[Boston Naming Test: performance of Brazilian population from São Paulo].
BACKGROUND
The Boston Naming Test is frequently used to evaluate naming deficits. The scores used in Brazil have been the same as those used in the American version. In the case of individuals with poor schooling associated to cerebral lesions, a frequent situation in our country, one runs the risk of considering a poor performance as a deficit, what in fact is a consequence of lack of knowledge and cultural deprivation.


OBJECTIVE
to evaluate the influence of age and schooling in the naming ability of normal individuals, from São Paulo city, in a visual confrontation task.


METHODS
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 the performances of the two age groups did not reveal any significant differences. Higher educational level determined a better performance both in spontaneous and facilitated naming. Cues of stimuli were necessary for the individuals to access the correct name, especially for the group with lower educational level. Phonemic cues, on the other hand, benefited individuals with more than eight years of formal education. The suggested cut-off score for the test to be use in Brazil was calculated by the ROC curve analysis and based on the comparison between normal and aphasic individuals.


CONCLUSIONS
schooling was the variable that had the greatest influence on performance. Although the level of difficulty of a few items may, to some extent, differ between English and Portuguese, the translated version of the BNT can be used without any adaptations for the Brazilian population, provided that the level of education is taken in consideration when interpreting the results.
Mansur
Letícia Lessa
LL
Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. lmansur@usp.br
Radanovic
Márcia
M
Araújo
Gisele de Carvalho
Gde C
Taquemori
Laís Yassue
LY
Greco
Lílian Lavine
LL
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001938:Brazil; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014175:Translating; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*