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order to obtain a classification algorithm that could eventually be generalized to daily clinical practice.
In addition, the Department of Neuropsychology is interested in developing new assessment tools that allow examining the role of other cognitive markers not studied in standard neuropsychological evaluations. It is expected that the identi- fication of these markers increase sensitivity and specificity when detecting indi- viduals at risk of dementia. Among the most important results obtained over the years in this line of research, the following are noteworthy:
• Cognitive tests, and in particular the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) verbal episodic memory test, are the most sensitive tools for identifying subjects at risk of conversion to MCI. Its discriminating capacity is above other variables of interest such as APOE genotyping.
• The predictive capacity of the FCSRT has been shown to be high even in a 4-year follow-up. Especially useful is the parameter of immediate free recall, in which an individual’s score below 18 is considered risk for conversion in the next 4 years.
• Processing speed (i.e. mental alertness) is another cognitive parameter that has been revealed as an early marker of interest for MCI although we still need to carry out additional analysis in this regard.
• The analysis of the possible effect of drugs on cognitive performance in the Vallecas Project cohort has been examined. The two-year cross-sectional and longitudinal results have not identified any effects of interest and, when any as- sociation has been found, it is inseparable from the underlying pathology of the drug itself.
• A pilot study has been carried out with an attentional blinking task among the subjects of the Vallecas Project. The attentional blink task is a classic paradigm in Experimental Psychology whose use has not been extended to clinical sam- ples. It allows obtaining first-order cognitive parameters not explored in con- ventional evaluations that may be of interest as early markers. Our preliminary results show a high correlation between performance in the attentional blink task and classical cognitive parameters. It is pending to investigate whether differences at the fMRI level exist.
• Given that the experience in applying the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) test during the Vallecas Project baseline visit raised serious doubts about its suitability for our reference population, a psychometric study was carried out and published to reduce test items and categories of response. As a result, a much more useful reduced scale was obtained, but just as precise as the orig- inal one, which we have incorporated into the Vallecas Project as of the evalu- ation visit 6. The same was also done with the inventory of cognitive symptoms (MFE-11).
3. Scientific activity
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