title: Brazilian Normative Data on Letter and Category Fluency Tasks: Effects of Gender, Age, and Geopolitical Region.
abstract: Verbal fluency is a basic function of language that refers to the ability to produce fluent speech. Despite being an essentially linguistic function, its measurements are also used to evaluate executive aspects of verbal behavior. Performance in verbal fluency (VF) tasks varies according to age, education, and cognitive development. Neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the functioning of frontal areas tend to cause lower performance in VF tasks. Despite the relative consensus that has been reached in terms of the use of VF tasks for the diagnosis of dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, few studies have considered regional variations in Brazil. The present study sought to provide normative data on VF tasks in children by considering gender, age, education, and geopolitical region of origin with auxiliary purposes in neuropsychological diagnosis of disorders that occur with executive changes The study included 298 participants, 7-10 years of age of both genders, who performed three letter fluency tasks and three category fluency tasks. The data were subjected to correlational and variance analyses, with age and gender as factors. No effect of gender on the children's performance was found. However, significant differences between age groups were observed, with better performance in letter tasks in older children and better performance in letter tasks compared with category tasks. Significant regional differences in performance on the letter VF task were observed. These results reinforce the importance of regional normative data in countries with high regional cultural variations, such as Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Izabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hazin
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gilmara
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosinda M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biociências da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: João C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Alencar
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helenice C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Fichman
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Priscila D N
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Berlim
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: de Mello
keywords: ADH; category fluency; dyslexia; letter fluency