Verbal Fluency Test: a historical-critical review of fluency concept

Abstract

Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) is one of the most used tests in neuropsychology, although the concept of fluency that underlies the test has been rarely discussed. In this way, this study aims to present a historical-critical review of VFT, its genesis and modifications until now, in light of Discursive-Enunciation Neurolinguistic. The review points the concept of fluency in VFT shows to be more related to a verbal quantitative production perspective than to a linguistic process comprehension that allows this production. Also, there is a conceptual change of fluency concept in neuropsychology, so that fluency is no longer considered as an isolated intelligence factor, to be considered a task that mobilizes other cognitive activities such as memory, attention, vocabulary, among others. In this sense, VFT has not been focusing on linguistic fluency but on cognitive fluency through verbal production.