Abstract
To investigate age changes in naming ability for line drawings divided into semantic categories (SCs) , 117 normal subjects in ten age groups (second grade schoolchildren to sexagenarians) were assessed using a 300-word naming test consisting of 30 SCs. The second grade schoolchildren had the lowest average scores (245.2 words). The mean scores of the older groups steadily increased through the group in their thirties, who had the highest scores (296.9 words) , then decreased, with the group in their sixties having a score of 288.0 words.
A total of 5 SCs were found to have been acquired by second grade schoolchildren and were uninfluenced by age. Thirteen SCs were acquired in the three age groups (third-year high school students, twenties and thirties). Six SCs had deteriorated in the group in their sixties. We also investigated whether there was any correlation between SCs in which patients with semantic memory impairment or aphasia exhibited a specific deficit, and SCs which demonstrated delayed “age of vocabulary acquisition” (i. E., acquisition more than age of second-year junior high school) or vocabulary deterioration with aging.
Results showed no correlation with category-specific impairment for animate objects, but the possibility of a correlation for inanimate objects could not be ruled out.
