Tres tareas para la exploración de la fluidez verbal: evidencias de su fiabilidad test-retest en adultos argentinos / Three tasks for the exploration of verbal fluency: evidence of test-retest reliability in Argentine adults

Introducción: Las tareas de fluidez fonológica y semántica son de uso frecuente en la evaluación neuropsicológica por su fácil aplicación y buena sensibilidad al deterioro cognitivo. En Argentina es limitado el cuerpo de evidencia psicométrica para dichas tareas, con especial desconocimiento de la estabilidad temporal de sus medidas. La producción psicométrica es aún menor para la variante fluidez de acción (emisión de verbos en infinitivo en un minuto). En efecto, este estudio analiza la fiabilidad test-retest de tres tareas de fluidez en adultos argentinos. Sujetos y métodos: La muestra se compuso de 85 argentinos (medida de edad, 63,7) de población general no clínica, un 75,3% mujeres, de nivel de instrucción medio-alto. Se efectuó un diseño longitudinal-prospectivo administrando tareas de fluidez fonológica, semántica y de acción en dos momentos distintos con un intervalo hasta de cuatro meses. Se analizó el coeficiente de correlación intraclase (CCI), método estadístico sugerido para estudios de fiabilidad test-retest. Para interpretar el CCI se adoptaron los criterios de Fleiss. Resultados: Las tareas de fluidez fonológica y semántica demostraron buena fiabilidad, con un CCI de 0,77 y 0,79. La fluidez de acción obtuvo excelente fiabilidad, con un CCI de 0,9. Conclusión: Las tareas de fluidez relevadas poseen apropiada estabilidad temporal, por lo que se sugiere su uso en investigaciones neuropsicológicas prospectivas (cuando se evalúe el lenguaje en distintos momentos) o cuando se requiera un seguimiento de la evolución de pacientes afásicos en neurorrehabilitación. Basándose en su excelente fiabilidad, se recomienda utilizar con más frecuencia la variante de acción.(AU)

Introduction: The phonological and semantic verbal fluency tasks are frequently used in neuropsychological assessment due to their easy application and good sensitivity to dementia. In Argentina, the psychometric evidence for these tasks is limited, with a special lack of knowledge of the temporal stability of its measurements. The psychometric production is even lower for the action fluency variant (emission of verbs in the infinitive in one minute). In effect, this research analyzes the test-retest reliability of three verbal fluency tasks in Argentine adults. Subjects and methods: The sample was made up of 85 Argentine (average age, 63.7 years), 75,3% women and with a medium-high educational level. A prospective longitudinal design was carried out, administering phonological, semantic and action fluency tasks at two different times with an interval of up to four months. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), a statistical method suggested for test-retest reliability studies, was analyzed. For the interpretation of the ICC, the Fleiss criteria were adopted. Results: The phonological and semantic fluency tasks showed good reliability, with ICCs of 0.77 and 0.79. The fluidity of action variant yielded ICC of 0.90, indicating excellent reliability. Conclusions: All fluency tasks have appropriate temporal stability, and their use is recommended when prospective neuropsychological research is planned (with language evaluation at di fferent times) or as a method of monitoring the evolution of aphasic patients undergoing neurorehabilitation. Based on its excellent reliability, it is recommended to use the action variant more frequently.(AU)

Computational linguistic analysis applied to a semantic fluency task: A replication among first-episode psychosis patients with and without derailment and tangentiality.

Automated tools do not yet exist to measure formal thought disorder, including derailment and tangentiality, both of which can be subjectively rated using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms after a clinical research interview. CoVec, a new automated tool, measures the semantic similarity among words averaged in a five- and ten-word window (Coherence-5 and Coherence-10, respectively). One prior report demonstrated that this tool was able to differentiate between patients with those types of thought disorder and patients without them (and controls). Here, we attempted a replication of the initial findings using data from a different sample of patients hospitalized for initial evaluation of first-episode psychosis. Participants were administered a semantic fluency task and the animal lists were analyzed with CoVec. In this study, we partially replicated the prior findings, showing that first-episode patients with derailment had significantly lower Coherence-5 and Coherence-10 compared with patients without derailment. Further research is warranted on this and other highly reliable and objective methods of detecting formal thought disorder through simple assessments such as semantic fluency tasks.

Computational linguistic analysis applied to a semantic fluency task to measure derailment and tangentiality in schizophrenia.

Although rating scales to assess formal thought disorder exist, there are no objective, high-reliability instruments that can quantify and track it. This proof-of-concept study shows that CoVec, a new automated tool, is able to differentiate between controls and patients with schizophrenia with derailment and tangentiality. According to ratings from the derailment and tangentiality items of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, we divided the sample into three groups: controls, patients without formal thought disorder, and patients with derailment/tangentiality. Their lists of animals produced during a one-minute semantic fluency task were processed using CoVec, a newly developed software that measures the semantic similarity of words based on vector semantic analysis. CoVec outputs were Mean Similarity, Coherence, Coherence-5, and Coherence-10. Patients with schizophrenia produced fewer words than controls. Patients with derailment had a significantly lower mean number of words and lower Coherence-5 than controls and patients without derailment. Patients with tangentiality had significantly lower Coherence-5 and Coherence-10 than controls and patients without tangentiality. Despite the small samples of patients with clinically apparent thought disorder, CoVec was able to detect subtle differences between controls and patients with either or both of the two forms of disorganization.