title: High-level language ability in healthy individuals and its relationship with verbal working memory.
abstract: The aims of the study were to investigate healthy subjects' performance on a clinical test of high-level language (HLL) and how it is related to demographic characteristics and verbal working memory (VWM). One hundred healthy subjects (20-79 years old) were assessed with the Swedish BeSS test (Laakso, Brunnegård, Hartelius, & Ahlsén, 2000) and two digit span tasks. Relationships between the demographic variables, VWM and BeSS were investigated both with bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis. The results present the norms for BeSS. The correlations and multiple regression analysis show that demographic variables had limited influence on test performance. Measures of VWM were moderately related to total BeSS score and weakly to moderately correlated with five of the seven subtests. To conclude, education has an influence on the test as a whole but measures of VWM stood out as the most robust predictor of HLL.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Malin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antonsson
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Longoni
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Einald
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hallberg
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Kajsa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hartelius
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Adults; digit span; high-level language; subtle language disorders; verbal working memory