Verb fluency task in individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia: a scoping review.

UNLABELLED: Verb fluency tasks have shown promise in detecting and monitoring neurocognitive disorders, such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, due to their higher syntactic and executive demands.

OBJECTIVE

To map evidence on the assessment of verb fluency in individuals with MCI and dementia, focusing on methodologies, performance patterns, and diagnostic accuracy.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted following PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Studies assessing verb fluency in individuals with MCI or dementia were included, without language or publication date restrictions. Searches were performed in PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Embase, and Scopus.

RESULTS

Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria, most with cross-sectional designs and quantitative analyses. Performance followed a consistent gradient, with individuals with dementia showing the greatest impairment, followed by those with MCI and healthy controls. Evidence suggested predictive value for disease progression, contributions to differential diagnosis, and associations with frontotemporal dysfunction. Diagnostic accuracy was moderate.

CONCLUSION

Verb fluency performance reflects the severity of cognitive impairment and may complement other clinical and neuropsychological measures, despite methodological variability.