A screening test of English naming ability in bilingual Spanish/English speakers

Difficulty with lexical retrieval (naming, in common parlance) is a frequent complaint in many neurological diseases, as well as in more benign conditions such as aging and fatigue. Accordingly, neuropsychological tests of picture naming are widely used in the assessment of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, head injury, epilepsy, stroke, and multiple sclerosis. However, nearly all of these tests were created and standardized on samples of Caucasian, monolingual English speakers. Using a thorough set of selection criteria, the current study identified a set of picture stimuli that should be valid for screening visual naming defects in bilingual Spanish/English speakers. A total of 51 pictures were identified, and data regarding important parameters of these stimuli (e.g., predominant response, types of responses) are provided. The results provide an important first step toward creating a valid neuropsychological screening test of English picture naming for Spanish/English bilingual speakers and have important clinical implications in light of the fact that this population is rapidly increasing in the United States.