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Qualitative analysis of verbal fluency in depression
Philippe Fossati1, Le Bastard Guillaume, Anne-Marie Ergis
1Department of Psychiatry, Salpêtrière Hospital, 47 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France. philippe.fossati@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
Psychiatry Research
|February 13, 2003
Summary
Depression impairs semantic verbal fluency, characterized by fewer word switches. This deficit is linked to broader executive function challenges, impacting cognitive flexibility in patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Depression is associated with cognitive deficits.
- Verbal fluency tasks are sensitive measures of executive function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate qualitative aspects of verbal fluency in depression.
- To analyze phonemic and semantic output, including word clustering and switching.
- To explore the relationship between verbal fluency and executive functions in depressed individuals.
Main Methods:
- Administered phonemic and semantic fluency tasks to 25 depressed patients and 19 healthy controls.
- Scored word output for clustering and switching.
- Evaluated executive functions using card sorting tests.
Main Results:
- Depressed patients produced fewer words on semantic fluency tasks compared to controls.
- Phonemic fluency performance was comparable between groups.
- Semantic fluency deficits in depression were linked to reduced switching between word clusters.
- Reduced switching correlated with impaired mental set shifting on card sorting tests.
Conclusions:
- Verbal fluency impairment in depression, particularly semantic fluency, reflects underlying executive dysfunction.
- Cognitive flexibility deficits contribute to difficulties in semantic verbal fluency.
- These findings highlight the impact of executive problems on language processing in depression.