OBJECTIVE: This study compared Brazilian and North American children regarding naming, familiarity and visual complexity of a set of 400 pictures. METHOD: Thirty-six Brazilian children (18 boys) aged 5 to 7 were evaluated. Their characteristics and the study procedure and measures were the same as those employed for the North American population enabling direct comparison of data from the two samples through Spearman rho correlations and Student t tests. RESULTS: Positive significant correlations between overall results of Brazilian and North American children were observed for all measures. Qualitative analysis showed that both groups gave modal names that differed from the intended names for the same 59 pictures. The Brazilian children named 72 pictures differently from the intended names that were correctly named by the North American children, who named 26 pictures differently from the intended names that were correctly named by the Brazilians. CONCLUSION: The 400 picture set was shown to be an adequate tool for use in different cultures. However, it is advisable to avoid pictures that produced naming inconsistencies by the Brazilian and North American children in studies in other cultures with the same age group until specific norms are made available.
OBJECTIVE: This study compared Brazilian and North American children regarding naming, familiarity and visual complexity of a set of 400 pictures. METHOD: Thirty-six Brazilian children (18 boys) aged 5 to 7 were evaluated. Their characteristics and the study procedure and measures were the same as those employed for the North American population enabling direct comparison of data from the two samples through Spearman rho correlations and Student t tests. RESULTS: Positive significant correlations between overall results of Brazilian and North American children were observed for all measures. Qualitative analysis showed that both groups gave modal names that differed from the intended names for the same 59 pictures. The Brazilian children named 72 pictures differently from the intended names that were correctly named by the North American children, who named 26 pictures differently from the intended names that were correctly named by the Brazilians. CONCLUSION: The 400 picture set was shown to be an adequate tool for use in different cultures. However, it is advisable to avoid pictures that produced naming inconsistencies by the Brazilian and North American children in studies in other cultures with the same age group until specific norms are made available.