Analysis of verbal fluency skills on mild cognitive impairment patients

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is accepted as a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. It reflects the clinical situation where a person has a bit cognitive decline but no evidence of dementia (Petersen, 1999). Verbal fluency tests are relied on saying as many words as possible from a letter or category in a given time is a hard task which consist of cognitive processes like word recall and articulation (Henry vd., 2004). In time, in addition to quantitative analysis in which words generated by a person in a certain letter or category are collected, qualitative analysis methods have started to use which enables to obtain more comprehensive interpretations of the relationship between verbal fluency and the brain processes. This study examines two groups, one consisting of individuals suffering Amnestic-MCI and the other consisting of healthy people, via verbal fluency tests, and with the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of outcomes it compares the results derived from each group. In terms of quantitative analysis the total numbers of the words produced by each group have been evaluated and as for qualitative analysis clustering, switching, category intrusions and perseverations have been examined. The study group is consisting of the 20 participants who scored between 24-28 in the mini mental-state examination, and diagnosed with probable MCI by Acıbadem University Eskisehir Hospital Department of Neurology. The control group is composed of 20 volunteers with no diagnosed neurological or psychiatric disorders. The groups are paired in accordance with age, education level and gender factors, and the volunteers between the age of 49-83 and have education levels taken from elementary school, high school or university were included. In the study, both groups were examined with phonemic fluency and semantic fluency tests, and the areas in which the study group underperformed compared to the control group have been determined. In both tests total number of words produced, clustering (the word ratio in the selected sub-category) and switching (the frequency of switching between clusters) scores have been determined and the scores of two groups have been analogized. In addition, perseveration and category intrusion errors made by groups have been compared. The study concludes that, in comparison with the control group, Amnestic-MCI group underperformed in each verbal fluency examination, having lower scores of both tests in terms of total number of words produced. Regarding phonemic fluency test lower switching scores was done by MCI group are observed. In the aspect of clustering and category intrusions, there was nosignificant difference between two groups in both semantic and phonemic fluency scores. However, higher perseveration scores are found in semantic fluency test of MCI group. Keywords: Verbal fluency, clustering, switching, Mild Cognitive Impairment, dementia.