Effects of age, gender, and education on task performance and prefrontal cortex processing during emotional and non-emotional verbal fluency tests

•Demographic effects on neurocognitive processing during two SFTs were examined.•Age and gender affected non-emotional and emotional SFT performances differently.•The emotional SFT is influenced by overlapping yet distinct demographic variables.•Only age significantly affected PFC activation during SFT performances.•There is a similar age-related reorganization of PFC function across SFT versions.