Verbal fluency facilitated by the cholinergic blocker, scopolamine

This study was designed to explore putative facilitatory effects of low doses of scopolamine (SP) on phonemic (letter) and semantic (category) verbal fluency. A double‐blind, parallel‐group design was used with 36 subjects who completed a test battery before and 2 h after 0.6 mg or 1.2 mg of SP or placebo. Fluency measures included total number of words generated, clustering (the production of words within semantic or phonemic subcategories) and switching (the ability to shift efficiently to new subcategories). Low doses of scopolamine increased phonemic fluency, as has been shown previously. Semantic fluency was not increased by SP, although subjects treated with 1.2 mg of SP generated higher‐frequency words. SP did not affect clustering or switching. It is suggested that phonemic and semantic fluency reflect distinct cognitive processes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.