Abstract

Verbal Fluency (VF) is a neuropsychological tool in which the participant is asked to produce as many items (animals, fruits, vegetables and others) as quickly as possible, in 60 secs. In the present study, semantic verbal fluency animals (VFa) and fruits (VFf) were compared using clustering strategies in Mild Alzheimer Disease (MAD) subjects (100) and controls (CG) subjects (201). Results demonstrated that spoken clustering items on VFa were directed by semantic similarities in CG. On the other hand, VFf spontaneously generated phonological clusters neglecting semantic similarities. For VFa CG had the search mode component of executive function only under the premise of semantic features, leaving articulatory and phonological aside. MAD group had the search mode component under the premise of phonological features or none. Language rehabilitation in MAD should start early, considering articulatory and semantic approach to achieve greater reliability of efficacy.

Keywords: Language; Alzheimer disease; Verbal fluency