Verbal fluency development across the lifespan: The effects of age, gender, and education

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the trajectories of phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) and semantic verbal fluency (SVF) across the lifespan in the Greek language and explore the effect of age, gender, and education on individuals’ performance. Method: To this end, a total of 1,426 native speakers of Greek, ranging from 4 to over 75 years old, participated in the study. The sample was organized into 25 distinct age groups to ensure a detailed analysis across developmental stages. Results: The results indicated a similar developmental trajectory for both PVF and SVF. Moreover, a strong effect of all three variables on individuals’ performance was demonstrated. More specifically, verbal fluency performance increased steadily during childhood and adolescence, reaching a peak around the age of 40 (∂SVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 39.98; ∂PVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 40.1), and followed by a gradual decline in later adulthood. Women (∂SVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 42.98; ∂PVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 42.07) revealed a better performance (p < .001) than men (∂SVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 39.23; ∂PVF ∂Age = 0,Age = 38.86), especially after the age of 40–45 years, while higher levels of education were associated with better performance in adults. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of demographic factors in shaping verbal fluency abilities and underscore the need for age-, gender-, and education-sensitive assessments in clinical and educational contexts. Further research, however, is needed to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying these effects and especially the timing of the beginning of cognitive decline.