Culture qualitatively but not quantitatively influences performance in the Boston naming test in a chinese-speaking population.
OBJECTIVE
The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is the most frequently administered confrontational naming test, but the cultural background of the patients may influence their performance in the BNT. The aim of this study was to identify differences in performance in the BNT between a Chinese population in Taiwan, Chinese populations in other areas and a Caucasian population.


METHODS
A total of 264 native, Chinese-speaking, cognitively normal elders aged >60 years were enrolled in our study and conducted the 30-item Chinese version of the BNT. Another 10 BNT studies were categorized, analyzed and compared with the present study.


RESULTS
Higher education was associated with higher scores, whereas age and gender had no effect on performance in the BNT. The score of the Chinese-speaking population was equivalent to the English-speaking population. A disparity in difficulties with items was not only apparent between the Taiwanese and Caucasian populations, but also between the Chinese-speaking populations in the different geographic areas.


CONCLUSIONS
For the most part, the impact of culture on performance in the BNT may not be quantitative but qualitative. Attention should be paid to a potential effect of culture on difficulties with items when administering the BNT to non-English-speaking populations. Understanding differences in performance in the BNT in distinct cultural settings improves the clinical application of the BNT.
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Ting-Bin
TB
Chen
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Chi-Ying
CY
Lin
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Psychology, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Ker-Neng
KN
Lin
Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Neurology, Kuo General Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan (ROC).
Yen-Chi
YC
Yeh
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Wei-Ta
WT
Chen
Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Kuo-Shu
KS
Wang
Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC) ; Aging and Health Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC).
Pei-Ning
PN
Wang
Boston Naming Test; Chinese-speaking population; Cross-cultural comparison; Elderly; Taiwan