Verbal Fluency and Information Processing Speed in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Study in the Algerian Clinical Setting

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between verbal fluency (lexical and semantic) and information processing speed in patients with Parkinson’s disease in an Algerian clinical setting. A descriptive cross-sectional correlational design was adopted. The Cardebat Verbal Fluency Test and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) were administered to a purposive sample of 10 patients. Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficients between the combined PASAT score and overall, lexical, and semantic verbal fluency were .895, .797, and .882, respectively, all p < .01. Higher verbal-fluency scores were associated with higher PASAT scores in the study sample. Given the small, purposively selected sample, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and do not establish causal relationships. Furthermore, the scores alone do not establish clinically significant impairment in the absence of appropriate normative data.