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3. SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
Given the multidisciplinary nature of the CIEN Foun- nitive performance and the subjective perception
dation, the purpose of the Neuropsychology de- of an individual with respect to aspects such as me-
partment is to contribute to the proper development mory complaints, mood or coping styles. To meet the
of ongoing research projects through proper coor- challenges posed in the context of the Vallecas Pro-
dination with the rest of the departmental areas. In ject, the neuropsychological test battery focuses es-
addition, among its objectives are also the concep- pecially on the evaluation of memory processes,
tualization and implementation of new research attention and executive functions as potential early
hypotheses in the context of early detection and markers of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, the neu-
prevention of Alzheimer's disease. ropsychological profile of each participant is com-
pleted by gathering information related to other
Among the specific tasks carried out by the Depart- cognitive domains such as language, visuospatial
ment of Neuropsychology, the following activities ability and visuoconstruction, as well as emotional
are noteworthy: variables. This is particularly important because it
allows identifying the strengths and weaknesses in
• Neuropsychological assessment and cognitive the cognitive profile and characterize, if appro-
diagnosis of the Vallecas Project participants. priate, the type of cognitive impairment that an in-
dividual presents. Moreover, the neuropsychological
• Preparation of clinical reports. evaluation protocol includes various questionnaires
• Management and curation of databases. in order to collect information complementary to the
• Statistical analysis and preparation of scientific cognitive profile. Specifically, we obtain data about
the assessment of possible cognitive complaints, as
reports. well as different aspects of them such as the time of
• Teaching and mentoring of the external training appearance, the concern generated or the profile
of these complaints. In essence, the study of all these
practices of students in the last year of the cognitive variables, both objective and subjective,
Psychology Degree at the Autonomous together with the rest of the biographical and clini-
University, the Rey Juan Carlos University and the cal data, will allow us to establish what role each
Complutense University of Madrid. cognitive parameter plays in the appearance and
• Communication in scientific forums of the course of Alzheimer's disease.
research work carried out in the department.
• Dissemination to society of the progress of the
investigation.
Main lines of research
The interests of the Neuropsychology department 1.1. Usefulness of subjective cognitive
focus on four well defined lines of research in the complaints as an early marker:
area of its competence. In particular, the following Cognitive complaints may appear in
priority research lines can be identified, which are preclinical phases of Alzheimer's disease;
described below. even a person can often experience this type
of complaint though their cognitive
1. Cognitive markers for the early detection of the performance in a formal neuropsychological
prodromal phase of Alzheimer's disease: The profes- examination is within normal parameters. For
sional figure of the neuropsychologist usually handles this reason, there has been renewed scientific
the application of different evaluation instruments. interest in recent years for the study of
These include various types of tests, scales and ques- subjective cognitive complaints as a possible
tionnaires useful to measure both the objective cog- marker of future objective cognitive
impairment.
CIEN Foundation Annual Report 2017 / 61
