Η Επίδραση του Αρνητικού και του Θετικού Θυμικού στη Λεκτική Ευχέρεια Ατόμων Προχωρημένης Ηλικίας

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of affect on verbal fluency of persons aged 55 years and more, as well as the effect of individualdemographic factors on verbal fluency, through affect. The sample was consisted of 60 persons spanning a distribution of ages between late middle age and old age. The participants were administered the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Verbal Fluency Test of the DKEFS neuropsychological battery. Results suggested that among the affective factors, it was only the presence of depression symptoms that significantly reduced performance in all verbal fluency tasks. Furthermore, individualdemographic factors as age, educational level and physical exercise appeared to influence directly, and not through the affective factors, verbal fluency of older people. More specifically, age was found to have a statistically significant negative effect on all tasks of verbal fluency. On the contrary, educational level had a positive effect on participants’ performance on verbal fluency tasks. Physical exercise also served as a factor of compensation, concerning the decline in performance, especially on the second verbal fluency task.