Controlled oral word association task

From Psy3242

About

The Controlled Oral Word Association Task, also known as the COWAT, is a neuropsychological exam used to examine a person’s verbal fluency. It assesses the subject’s ability to spontaneously produce words beginning with a specific letter. The COWAT allows the subject one minute to produce as many words possible when given a letter that the word should start with. The most common combination of letters is FAS, but CFL and PRW are also used at times. The tester would say the letter F and give the subject one minute to respond with as many words beginning with F as possible. Then give them one minute to come up with as many words as possible beginning with the letter A, and then the same for the letter S. The sequence of letters creates difficulty formulating words for the list. A list should consist of about 15 words.

Different forms of this procedure exist. Most frequently used for assessing verbal fluency and the ease with which a person can think of words that begin with a specific letter.