Generation of isolated words by normal subjects

This study aims at analyzing the performance according to age, sex, and edu cational level in 112 French normal subjects on word generation tests, ie., time-limited production of a noun or a verb semantically linked to a targe t "noun" or "verb". The nature of hits (exclusively production of nouns) ha s moreover been analyzed according to different features of the targets: no rm vs verb, names of natural objects vs handmnde objects, transitive vs int ransitive verbs. Results show 1) a significant effect of age and educationa l level on performance, 2) a degree of difficulty, the verb/verb production test being significantly more difficult than the three other rests, 3) a c onvergency effect according to the natural vs handmade dichotomy, as subjec ts tend to produce, without specific instruction, an item belonging to the same category as that of the stimulus, and 4) object norms tend to be produ ced in response to transitive verbs whereas subject nouns are not predomina ntly produced in response to intransitive verbs.