Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

Performance of Semantic Fluency tasks in Swahili-English Bilinguals

ANN JEMIMAH PETER, Reeny Roy

Abstract


Abstract

Verbal fluency tests i.e. Semantic fluency tasks- are a neurophysiological test of verbal functioning, providing information on multiple cognitive processes used by an individual. Literature has shown that is it still unresolved as to if bilinguals show a specific linguistic disadvantage or advantage over certain cognitive processes in such tasks. This study aims to determine the performance of verbal fluency tasks i.e. semantic tasks amongst native primary language, Swahili (L1) – English (L2) Bilinguals. Semantic fluency data (Animals, Fruits & Objects of daily living) was collected from thirty adults (15:15; Males: Females) in both languages. Data analysis included measures of total number of responses (LR), size of correct productions (SCP) and reaction time (in secs). Results of the current study revealed 1) No overall significant gender effect. 2) Performance of semantic fluency tasks of Animals and Objects of daily living were performed significantly better compared to Fruits in both languages 3) Semantic fluency tasks were performed significantly better in their L2. Concluding that performances of semantic fluency tasks depend on different cognitive strategies. They also postulate the presence of a general lexical access disadvantage and a weak lexical network structure in bilinguals that affect their performance during verbal fluency tasks.

 

Keywords: Bilingualism; Gender; Language effects; Swahili; Verbal fluency tasks

Cite this Article

Ann Jemimah Peter, Reeny Roy. Performance of Semantic Fluency tasks in Swahili-English Bilinguals. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Bioinformatics. 2020; 7(2): 1–8p.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Albanese, E., Capitani, E., Barbarotto, R., & Laiacona, M. (2000). Semantic category dissociations, familiarity and gender. Cortex, 36(5), 733-746.

Baldo, J. V., & Shimamura, A. P. (1998). Letter and category fluency in patients with frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychology, 12(2), 259.

Baus, C., Costa, A., & Carreiras, M. (2013). On the effects of second language immersion on first language production. Actapsychologica, 142(3), 402-409.

Brucki, S. M. D., & Rocha, M. S. G. (2004). Category fluency test: effects of age, gender and education on total scores, clustering and switching in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking subjects. Brazilian journal of medical and biological research, 37(12), 1771-1777.

Chandra, V., Ganguli, M., Pandav, R., Johnston, J., Belle, S., & DeKosky, S. T. (1998). Prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in rural India: the Indo US study. Neurology, 51(4), 1000-1008

Chertkow, H., & Bub, D. (1990). Semantic memory loss in dementia of Alzheimer's type: What do various measures measure?. Brain, 113(2), 397-417.

Costa, A., Miozzo, M., & Caramazza, A. (1999). Lexical selection in bilinguals: Do words in the bilingual's two lexicons compete for selection?. Journal of Memory and language, 41(3), 365-397.

Das, S. K., Bose, P., Biswas, A., Dutt, A., Banerjee, T. K., Hazra, A., & Roy, T. (2007). An epidemiologic study of mild cognitive impairment in Kolkata, India. Neurology, 68(23), 2019-2026.

Friesen, D. C., Luo, L., Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2015). Proficiency and control in verbal fluency performance across the lifespan for monolinguals and bilinguals. Language, cognition and neuroscience, 30(3), 238-250.

Gaillard, W. D., Hertz–Pannier, L., Mott, S. H., Barnett, A. S., LeBihan, D., & Theodore, W. H. (2000). Functional anatomy of cognitive development: fMRI of verbal fluency in children and adults. Neurology, 54(1), 180-180.

Gaillard, W. D., Sachs, B. C., Whitnah, J. R., Ahmad, Z., Balsamo, L. M., Petrella, J. R., ... & Grandin, C. B. (2003). Developmental aspects of language processing: fMRI of verbal fluency in children and adults. Human brain mapping, 18(3), 176-185.

Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., & Werner, G. A. (2002). Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish-English bilinguals. Neuropsychology, 16(4), 562.

Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. K. (2005). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & cognition, 33(7), 1220-1234.

Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (1988). Gender differences in verbal ability: A meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 104(1), 53.

John, S., Jose, L. M., & Rajashekar, B. Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 11: 7 July 2011.

Kavé, G. (2005). Phonemic fluency, semantic fluency, and difference scores: Normative data for adult Hebrew speakers. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27(6), 690-699.

Mathuranath, P. S., George, A., Cherian, P. J., Alexander, A. L., Sarma, S. G., & Sarma, P. S. (2003). Effects of age, education and gender on verbal fluency. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 25(8), 1057-1064.

Michael, E. B., & Gollan, T. H. (2005). Being and becoming bilingual. Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches, 389-407.

Parker, D. M., & Crawford, J. R. (1992). Assessment of Frontal Lobe. A handbook of neuropsychological assessment, 267.

Robinson, G., Shallice, T., Bozzali, M., & Cipolotti, L. (2012). The differing roles of the frontal cortex in fluency tests. Brain, 135(7), 2202-2214.

Rogers, C. L., Lister, J. J., Febo, D. M., Besing, J. M., & Abrams, H. B. (2006). Effects of bilingualism, noise, and reverberation on speech perception by listeners with normal hearing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(3), 465-485.

Roivainen, E. (2011). Gender differences in processing speed: A review of recent research. Learning and Individual differences, 21(2), 145-149.

Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Araujo, K., Weekes, V. A., Caracciolo, V., Padilla, M., & Ostrosky-Solí, F. (2000). Verbal fluency and repetition skills in healthy older Spanish-English bilinguals. Applied neuropsychology, 7(1), 17-24.

Senhorini, M. C., Cerqueira, C. T., Schaufelberger, M. S., Almeida, J. C., Amaro, E., Sato, J. R., & Menezes, P. R. (2011). Brain activity patterns during phonological verbal fluency performance with varying levels of difficulty: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in Portuguese-speaking healthy individuals. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(8), 864-873.

Troyer, A. K., Moscovitch, M., & Winocur, G. (1997). Clustering and switching as two components of verbal fluency: evidence from younger and older healthy adults. Neuropsychology, 11(1), 138.

Troyer, A. K., Moscovitch, M., Winocur, G., Leach, L., & Freedman, M. (1998). Clustering and switching on verbal fluency tests in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4(2), 137-143.

Van Assche, E., Duyck, W., & Gollan, T. H. (2013). Whole-language and item-specific control in bilingual language production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(6), 1781.

Woods, D. L., Wyma, J. M., Yund, E. W., Herron, T. J., & Reed, B. (2015). Factors influencing the latency of simple reaction time. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 9, 131.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2020 Research & Reviews: A Journal of Bioinformatics