UIC Department of Psychiatry

Tests of fluency measure the speeded production of verbal or nonverbal responses under particular constraints. Fluency tests are routinely administered in clinical neuropsychological evaluations of older adults because they serve as a marker for frontal lobe dysfunction in individuals with and without dementia. Numerous studies have documented age-related declines in verbal fluency and sex-related differences in verbal fluency performance. We aim to determine which fluency test shows the largest age and sex effects and which test shows the highest correlation with other measures known to be sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction. We are recruiting men and women between the ages of 30 and 60.