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The analysis of the relationships between cognitive reserve and different cognitive domains has become a matter of interest since it can help us detect deviations from the typical ageing process. The main objective of our study was to analyse a structural equation model representing cognitive reserve’s relationships with three cognitive domains (episodic memory, working memory, and sentence comprehension) in older adults with subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment patients, in a cross-sectional study. A total of 266 Spanish-speaking older adults, from 65 to 80 years old, voluntarily participated in the study. The assessment protocol includes questionnaires as well as screening and domain-specific tests, providing relevant information for the classification of participants in the two groups previously mentioned (n1 = 150 and n2 = 116). The proposed model presented metric and configural invariance as well as stability across groups, since the indices reflecting goodness-of-fit reach acceptable values. Our hypotheses are partially confirmed since cognitive reserve strongly influences working memory and it does moderately in sentence comprehension in both groups, but it hardly influences episodic memory in the subjective cognitive decline group, while both are inversely associated in the patients’ group. Working memory could be considered as a mechanism through which cognitive reserve exerts its protector role on other cognitive domains: on sentence comprehension in both groups, and on episodic memory in the subjective cognitive decline group. However, in mild cognitive impairments patients, cognitive reserve does no longer influence episodic memory via working memory in a significant manner., Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia affecting the central nervous system, and alteration of several visual structures has been reported. Structural retinal changes are usually accompanied by changes in visual function in this disease. The aim of this study was to analyse the differences in visual function at different stages of the pathology (family history group (FH+), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), mild AD and moderate AD) in comparison with a control group of subjects with no cognitive decline and no family history of AD. Methods: We included 53 controls, 13 subjects with FH+, 23 patients with MCI, 25 patients with mild AD and, 21 patients with moderate AD. All were ophthalmologically healthy. Visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity (CS), colour perception, visual integration, and fundus examination were performed. Results: The analysis showed a statistically significant decrease in VA, CS and visual integration score between the MCI, mild AD and moderate AD groups compared to the control group. In the CS higher frequencies and in the colour perception test (total errors number), statistically significant differences were also observed in the MCI, mild AD and moderate AD groups with respect to the FH+ group and also between the control and AD groups. The FH+ group showed no statistically significant difference in visual functions compared to the control group. All the test correlated with the Mini Mental State Examination score and showed good predictive value when memory decline was present, with better values when AD was at a more advanced stage. Conclusion: Alterations in visual function appear in subjects with MCI and evolve when AD is established, being stable in the initial stages of the disease (mild AD and moderate AD). Therefore, visual psychophysical tests are a useful, simple and complementary tool to neuropsychological tests to facilitate diagnosis in the preclinical and early stages of AD., Research Network RETIBRAIN, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiviness, NEUROCENTRO. IL-C, Complutense University of Madrid, Depto. de Inmunología, Oftalmología y ORL, Fac. de Óptica y Optometría, TRUE, pub

Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Objective: This paper reports normative data for different attentional tests obtained from a sample of middle-aged and older native Spanish adults and considering effects of age, educational level and sex. Method: 2,597 cognitively intact participants, aged from 50 to 98 years old, participated voluntarily in the SCAND consortium studies. The statistical procedure included conversion of percentile ranges into scaled scores. The effects of age, education and sex were taken into account. Linear regressions were used to calculate adjusted scaled scores. Results: Scaled scores and percentiles corresponding to the TMT, Digit Symbol and Letter Cancellation Task are shown. Additional tables show the values to be added to or subtracted from the scaled scores, for age and education in the case of the TMT and Letter Cancellation Task measures, and for education in the case of the Digit Symbol subtest. Conclusions: The current norms provide clinically useful data for evaluating Spanish people aged 50 to 98 years old and contribute to improving detection of initial symptoms of cognitive impairment., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Introduction: Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) is a largely unknown state thought to represent a preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) previous to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the course of network disruption in these stages is scarcely characterized. Methods: We employed resting state magnetoencephalography in the source space to calculate network smallworldness, clustering, modularity and transitivity. Nodal measures (clustering and node degree) as well as modular partitions were compared between groups. Results: The MCI group exhibited decreased smallworldness, clustering and transitivity and increased modularity in theta and beta bands. SCD showed similar but smaller changes in clustering and transitivity, while exhibiting alterations in the alpha band in opposite direction to those showed by MCI for modularity and transitivity. At the node level, MCI disrupted both clustering and nodal degree while SCD showed minor changes in the latter. Additionally, we observed an increase in modular partition variability in both SCD and MCI in theta and beta bands. Conclusion: SCD elders exhibit a significant network disruption, showing intermediate values between HC and MCI groups in multiple parameters. These results highlight the relevance of cognitive concerns in the clinical setting and suggest that network disorganization in AD could start in the preclinical stages before the onset of cognitive symptoms., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Loneliness is considered a prognostic factor for poorer health status in the elderly. It is proposed to analyze the role of loneliness in health status in terms of various factors. A total of 1747 individuals from the pilot survey of the Aging in Spain Longitudinal Study (ELES-PS) were reviewed. ELES is a cross-sectional study for collecting health variables, food habits, socioeconomic data, and cognitive and functional capacities, which was carried out on a Spanish representative sample of noninstitutionalized persons of 50 years of age or older. Moreover, since telomere shortening is associated with cellular senescence, 35 telomere-related SNPs and cognitive impairments were analyzed. The results characterize the “solos” as males of 50–60 years, who were overweight and had lower levels of hemoglobin and neutrophils. There is also an association between five SNPs related to telomere length and BDNF. A group of people with loneliness and depression was identified with poorer health and cognitive status, poorer perception of their quality of life, poorer quality of sleep, and lower physical activity. Therefore, it follows that telomeres and BDNF play a role as intermediaries between loneliness and depression and their relationship with a worse state of health., UCM-SANTANDER, Depto. de Medicina Legal, Psiquiatría y Patología, Fac. de Medicina, TRUE, pub

The present study explores if cognitive reserve, executive functions, and working memory capacity are predictive of performance in the language domain (specifically in sentence comprehension and naming) after a cognitive training intervention. Sixty six Spanish older adults voluntarily participated in the study, classified either as older adults with subjective cognitive decline according to Jessen et al.’s (2014) criteria (n = 35; 70.94 +/- 4.16 years old) or cognitively intact (n = 31; 71.34 +/- 4.96 years old). Written sentence comprehension and visual confrontation naming were assessed both immediately after recruitment (at the baseline), and then 6 months later, once each participant had completed his/her cognitive training (a well-known program in Spain, called UMAM; English translation: Madrid City Council Memory Unit Program). Cognitive reserve, executive functions (cognitive flexibility and controlled interference efficiency), and working memory capacity were measured for all participants at the baseline. Results pointed out that the subjective cognitive decline group presented greater benefits in the language domain than cognitively intact participants. We also observed that lower executive functioning and working memory capacity at the baseline predicted larger benefits in language performance after training, but only in the group of cognitively intact older adults. However, selected predictors hardly explained subjective cognitive decline participants’ results in language performance after training., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes (España), Fundación La Caixa, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Cognitive reserve has been defined as the individuals’ ability to tolerate age-related and neurodegenerative changes in the brain without developing clinical symptoms or signs of disease. Formal education, occupational attainment, and knowledge of other languages have been assessed as the most relevant factors determining cognitive reserve. The main objective of this study was to develop a structural equation model that reflects the direct influence of cognitive reserve on old adults’ general cognitive status and executive functioning, and indirectly on sentence comprehension performance through executive functions mediation. One hundred and fifty eight Spanish-speaking older adults, cognitively intact, were assessed to obtain cognitive reserve data, general cognitive status, executive functioning (inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility), and sentence comprehension measures. High indicators of adjustment of the proposed model were obtained. The most related factors to cognitive reserve were education and occupational attainment. As we hypothesize, cognitive reserve had a higher direct significant relation to cognitive status and, in a lesser extent, to executive functioning. Participants’ general cognitive status and executive function were high and directly related. Furthermore, cognitive reserve has an indirect positive relation to sentence comprehension via executive functions’ mediation., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Background: Recent studies demonstrated that brain hypersynchrony is an early sign of dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD) that can represent a proxy for clinical progression. Conversely, non-pharmacological interventions, such as cognitive training (COGTR), are associated with cognitive gains that may be underpinned by a neuroprotective effect on brain synchrony. Objective: To study the potential of COGTR to modulate brain synchrony and to eventually revert the hypersynchrony phenomenon that characterizes preclinical AD. Methods: The effect of COGTR was examined in a sample of healthy controls (HC, n = 41, 22 trained) and individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD, n = 49, 24 trained). Magnetoencephalographic activity and neuropsychological scores were acquired before and after a ten-week COGTR intervention aimed at improving cognitive function and daily living performance. Functional connectivity (FC) was analyzed using the phase-locking value. A mixed-effects ANOVA model with factors time (pre-intervention/post-intervention), training (trained/non-trained), and diagnosis (HC/SCD) was used to investigate significant changes in FC. Results: We found an average increase in alpha-band FC over time, but the effect was different in each group (trained and non-trained). In the trained group (HC and SCD), we report a reduction in the increase in FC within temporo-parietal and temporo-occipital connections. In the trained SCD group, this reduction was stronger and showed a tentative correlation with improved performance in different cognitive tests. Conclusion: COGTR interventions could mitigate aberrant increases in FC in preclinical AD, promoting brain synchrony normalization in groups at a higher risk of developing dementia., Comunidad de Madrid, Comisión Europea, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Depto. de Radiología, Rehabilitación y Fisioterapia, Fac. de Psicología, Fac. de Medicina, FALSE, pub

The consideration of Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) as a preclinical stage of AD remains still a matter of debate. Alpha band alterations represent one of the most significant changes in the electrophysiological profile of AD. In particular, AD patients exhibit reduced alpha relative power and frequency. We used alpha band activity measured with MEG to study whether SCD and MCI elders present these electrophysiological changes characteristic of AD, and to determine the evolution of the observed alterations across AD spectrum. The total sample consisted of 131 participants: 39 elders without SCD, 41 elders with SCD and 51 MCI patients. All of them underwent MEG and MRI scans and neuropsychological assessment. SCD and MCI patients exhibited a similar reduction in alpha band activity compared with the no SCD group. However, only MCI patients showed a slowing in their alpha peak frequency compared with both SCD and no SCD. These changes in alpha band were related to worse cognition. Our results suggest that AD-related alterations may start in the SCD stage, with a reduction in alpha relative power. It is later, in the MCI stage, where the slowing of the spectral profile takes place, giving rise to objective deficits in cognitive functioning., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Bilingualism has been said to improve cognition and even delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This research aimed to investigate whether bilingualism leaves a neurophysiological trace even when people are highly educated. We expected bilinguals to present better preserved brain functional networks, which could be a trace of higher cognitive reserve. With this purpose, we conducted a magnetoencephalographic study with a group of healthy older adults. We estimated functional connectivity using phase-locking value and found five clusters in parieto-occipital regions in which bilinguals exhibited greater functional connectivity than monolinguals. These clusters included brain regions typically implicated in language processing. Furthermore, these functional changes correlated with caudate volumes (a key region in language shifting and control) in the bilingual sample. Interestingly, decreased Functional Connectivity between posterior brain regions had already been identified as an indicator of aging/preclinical AD but, according to our study, bilingualism seems to exert the opposite effect., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Introduction: Semantic verbal fluency is a useful neuropsychological tool since it involves language and executive abilities that can be impaired in patients with neurodegenerative diseases in comparison to healthy controls. The present study explores retrieve and executive control processes using traditional quantitative and qualitative raw scores and examines the utility of multidimensional scaling combined with linear regression to provide new insights about the underlying semantic network in mild cognitive impairment and in healthy older adults. Method: A total of 165 Spanish older adults, 81 patients and 84 controls, were assessed in different cognitive domains and evoked animal names in one minute. Group differences on fluency raw scores were first explored. Regressions using tests to predict groups’ fluency scores were also performed. The 12 animals that had been produced more frequently were selected to perform a multidimensional scaling analysis for each group. Four features related to animal names were extracted from normative studies and then were used as predictors in linear regression to provide an interpretation of the resulting dimensions’ coordinates. Results: Patients performed worse on memory and naming and produced a shorter list of animals than controls. In controls, naming and visual memory explained a small part of variance related to the total of animals produced and to the number of switches. Both groups exhibited similar semantic maps. Conclusions: Results suggest that patients’ map is influenced by words with a dense associative neighborhood that were acquired at an early age, whereas in controls none of the predictors explained dimensions., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) prevalence is rapidly growing as worldwide populations grow older. Available treatments have failed to slow down disease progression, thus increasing research focus towards early or preclinical stages of the disease. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is known to increase the risk of developing AD and several other negative outcomes. However, it is still very scarcely characterized and there is no neurophysiological study devoted to its individual classification which could improve targeted sample recruitment for clinical trials. Methods Two hundred fifty-two older adults (70 healthy controls, 91 SCD, and 91 MCI) underwent a magnetoencephalography scan. Alpha relative power in the source space was employed to train a LASSO classifier and applied to distinguish between healthy controls and SCD. Moreover, MCI participants were used to further validate the previously trained algorithm. Results The classifier was significantly associated to SCD with an AUC of 0.81 in the whole sample. After randomly splitting the sample in 2/3 for discovery and 1/3 for validation, the newly trained classifier was also able to correctly classify SCD individuals with an AUC of 0.75 in the validation sample. The regions selected by the algorithm included medial frontal, temporal, and occipital areas. The algorithm trained to select SCD individuals was also significantly associated to MCI diagnostic. Conclusions According to our results, magnetoencephalography could be a useful tool for distinguishing individuals with SCD and healthy older adults without cognitive concerns. Furthermore, our classifier showed good external validity, being not only successful for an unseen SCD sample, but also in a different population with MCI cases. This supports its utility in the context of preclinical dementia. These findings highlight the potential applications of electrophysiological techniques to improve sample recruitment at the individual level in the context of c, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

El objeto del proyecto es realizar una reflexión conjunta de profesores en diferentes departamentos, con el fin de identificar aquellos ítems, planteados por Docentia-UCM, que han arrojado resultados mejorables. Posteriormente serán contrastados con un panel de docentes calificados como “excelentes” (de los que algunos ya forman parte del presente proyecto), en base al programa, con excelencia en una jornada de reflexión, abierta a todos los profesores de cada departamento implicado, y a los delegados de las asignaturas impartidas por dicho departamento. Se busca la mejora de las evaluaciones de los profesores.

La evidencia científica señala la disminución progresiva de las funciones cognitivas a lo largo del proceso de envejecimiento. La preocupación por un funcionamiento cognitivo eficaz no sólo aparece en edades avanzadas, también las personas adultas presentan dificultades en capacidades cognitivas como la memoria o las funciones ejecutivas. Para lograr un mejor rendimiento de las capacidades cognitivas, especialmente la memoria, es necesario entre otras cuestiones el uso de estrategias de memoria, además de un estilo de vida activa y saludable que promueva niveles altos de reserva cognitiva. Aunque una de las quejas de salud más frecuentes en el envejecimiento está relacionada con la memoria, todavía no está claro si los déficits de memoria impiden el recuerdo o si también influye una deficiente organización de la información. El objetivo general de este trabajo fue estudiar el rendimiento en una tarea de evaluación de la memoria y las funciones ejecutivas mediante el Test de Estrategias de Memoria (TEM), para observar cómo cambia el uso de estrategias de memoria en diferentes etapas de la vida y detectar posibles alteraciones en el envejecimiento. Además, los objetivos específicos fueron investigar la importancia del efecto de primacía y recencia en esta prueba, estudiar la relación del TEM con otras pruebas de evaluación de la memoria y las funciones ejecutivas y analizar el papel de la reserva cognitiva en el desempeño de estas pruebas...

El enfoque de Resolución de Problemas antes de la Instrucción (RP-I) puede contribuir a que los alumnos procesen la información de forma más reflexiva. En el presente proyecto RP-I se aplicó en un curso de introducción a la estadística de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid durante la lección de medidas de variabilidad. El total de alumnos participantes fue 31, entre los que se realizó una evaluación experimental sobre la eficacia del método RP-I en términos de aprendizaje, emociones, y satisfacción de los alumnos. Sólo 12 alumnos completaron la evaluación. Los resultados de estos alumnos mostraron mayor aprendizaje en los alumnos que resolvieron problemas antes de recibir instrucción, en comparación con un grupo de control de alumnos que recibió instrucción antes de realizar problemas (I-RP). Específicamente, esta ventaja se observó principalmente en términos de conocimiento procedimental y conceptual. Sin embargo, no se observaron diferencias en términos de emociones y satisfacción de los alumnos. Estos resultados se discuten con vistas a posibles aplicaciones educativas.

La evidencia científica señala la disminución progresiva de las funciones cognitivas a lo largo del proceso de envejecimiento. La preocupación por un funcionamiento cognitivo eficaz no sólo aparece en edades avanzadas, también las personas adultas presentan dificultades en capacidades cognitivas como la memoria o las funciones ejecutivas. Para lograr un mejor rendimiento de las capacidades cognitivas, especialmente la memoria, es necesario entre otras cuestiones el uso de estrategias de memoria, además de un estilo de vida activa y saludable que promueva niveles altos de reserva cognitiva. Aunque una de las quejas de salud más frecuentes en el envejecimiento está relacionada con la memoria, todavía no está claro si los déficits de memoria impiden el recuerdo o si también influye una deficiente organización de la información. El objetivo general de este trabajo fue estudiar el rendimiento en una tarea de evaluación de la memoria y las funciones ejecutivas mediante el Test de Estrategias de Memoria (TEM), para observar cómo cambia el uso de estrategias de memoria en diferentes etapas de la vida y detectar posibles alteraciones en el envejecimiento. Además, los objetivos específicos fueron investigar la importancia del efecto de primacía y recencia en esta prueba, estudiar la relación del TEM con otras pruebas de evaluación de la memoria y las funciones ejecutivas y analizar el papel de la reserva cognitiva en el desempeño de estas pruebas..., Scientific evidence has pointed to a progressive decline of cognitive functions throughout the aging process. The concern about effective cognitive functioning not only appears in advanced age, but also in those adults’ showing difficulties in cognitive behaviour, such as memory or executive functions. In order to improve those cognitive functions (emphasis in memory), the usage of specific memory strategies along with a healthy lifestyle will promote a better level of cognitive reserve. Although one of the most frequent health complaints caused by aging is related to poor memory, it is still unclear whether loss of memory impedes recall, or whether this is also due to poorly organized information.The general aim of this investigation was to study performance in a task that evaluates memory and executive functions through the Test of Memory Strategies (TMS) in order to observe how the usage of memory strategies change at different stages of life and detect possible variations in aging. In addition, the specific aims were to investigate the importance of the effect of primacy and recency in the TMS, to study the relationship of TMS with other tests that evaluates memory and executive functions, and also, to analyze the role of cognitive reserve on these tests...

Detecting cognitive impairment is a priority for health systems. The aim of this study is to create normative data on screening tests (MMSE, GDS and MFE) for middle-aged and older Spanish adults, considering the effects of sociodemographic factors. Method: A total of 2,030 cognitively intact subjects who lived in the community, aged from 50 to 88 years old, participated voluntarily in SCAND consortium studies. The statistical procedure included the conversion of percentile ranges into scalar scores. Secondly, the effects of age, educational level and gender were verified. Linear regressions were used to calculate the scalar adjusted scores. Cut-off values for each test were also calculated. Results: Scalar scores and percentiles corresponding to MMSE, GDS-15 and MFE are shown. An additional table is provided which shows the points that must be added or subtracted from MMSE score depending on the subject’s educational level. Conclusions: The current norms should provide clinically useful data for evaluating Spanish people aged 50 to 88 years old and should contribute to improving the detection of initial symptoms of cognitive impairment in people living in the community, taking into account the influence of gender, age and educational level, Detectar el deterioro cognitivo es una prioridad del sistema sanitario. El objetivo de este estudio es la presentación de datos normativos de pruebas de cribado (MMSE, GDS y MFE) para adultos españoles de mediana edad y adultos mayores, considerando los efectos de factores sociodemográficos. Método: en los estudios realizados por el consorcio SCAND participaron voluntariamente 2.030 personas cognitivamente sanas, de 50 a 88 años, residentes en su comunidad. El procedimiento estadístico supuso la conversión de rangos percentiles en puntuaciones escalares. Posteriormente, se comprobaron los efectos de la edad, el nivel educativo y el género. Se utilizaron regresiones lineales para calcular las puntuaciones escalares ajustadas. También se calcularon los puntos de corte para cada prueba. Resultados: se muestran las puntuaciones escalares y los percentiles correspondientes a MMSE, GDS-15 y MFE. Además, se presenta una tabla que muestra los puntos que deben sumarse o restarse a la puntuación del MMSE dependiendo del nivel educativo del individuo. Conclusiones: los datos normativos presentados tienen una utilidad clínica para evaluar a población española de 50 a 88 años, y contribuyen a mejorar la detección de los síntomas iniciales del deterioro cognitivo teniendo en cuenta la influencia del género, la edad y el nivel educativo

El objetivo del proyecto es mejorar la calidad de la tutorización de las prácticas externas y fomentar las buenas prácticas que garanticen el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Están implicados tutores académicos, externos, instituciones y estudiantes

While language comprehension tends to be well preserved in older adults, the processing and comprehension of syntactically complex sentences might be influenced by age-related changes in Working Memory (WM) and Interference Control (IC). Further, aging can be accompanied by cognitive decline caused by neurological conditions such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but its impact on on-line sentence processing has rarely been studied. We report a study of word-by-word reading times and comprehension of sentences with different syntactic complexity in young adults (n = 69) and two subgroups of older adults: healthy older adults (n = 32) and older adults with single- and multi-domain amnestic MCI (n = 21). The experimental protocol was based on a self-paced reading task and a variety of neuropsychological measures including Operation Span (WM) and Stroop (IC) tasks. Syntactic complexity was induced using Spanish embedded relative clauses varying subject- versus object-extraction of the antecedent noun phrase (canonical or non-canonical word order, respectively). Moreover, within non-canonical sentences, we distinguished between those that did or did not contain long-distance dependencies between the extracted object and embedded verb. All these manipulations were expected to lead to a gradual recruitment of IC and WM based on the complexity of the sentence structure. Comprehension was similar across groups, with differences explained by WM capacity. In both subgroups of older adults, the on-line processing of object extracted sentences was modulated by their available IC and WM resources, although older adults with MCI seem to recruit WM to a lesser extent. In conclusion, results suggest that IC and WM have a modulatory role in the processing and comprehension of syntactically complex sentences in older adults. Moreover, older adults with MCI seem to be particularly overwhelmed by WM demands during sentence processing and comprehension.