title: Searching for the right word: performance on four word-retrieval tasks across childhood.
abstract: Word retrieval was assessed in 207 normally developing Hebrew-speaking children aged 8-17 through four tasks: picture naming, phonemic fluency, semantic fluency, and homophone meaning generation (HMGT). Scores on all tests correlated positively and significantly with participant age. Yet, age effects and the correlation between age and test scores were weakest for the naming test and strongest for the HMGT. We discuss the nature of the word search involved in each task and suggest that the more executive demands required by a test the steeper the slope of performance increase on this test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, The Open University, Raanana, Israel. gkave@012.net.il
authors.forename: Gitit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kavé
authors.forename: Dorit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kukulansky-Segal
authors.forename: Ayelet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avraham
authors.forename: Orly
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Herzberg
authors.forename: Janna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Landa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary