APHASIC NAMING - WHAT MATTERS

This paper investigates the factors which affect naming performance fo r two groups of aphasic subjects. The effects of word age-of-acquisiti on, operativity, frequency, familiarity, imageability, concreteness, l ength and the visual complexity of the stimulus picture were examined. In contrast to previous studies, we found remarkably small effects of word frequency on naming performance; these studies, we argue, have f ailed to control sufficiently for the effects of variables which inter correlate with frequency. However, many patients were significantly af fected by age-of-acquisition even when any effects of frequency and fa miliarity had been accounted for. Operativity, imageability and word l ength were also predictive of naming performance for some of the patie nts investigated, unlike visual complexity. The applicability of concl usions drawn from groups of aphasics is again thrown into doubt, as th ese two groups showed different patterns of predictor variables, and t he variables affecting the performance of individuals could be differe nt from those affecting the group.