INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF EDUCATION ON SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY PERFORMANCE

Abstract

This paper examined how education levels might influence Semantic Verbal Fluency (SVF) within a Singaporean sample. Two questions were pursued in this study. First, how education affects the number of words produced in two different SVF categories, namely animals, and fruits and vegetables. Second, how education affects switching and clustering strategies used to complete the animals task. 60 healthy middle-aged participants were recruited and the sample was divided into two groups - high-education and low-education. Analyses revealed that participants generated more words in the fruits and vegetables category than the animals category. However, education level did not influence overall SVF performance and the interaction between education and SVF categories was non-significant. High-education and low-education groups also did not differ in switching and clustering strategies used to complete the animals task. These results demonstrate that education may not be a crucial variable in affecting SVF performance in these two categories, and highlights the complex relationship between education and SVF. This study promotes the understanding of the relationship between education and SVF in this particular age group and extends the SVF literature currently available for cognitively-intact Singaporeans. Other implications and directions for future research are discussed.