To develop a novel approach for the early detection of pre-clinical signs of mental decay in elderlies we will describe the normal aging slopes of different cognitive skills in healthy elders (HE) to identify the variations in aging slopes that suggest anomalous aging, and thus the possibility that a neurocognitive disorder (ND) is going to onset. We will also verify, in groups of elder participants with ND or subjective cognitive decline (SCD), if the slopes of the cognitive skills are similar to those identified as anomalous in HE and thus should be considered as a sign of an ongoing onset of ND in HE.
For these aims, we have develop a novel battery of computerized test, to be administered by Android operating tablets. The battery includes tests of episodic long-term verbal and visuo-spatial tests, as well as tests of selective and divided attention, cognitive domains that are well known to be involved since the early stages of neurocognitive disorders (ND), being long-term memory involved in early stages of Alzheimer and attention in that of FTD.
To increase the sensitivity of the assessment the experimental battery includes tests apping cognitive abilities that in the last years have been shown to be impaired in early stages of neurocognitive disorders (i.e., prospective memory and topographical orientation). Parallel forms of tests will be used in the longitudinal studies to reduce the risk of learning effects.
Finally, a neuroimaging study will be performed to test if anomalous slopes correspond to different rate of neural atrophy in respect to that observed in healthy individuals.
Present project continues and extends previously funded one (Ateneo 2018); as reported below,ar the moment a battery of parallel tests has been developed; we are completing a pilot study for verify absence of difference in the parallel tests. We are recruiting elder healthy participants, together with a group of "at-risk" participants (SCD, relatives of AD/ FTD patients).
