Age, gender, and education effects on vocabulary measures in Greek

Abstract

Background: Assessment of lexical/semantic knowledge—the ability to retrieve phonological, lexical, and general (semantic) information from long term memory—can be performed with a variety of tests varying in response requirements.

Aims: The present study explores the impact of demographic variables on three such tests.

Methods & Procedures: The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Vocabulary subtest from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), and the Boston Naming Test (BNT) were used in a representative sample of 500 Greek community-dwelling adults aged 50–84 years.

Outcomes & Results: Education effects were generally stronger than age effects, and were strongest on the WASI. Age effects (independent of educational level) were highest for the BNT and lowest for the WASI Vocabulary. Relationships among tests and also between each vocabulary test and an index of non-verbal intelligence are also discussed.

Keywords:

• Boston Naming Test
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
• WASI
• Age
• Gender
• Education effects

Notes

¹ This change in the standard administration procedure of the BNT was decided on the basis of results of the pilot study indicating that the phonemic cue (which was then provided first in case of an incorrect response or inability to provide any response) was clearly ineffective among older participants (60–70 years old): Correct answers elicited by phonemic cues amounted only to 1.4% of the total number of correct responses in the entire sample, whereas correct anwers following a semantic cue amounted to 8% of total correct responses. This finding is perhaps accounted for by the fact that oral spelling of words is not practised in schools and is not used in everyday life in Greece.

² Standardisation of the WASI in the Greek population is under way by another group (Messinis, Lyros, Georgiou, & Papathanasopoulos, 2009). Tests used in this report were adapted for research purposes with permission from NCS Pearson, Inc., San Antonio, TX.