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The Semantic Association Test (SAT): normative data from healthy Italian participants and a validation study in aphasic patients

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Abstract  

The Semantic Association Test assesses several aspects of Semantic Memory (Categorical, Encyclopedic, Functional, and Visual Encyclopedic associations: CAs, EAs, FAs and VEAs), using a picture-to-picture matching paradigm. Normative data were collected from a group of 329 healthy participants (178 females) with mean 51.1 (range 20–90) years of age and mean 11.89 (range 5–19) years of education. Raw scores of healthy participants, pre-calculated correction factors for age and educational level, and Equivalent Scores are provided. The SAT was validated in a sample of 139 left brain–damaged persons with aphasia (PWA). Both groups (healthy participants and PWA) scored worse in the CA and EA conditions. The performance of the PWA group was overall defective, and global aphasics scored worse than persons with other types of aphasia. However, several PWA did not show impairments in the SAT. Dissociations were also found, with individual PWA showing defective performance confined to a single category. These results present the SAT as a tool that is useful to detect impairments of visual Semantic Memory, providing normative data from healthy participants and a validation study in PWA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Ilaria Lambiase and Elena Mortarotti, who took part in data collection for the partial fulfilment of their BA in speech and language therapy.

Funding

This research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health to the IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy

    Elisabetta Banco & Mariagrazia Briguglio

  2. Department of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, Casa Di Cura del Policlinico, Milan, Italy

    Laura Veronelli

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Claudio Luzzatti & Giuseppe Vallar

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  1. Elisabetta Banco
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  2. Laura Veronelli
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  3. Mariagrazia Briguglio
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  4. Claudio Luzzatti
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Claudio Luzzatti and Giuseppe Vallar gave an equal contribution to this article.

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Correspondence to Elisabetta Banco.

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The study was designed according to the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethical Committee of the IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano (Studio 25C122).

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Banco, E., Veronelli, L., Briguglio, M. et al. The Semantic Association Test (SAT): normative data from healthy Italian participants and a validation study in aphasic patients. Neurol Sci 44, 1575–1586 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-022-06543-5

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