ABSTRACT
Verbal fluency or word generation tasks are among the most common tests used in clinical neuropsychological evaluation. Administration of fluency tasks involves allowing a limited amount of time for an individual to name as many words as possible according to specified rules. On phonemic fluency, words are generated that begin with a given letter such as “F,” and on semantic fluency, words are generated that belong to a given category such as “animals.” Traditionally, the score of interest is the total number of words generated within the allotted time period. However, as reviewed below, fluency tasks are multifactorial, involving a number of cognitive processes. As such, the traditional total score calculated does not fully capture the important aspects of any given individual's performance.
