SNAFU: The Semantic Network and Fluency Utility
What is SNAFU?
The semantic fluency task is frequently used in psychology by both researchers and clinicians. SNAFU is a tool that helps you analyze fluency data. It can help with:
Counting cluster switches and cluster sizes
Counting perseverations
Detecting intrusions
Calculating average age-of-acquisition and word frequency
…more!
SNAFU also implements multiple network estimation methods which allow you to perform network analysis on your data (see Zemla & Austerweil, 2018). These methods include:
U-INVITE networks
Pathfinder networks
Correlation-based networks
Naive random walk network
Conceptual networks
First Edge networks
How do I use SNAFU??
SNAFU can be used as a Python library or as a stand-alone GUI. The Python library is available at:
https://github.com/AusterweilLab/snafu-py
To install directly:
pip install git+https://github.com/AusterweilLab/snafu-py
The GitHub repository contains several demo files, and a tutorial covering some basic usage is available in Zemla et al., 2020.
A graphical front-end is also available, though it contains fewer features than the Python library. Download it here:
macOS
Windows
How can I reference SNAFU?
The primary citation for SNAFU is:
Zemla, J. C., Cao, K., Mueller, K. D., & Austerweil, J. L. (2020). SNAFU: The semantic network and fluency utility. Behavior Research Methods, 52, 1681-1699.
Additional citations depending on specific data files used:
animals_snafu_scheme.csv Troyer (2000), Hills et al. (2012)
foods_snafu_scheme.csv Troyer (2000)
kuperman.csv (AoA norms) Kuperman et al. (2012)
subtlex-us.csv (Word frequency) Brysbaert & New (2009)
Dutch_animals_snafu_scheme.csv Rofes et al. (2023) GitHub Link
animals_Scheme_Greek_Karousou_v.01.2.csv Karousou et al. (2023)
animals_ESnoaccent_scheme.csv Neergaard et al. (2025)
animals_snafu_mexican_spanish.csv Adapted by Yamilka Garcia Avila and Yaira Chamorro
Italian scheme Provided by Sabia Costantini (Universität Potsdam)
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