bias regarding samples selection/characterization and procedure/results reports is conducted for each article. Finally, a full description of the normative data characteristics, considering country and language, verbal fluency task characteristics (type of task) and sample characteristics (number of subjects, gender, age, education) is included. The current systematic review provides an overview and analysis of internationally published normative data that might help clinicians in their search for valid and useful norms on verbal fluency tasks, as well as updated information about qualitative aspects of the different options currently available.

Background music is a part of our everyday activities. Considerable evidence suggests that listening to music while performing cognitive tasks may negatively influence performance. However, other studies have shown that it can benefit memory when the music played during the encoding of information is also provided during the retrieval of that information, in the so-called context dependent memory effect. Since controversial results may be attributed to the nature of the material to be memorized, the aim of the present study is to compare the potential effect of consistent background music on the immediate and long-term recall of verbal and visuospatial information. Experiment 1 showed that instrumental background music does not benefit nor decrease recall of a list of unrelated words, both at the immediate and the 48-hours-delayed tests. By contrast, Experiment 2 revealed that the same background music can impair immediate and therefore long-term memory for visuospatial information. Results are interpreted in terms of competition for neurocognitive resources, with tasks mostly relying on the same brain hemisphere competing for a limited set of resources. Hence, background music might impair visuospatial memory to a greater extent than verbal memory, in the context of limited capacity cognitive system. In conclusion, the nature of the material to be learnt must be considered to fully understand the effect of background music on memory.