Comparison of Word Production Ability of Young and Middle-Aged Adults Using Word-Chain Tasks

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the performance on a word-chain task across two age groups (youth: 20~39 years and middle-aged groups: 40~64 years).Methods: In the word-chain task, we analyzed the number of correct responses and reaction times (time from the final consonant/vowel of the previous word to the initial consonant/vowel of the second syllable of the next word). The correlation between the ability of word-chain task and Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), Korean-Mini Mental State Examination, Short form-Korean-Boston Naming Test, Korean-Trail Making Test-Elderly (K-TMT-E) (A,B) & Digit Symbol Coding (DSC) were analyzed.Results: The following results were obtained: (i) with increasing age, the number of the correct responses in the word-chain task’s (p < 0.001) and that of COWAT (p < 0.001) gradually declined; (ii) with increasing age, the number of DSC produced gradually declined (p < 0.001) and response time of K-TMT-E (A,B) also gradually increased; (iii) in both groups, the total number of correct responses of the word-chain task correlated with the number of correct responses of COWAT; (iv) the middle-aged group showed a correlation between the word-chain task and DSC.Conclusion: The ability on the word-chain task might reflect aging and cognitive changes in normal adults.