The relationship between verbal fluency performance and grocery shopping in participants with and without moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury. An initial investigation

Background: Individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often report some degree of chronic and disabling cognitive-linguistic sequelae following injury. The presence of these deficits may impair a survivor's ability to complete a functional task such as grocery shopping. Recently, researchers have suggested that performance on verbal fluency tasks is associated with greater independence in completing this type of task.Aims: To determine whether performance on tasks of verbal fluency is associated with greater independence in grocery shopping in younger participants with and without moderate-to-severe TBI.Methods & Procedures: Three participants with moderate-to-severe TBI and three participants without moderate-to-severe brain injury were asked to generate as many words as possible for the letters F, A, and S under the phonemic condition and for the categories of animals and boys' names under the semantic condition, and complete a task of grocery shopping. Responses were analysed quantitatively.Outcomes & Results: Performance on the phonemic verbal fluency task was associated with greater speed and accuracy in completing the shopping task. Participants who generated a greater number of correct words for the letter A spent significantly less time shopping. Those who produced a greater number of repetition errors on the phonemic verbal fluency task required significantly more time to shop. Participants who produced a greater number of total correct words for the letters F, A, and S combined were significantly more efficient at shopping, with efficiency defined as the ability to locate all 10 items while visiting as few aisles and sections of the grocery store as possible. No significant correlations were observed between performance on the semantic verbal fluency task and the shopping task.Conclusions: Performance on a task of phonemic verbal fluency may be particularly useful in predicting who may or may not have difficulty in completing a functional task such as grocery shopping following moderate-to-severe TBI. The ability to produce a greater number of total correct words while inhibiting errors may be critical for efficacious performance on these types of tasks.