A novel Chinese letter fluency test applied to healthy youth / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Letter fluency test is one of the important neuropsychological tests which can examine the cognitive function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of human brain.However,there is no successful Chinese version.This research is trying to develop a Chinese letter fluency test similar to the English version,and to provide an effective approach to investigate the function of the PFC of the native Chinese speakers.Methods Thirty 19 ～33 years old healthy native Chinese speakers were chosen (13 men and 17 women).The near-infrared spectroscopy was used to observe the activation of the PFC while the participants carried out the Chinese letter fluency tests.Some of the participants carried out three kinds of letter fluency tests and category fluency test.Results The average score of the Chinese letter fluency test using syllable cue in 60 s was 12.8 ±4.7.The relative value of [oxy-Hb] in 12 channels of 13 ones located in the PFC during carrying out the test was higher than before and after the test significantly (P＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion The novel Chinese letter fluency test using syllable cue is similar to the English version formally.The objective evidence shows that it can activate neural activity located in the PFC of human brain, and can be applied to the native Chinese speakers as a neuropsychological test investigating the function of the PFC.