Changes in naming ability with age

Abstract

We administered to 80 optimally healthy subjects, 30-80 years old, the Boston Naming Test, a test of confrontation naming. Results indicated that naming ability remains fairly stable across the adult life span until individuals are in their 70s, at which point there is a significant decline in performance (p less than or equal to .0001). Semantic errors (i.e., circumlocutions, semantically related associates, and nominalizations) and perceptual errors increase with age. Lexical errors (i.e., phonologically related real words and phonologically related nonwords) do not increase with age. Results of multiple regressions that included other neuropsychological variables indicate that estimated IQ, but not new learning ability, predicts a subject's naming score.