Helenice Charchat Fichman|Conceição Santos Fernandes|Ricardo Nitríni|Roberto Alves Lourenço|Emylucy Martins de Paiva Paradela|Maria Teresa Carthery?Goulart|Paulo Caramelli
Age and educational level effects on the performance of normal elderly on category verbal fluency tasks
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro|Universidade de São Paulo|Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro|Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro|Universidade de São Paulo|Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro|Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro|Universidade de São Paulo|Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
abstract cognitive decline particularly executive dysfunction observed normal aging brazil elderly population presents broad educational diversity category verbal fluency tests frequently used detect cognitive impairment assessing executive function language semantic memory objective investigate effects age education category animal fluency task caf healthy elderly methods evaluated 319 healthy elderly outpatient care units two university reference centers rio de janeiro paulo sample divided two age five schooling subgroups included participants demonstrate preservation global cognitive functioning independence activities daily living fulfill diagnostic criteria dementia participants submitted neurological neuropsychological evaluations results correlation age caf performance r 026 plt001 confirmed years education included covariant univariate ancova significant differences found caf performance among different educational level groups correlation analysis r042 plt001 ancova analysis f188 plt005 illiteracy associated worst caf performance university level associated best performance conclusion best caf performance found first years schooling literacy learning process compared illiteracy finishing high school starting university courses compared educational levels stages associated significant gains semantic memory executive function critical verbal fluency performance