Turkish normative data of semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests

The aim of this study is to determine the stratified norm values according to age, education and gender for 18-49 years Turkish samples of semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests which are an important part of neuropsychological assessment and frequently used in the assessment of executive functions and language skills. In addition to direct effects of age, education and gender on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency skills, a possible interaction effect between these variables was also investigated. To this purpose, 200 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-49 were included in the study. Participants were divided into 3 age groups (18-29, 30-39, 40-49) and 3 education groups (5-8, 9-11, 12 and more years). The verbal fluency performance of the participants who did not have a psychiatric or neurological diagnosis and did not use drugs that could affect the central nervous system and did not get a point of 17 or higher on Beck Depression Scale were evaluated with the animal category of Semantic Verbal Fluency Test and K, A, S letters of Phonemic Verbal Fluency Test. 3x3x2 ANOVA design was used for the statistical analysis of data. A significant main effect of education and gender on Semantic Fluency Test scores were found. On Phonemic Fluency Test scores, it was found that education had a main effect on each of K, A, S letters and also total KAS score. No interaction effect between variables was found for both fluency types. ANOVA findings were taken into consideration in determining semantic and phonemic verbal fluency test norms and according to the findings groups that did not differ between each other were combined and norm values were prepared for these new groups. The findings were discussed within the framework of the related literature and it was aimed to determine verbal fluency tests norms for the elderly sample in further studies. At the end of the study, verbal fluency tests' norms that can be used for clinical and research use for the individuals aged 18-49 years in Turkey has been established.