Cognitive Aging

Many aspects of attention decline with aging. There is a current debate on how aging also affects sustained attention. In this study, we contribute to this debate by meta-analytically comparing performance on the go/no-go Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) in younger and older adults. We included only studies in which the SART had a low proportion of no-go trials (5%–30%), there was a random or quasirandom stimulus presentation, and data on both healthy younger and older adults were available. A total of 12 studies were suitable with 832 younger adults and 690 older adults. Results showed that older adults were slower than younger adults on go trials (g = 1, 95% CI [.72, 1.27]) and more accurate than younger adults on no-go trials (g = .59, 95% CI [.32, .85]). Moreover, older adults were slower after a no-go error than younger adults (g = .79, 95% CI [.60, .99]). These results are compatible with an age-related processing speed deficit, mostly suggested by longer go RTs, bu...

Many studies conducted in a laboratory or university setting are limited by funding, personnel, space, and time constraints. In the present study, we introduce a method of data collection using a mobile application that circumvents these typical experiment administration issues. Using the application, we examined cross-sectional age differences in cognitive function. We obtained data from more than 15,000 participants and replicated specific patterns of age-related differences in cognition. Using a subset of these ...

We investigated whether smoking is a risk factor for relative cognitive decline from age 11 to 64 years. The potentially confounding effects of childhood IQ, occupational status, level of education, presence of heart disease, hypertension, and lung function were examined. Subjects were nondemented and living independently. They were all born in 1936, had been participants in the same Scottish national IQ survey in 1947, and were reexamined at age about 64 years in 2000-2002. Current smokers and nonsmokers had significantly different mental test scores at age 64. This difference remained after adjustment for childhood IQ. Multiple linear regression identified childhood IQ, level of education, occupational code, lung function, and smoking history as significant independent predictors of mental function at age 64. In this sample, smoking makes a small (< 1% variance) independent negative contribution to cognitive aging.

Previous research has demonstrated age-related decline in spatial navigation skills. However, spatial navigation is a complex ability that requires the integration of many component processes that may show differential susceptibility to aging. In particular, successful navigation depends on the accurate computation of distance and direction from self-generated movements through the environment, known as path integration. In the present study, we utilized virtual environments (VE) to investigate age-related differences in participants’ ability to determine linear distances, angular rotations, and angular displacement exclusively from visual input. Results indicated that for shorter lengths, distances can be gauged from visual input alone with relative equivalence between older and younger participants. As distances increased, however, older individuals were less accurate. There were no age differences in estimating angular rotations. Requiring simultaneous integration of distance and rotation (in a triangle completion homing task) resulted in robust age-differences independent of the absolute amount of displacement. For older adults, accuracy in the triangle completion task was highly related to their rotation accuracy while returning to the point of origin, and less so to their distance accuracy. This study demonstrated age-related deficits in the ability to perform visual return-to-origin tasks and suggests one way in which elderly navigation performance may be compromised.

The present study investigated effects of cognitive aging on conflict resolution (the ability to suppress prepotent and distracting, irrelevant information) and conflict adaptation (the adjustment of conflict resolution based on previously experienced conflict level). In addition, it aimed at investigating whether Cognitive Reserve (CR) and intelligence play a compensatory role against age-related deficits in both factors. A color-word Stroop task with no feature repetitions (i.e., neither the word nor the color was repeated in two subsequent trials) was administered to 23 older adults with no dimentia (65-79 years old) and 22 younger controls (18-34 years old), in addition to measures of intelligence and CR. Older adults' performance was characterized by general slowing. However, response slowing inversely correlated with intelligence, education, and a cognitive-reserve index. The Stroop effect (i.e., response-time (RT) difference between incongruent and congruent conditions) was larger in older adults than in younger controls, and in the older group only, it negatively correlated with verbal IQ. With this feature-repetitions-free Stroop task, we confirmed the presence of some conflict adaptation effects, which, however, were spared by aging. Altogether, these findings show that older adults can cope better with age-related impairment in verbal interference resolution, if they have enough intelligence resources in a related (verbal) domain, whereas CR plays a role in general performance speed only. We therefore suggest that general and specific accounts of cognitive aging may apply to different processing stages, which are influenced by partially different compensatory factors.

Besides neuroanatomical changes, neuromodulatory mechanisms are also compromised during aging. Neural network models are suitable tools for exploring the relatively broad and homogenous neuromodulatory influences on cortical function. Computational approaches for understanding neuromodulation of the dynamic properties of cortical function and recent neurocomputational theories relating different aspects of cognitive aging with declines in neuromodulation are reviewed. Considered within an integrative cross-level neurocomputational framework, aging-related decline in dopaminergic neuromodulation reduces the fidelity of neural information and gives rise to less distinctive neural pattern representations that may underlie various facets of aging cognitive and, possibly also, sensorimotor phenomena. q : S 0 1 4 9 -7 6 3 4 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 6 6 -0 Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 26 www.elsevier.com/locate/neubiorev

Aims and objective: While loss of insight of cognitive deficits is a common phenomenon in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is a lack of consensus regarding the presence of impaired insight among patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aim to investigate the clinical, cognitive, and be- havioral associations of anosognosia in AD and MCI subjects.
Methods: A consecutive series of 87 subjects (30 healthy older patients, 21 MCI, and 36 AD) each ac- companied by a caregiver, underwent clinical assessment including the evaluation of insight using the Anosognosia Questionnaire for Dementia (AQD). We also separately assessed Intellectual Function (AQD-IF) and Behavior domains of the AQD scale. Regression models were subsequently used to inves- tigate associations of AQD scores with cognitive and other neuropsychiatric symptoms, including de- pression and apathy.
Results: Both AD and MCI groups demonstrated significant anosognosia compared with the healthy control group. In the AD group, 55.6% had “Mild Anosognosia,” and 27.8% had “Severe Anosognosia.” In the MCI group, 42.9% showed “Mild Anosognosia,” and 9.5% had “Severe Anosognosia.” Greater levels of AQD-Total and AQD-IF were associated with lower Mini-mental state examination and higher apathy scores in the AD group. In the MCI group, caregiver burden was significantly associated with AQD-Total (p = 0.016) and AQD-IF (p = 0.039).
Conclusion: The results indicated that anosognosia is common in both AD and MCI patients and asso- ciated with cognitive dysfunction and apathy in AD. The findings of this study warrant further research to delineate the mechanisms of anosognosia as it poses a challenge to treatment outcomes.

The effectiveness of two interventions, dietary fortification with antioxidants and a program of behavioral enrichment, was assessed in a longitudinal study of cognitive aging in beagle dogs. A baseline protocol of cognitive testing was used to select four cognitively equivalent groups: control food-control experience (C-C), control food-enriched experience (C-E), antioxidant fortified food-control experience (A-C), and antioxidant fortified food-enriched experience(A-E). We also included two groups of young behaviorally enriched dogs, one receiving the control food and the other the fortified food. Discrimination learning and reversal was assessed after one year of treatment with a size discrimination task, and again after two years with a black/white discrimination task. The four aged groups were comparable at baseline. At one and two years, the aged combined treatment group showed more accurate learning than the other aged groups. Discrimination learning was significantly improved by behavioral enrichment. Reversal learning was improved by both behavioral enrichment and dietary fortification. By contrast, the fortified food had no effect on the young dogs. These results suggest that behavioral enrichment or dietary fortification with antioxidants over a long-duration can slow age-dependent cognitive decline, and that the two treatments together are more effective than either alone in older dogs.

Objectives: Explore the psychometric properties of a sleep quality index to be used with the elderly population.
Methods: 99 elderly (mean age, M=78.65; SD= 6.92; range=60-95) under social responses in institutions from Coimbra Council were assessed through a sleep questionnaire, composed of a sleep quality index and questions assessing sleep correlates. The sleep index is composed by seven items assessing sleep latency, difficulty in falling asleep, number of night awakenings, waking up spontaneously too early, subjective perception that waking up too early constitutes a problem for the person and two items that evaluate general subjective sleep quality and sleep depth.
Results: KMO = .830; Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity ≤.001. A principal components analysis and the scree plot inspection revealed a one-factor solution, explaining 48.8% of the total variance. Very good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha coefficient; α=.812).
Conclusion: This sleep quality index presents good psychometric properties. Since, in terms of assessment, it is important not to overload the elderly population, this very short instrument constitutes a good option to assess sleep quality.

The Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947 collected valid IQ-type test scores for almost everyone born in 1921 and 1936 and attending school on June 1, 1932 (N ϭ 89,498) and June 4, 1947 (N ϭ 70,805). These surveys are described. This research, using the surveys' data, examined (a) the stability of intelligence differences across the life span, (b) the determinants of cognitive change from childhood to old age, and (c) the impact of childhood intelligence on survival and health in old age. Surviving participants of the Scottish Mental Surveys were tested, and the surveys' data were linked with public and health records. Novel findings on the stability of IQ scores from age 11 to age 80; sex differences in cognitive aging; the dedifferentiation hypothesis of cognitive aging; and the effect of childhood IQ on all-cause and specific mortality, morbidity, and frailty in old age are presented.

This study investigated the effects of hierarchical cognitive training using the categorization program (CP), designed initially for adults with cognitive deficits associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Fifty-eight participants were included: a group of fifteen young adults with TBI (ages 18-48), another group of fifteen noninjured young adults (ages 18-50), and two groups of adults over 60 randomly assigned into the experimental group (n = 14) or the control group (n = 14). Following neuropsychological testing, the two young adult groups and the experimental older adult group received the CP training for 10-12 weeks. The CP training consisted of 8 levels targeting concept formation, object categorization, and decision-making abilities. Two CP tests (administered before and after the training) and three probe tasks (administered at specified intervals during the training) assessed skills relating to categorization. All treated groups showed significant improvement in their categorization performance, although younger participants (with or without TBI) demonstrated greater gains. Gains on the categorization measures were maintained by a subgroup of older adults up to four months posttraining. Implications of these findings in terms of adult cognitive learning and directions for future research on adult cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive stimulation programs are discussed.

Anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among older people although infrequently the subject of systematic research in this age group. One important limitation is the lack of a widely accepted instrument to measure dimensional anxiety in both normal older people and older people with mental health problems seen in various settings. Accordingly, we undertook the development and initial testing of a short scale to measure anxiety in older people.

Creativity can help individuals think in new ways about aging and retirement by facilitating their questions about what comes next, helping them better manage transitions, and enhancing their well-being. Creativity can help people find meaning and purpose as they move toward and through the retirement and aging processes.

Anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders are highly prevalent among older people although infrequently the subject of systematic research in this age group. One important limitation is the lack of a widely accepted instrument to measure dimensional anxiety in both normal older people and older people with mental health problems seen in various settings. Accordingly, we undertook the development and initial testing of a short scale to measure anxiety in older people.

In chapter 10, Linday Finlay writes with Anna Madill , to describe and explain some different ways to analyse data. Four contrasting types of analysis are outlined with practical exemplars: narrative, thematic, discursive and creative. Each type of analysis highlights different aspects and so enables different insights. As such, qualitative analysis is always tentative, partial and emergent....

In the last years, the study of executive control processes has grown exponentially. Executive functions allow us to perform successfully most activities in our daily life, such as task planning or proper launching and inhibition of certain behaviors depending on the context. These abilities may be compromise in later stages of adulthood. In this study, it’s been used the paradigm of task switching with cuing (holding constant the CSI) to explore issues such as flexibility and speed processing associated to aging, applied in the implementation of switch between tasks or mental sets in a very controlled way, through cognitive costs. The total sample consisted of 42 people, three groups were formed according to age (young, old and elderly) and the fourth group was a sample of 6 individuals with MCI. TR means and error rates were measured and the general and specific costs were calculated. A non-parametric statistical analysis (Kruskal-Wallis) was performed, finding significant differences between groups. The data support an effect of the switch cost associated with aging.

Popular assertions portray depression as an inevitable outcome of aging, a widespread image embraced by many health professionals. Although epidemiological data contradict the prevalent image that depressive syndromes increase with age, the prognosis becomes more negative as one grows older. An early thorough assessment is vital to identify depressive symptoms in older adults, thus promoting the development of tailored interventions and improved recovery rates. The main problems associated with the assessment of depressive symptoms in older adults include a lack of knowledge about changes in the pattern of symptoms, the inadequacy of techniques developed for other age cohorts, the misuse of psychometric instruments, and deficits in additional areas of assessment. The underlying goal of this article is to analyze the obstacles to a successful assessment of depression symptoms in older adults, suggesting strategies to overcome them.

Memory systems (short-term, working, episodic, semantic, explict, implicit, procedural memory) identified in mainstream cognitive research are differentially affected by age. They range from almost no age differences (e.g., for the use of semantic knowledge and procedural motor skills) to large age differences in complex working memory tasks and for the availability of episodic markers (sources) in newly acquired information. Age-related memory problems are traced to various general deficits in cognitive processing efficiency (e.g., processing speed or inhibitory control). Training programs against specific memory problems show reliable effects but are rarely used in daily life.

Sustained attention is effortful, demanding, and subject to limitations associated with age-related cognitive decline. Researchers have sought to examine whether attentional capacities can be enhanced through directed mental training, with a number of studies now offering evidence that meditation practice may facilitate generalized improvements in this domain. However, the extent to which attentional gains are maintained following periods of dedicated meditation training and how such improvements are moderated by processes of aging have yet to be characterized. In a prior report (Sahdra et al., Emotion 11, 299–312, 2011), we examined attentional performance on a sustained response inhibition task before, during, and after 3-months of full-time meditation. We now extend this prior investigation across additional follow-up assessments occurring up to 7 years after the conclusion of training. Performance improvements observed during periods of intensive practice were partially maintained several years later. Importantly, aging-related decrements in measures of response inhibition accuracy and reaction time variability were moderated by levels of continued meditation practice across the follow-up period. The present study is the first to offer evidence that intensive and continued meditation practice is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention and response inhibition, with the potential to alter longitudinal trajectories of cognitive change across the lifespan.

Using theoretical tools from trans studies and disability/crip studies, we reconceptualize the self in the context of dementia. We illustrate that most dementia discourse, scholarship and intervention emphasize a maintenance of the pre-dementia self. We argue that the compulsory biographical continuity needed to maintain the predementia self is based on interlocking forms of ageism, ableism, and cogniticism, and interacts with what we call cisism (the oppressive system that discriminates against people on the basis of change) and its normative components, cisnormativity* and ciscognonormativity. After providing a critical genealogy of the term cisnormativity*, we resignify and redeploy this concept in the context of dementia, demonstrating how it is useful for critiquing compulsory biographical continuity. Following the verbs queering and cripping, we propose a transing of dementia that leads to a new conceptualization of the self that is fluid and changing, rather than one anchored in multiple oppressions.
KEYWORDS: Trans non-binary; Dementia; Cisnormativity; Ableism;
Ageism; Selfhood

The proliferation of research on social cognition and aging suggest that there are age-related changes in social knowledge and beliefs about others, oneself, and everyday events. Furthermore, the functional significance of social cognitive variables for behavior in context is demonstrated in areas such as coping with stress, everyday problem solving, health domains, and social partner selection. Important context variables identified in this chapter include (1) those external to the individual, such as the task and social-cultural-historical contexts; (2) those internal to the individual (social schemas, goals, and motivational characteristics); and (3) the interface between sociocultural content and social knowledge structures (e.g., cohort membership, age-related stereotypes and judgments of competency, life stage and perceptions of self).

Desde o nascimento a vida se desenvolve de tal forma que a idade cronológica passa a se definir pelo tempo que avança. E o tempo fica definido como uma sinonímia para uma eternidade quantificada, ou seja, uma cota. Desta forma, o homem e o tempo se influenciam mutuamente, produzindo profundas mudanças nas subjetividades e diferentes representações que lhe permitem lidar com a questão temporal .

REFERENCE: Baril, A., M. Silverman, M.-C. Gauthier and M. Lévesque (2020). “Forgotten Wishes: End-of-life documents for trans people with dementia at the margins of legal change,” Special Issue: On the Margins of Trans Legal Changes, Canadian Journal of Law & Society, p. 1-24, doi:10.1017/cls.2020.13
ABSTRACT: Literature on the topic of trans older adults has documented a few anecdotal cases in which some trans people living with dementia forgot they transitioned and reidentified with their sex assigned at birth ("detransition"). Trans communities and their allies have encouraged trans people to engage in end-of-life planning, including the preparation of legal documents that state their wishes regarding gender identity and expression in the event of "incapacity" caused by dementia. While useful, we contend that end-of-life planning is often implicitly based on cisnormative and cognonormative (normative system based on cognitive abilities) assumptions. Such planning is founded on a stable notion of gender identity throughout the life course ("post-transition") and assumes that the pre-dementia self is better equipped to make decisions than the "demented" self. We conclude by encouraging, based on an intersectional, trans-affirmative, crip-positive, and age-positive approach, respect for the agency of trans people with dementia.
KEYWORDS: Trans and nonbinary people, end-of-life planning and documents, cisgenderism/transphobia, ableism/cogniticism, ageism, epistemic injustices.
RÉSUMÉ: Les écrits portant sur les personnes âgées trans ont documenté quelques cas anecdotiques dans lesquels des personnes trans vivant avec une démence ont oublié leur transition et se sont réidentifiées avec leur sexe assigné à la naissance (« détransition »). Les communautés trans et leurs alliés encouragent ainsi les personnes trans à s'engager dans la planification de leur fin de vie, notamment à travers la préparation de documents juridiques qui énoncent leurs souhaits relativement à leur identité et à leur expression de genre en cas « d'incapacité » causée par la démence. Bien que de tels documents s'avèrent utiles, nous soutenons que la planification de la fin de vie est souvent implicitement basée sur des hypothèses cisnormatives et cognonormatives (système normatif basé sur les capacités cognitives). Une telle planification repose sur une conception de l’identité de genre comme étant stable tout au long de la vie (« post-transition ») et suppose que le soi « pré-démence » est mieux équipé pour prendre des décisions que le soi « dément ». Nous concluons en encourageant, sur la base d’une approche intersectionnelle, trans-affirmative, crip-positive et âge-positive, le respect de l’agentivité des per- sonnes trans vivant avec une démence.
MOTS CLÉS: Personnes trans et non binaires, démence, planification de fin de vie, cisgenrisme/transphobie, capacitisme/cogniticisme, âgisme, injustices épistémiques.

Under-appreciation of mature consumers as a numerous and comparatively wealthy market segment has resulted in not only lost revenues for business, but also lost consumption and service opportunities for the elderly. In response to expressed needs for more research into actual and desired consumption by older consumers, this study examined the apparel and shopping preferences of mature women in America. Independent living residents were surveyed concerning fashion consciousness, fashion information sources and shopping behaviours. Young and mature consumers' reactions to female apparel ensembles were compared. Mature subjects purchased apparel for pleasure or need, but less for conformity. Decisions were influenced more by fit and comfort than by fashion, despite suggestions that dressing stylishly was important. New fashions were encountered via catalogue illustrations, social gatherings and window displays. Subjects high in fashion consciousness had greater financial and social involvement with fashion, greater chronological-to-cognitive age differences and larger clothing budgets. Young and mature consumers' responses to apparel illustrations differed significantly. As the mature market expands, attention to age-divergent definitions of fashion (such as those based upon admiration of comfort) will determine the success of apparel businesses. Assessment of cognitive age will facilitate identification of those mature consumers most predisposed toward fashion consumption.

En los últimos 25 años los estudios sobre los aspectos del envejecimiento se han incrementado de forma importante. En este artículo de revisión trataremos de analizar ¿qué le pasa a nuestro sistema cognitivo a medida que envejecemos?, pregunta que ha sido motivo de una ardua investigación por parte de varias ciencias entre ellas la psicología, la neuropsicología, así como en las neurociencias generales. Existen varios mecanismos que explican qué es el envejecimiento congnitivo, entre los más importantes, destacan: los cambios en la velocidad de procesamiento, la disminución de la eficacia del funcionamiento de la memoria de trabajo, los fallos en la función inhibitoria y el déficit del funcionamiento sensorial, entre otros.

Palavras-chave: Velhice. Terceira idade. Amor. Sexualidade. Amor é privilégio de maduros estendidos na mais estreita cama, que se torna a mais larga e mais relvosa, roçando, em cada poro, o céu do corpo. É isto, amor: o ganho não previsto o prêmio subterrâneo e coruscante, leitura de relâmpago cifrado, que, decifrado, nada mais existe valendo a pena e o preço terrestre, salvo o minuto de ouro no relógio minúsculo, vibrando no crepúsculo. Amor é o que se aprende no limite, depois de se arquivar toda a ciência herdada, ouvida. Amor começa tarde.

The current study investigated the nature of the flow state among older adults. Flow is a pleasurable experiential state that occurs during full-capacity engagement in which an individual is performing at a level that is matched with the demands of the task. Each participant completed a scale assessing dimensions of flow in a particular activity selected by the participant. More cognitively demanding activities elicited higher levels of flow for those with higher fluid ability, but lower levels of flow for those with lower fluid ability. This pattern was reversed for activities that were low in demand. Our data highlight the potential importance of considering motivational states such as flow in understanding cognitive optimization in adulthood.

Background. Playfulness is an understudied topic in adults and particularly among the elderly. Thus far, there is no large study on age-related changes in playfulness across the lifespan. Relations with different indicators of well-being have not yet been investigated in much detail either.
Participants and methods. In total, 4,100 adults completed online self-ratings on their playfulness, happiness, and Seligman’s three orientations to happiness (life of pleasure, engagement, and meaning).
Results. In a cross-sectional design, playfulness was stable across the life-course; variations in the mean scores were rather small (half a standard deviation). Yet participants < 40 yielded
the comparatively lowest scores. There were no gender differences. Playfulness was best predicted by the scale assessing the life of pleasure and was positively related to happiness.
Conclusion. Playfulness seems to be of relevance in all age groups and displays robust relations with different indicators of well-being.

"More people are reaching an older age today than ever before and the incidence of dementia is thus expected to rise. It is therefore important to investigate possible prevention of dementia and cognitive decline using cost-effective life-style changes. In this chapter we present a literature review of observational studies into exercise and cognition in the elderly and treatment studies using different types of exercise interventions and the effect these have on cognitive function. Many studies reported that physical activity can help to
maintain cognitive abilities into old age, but not all treatment studies have found positive effects of exercise. This could be related to a variety of factors. We discuss the use of different cognitive tests and different measures of exercise and the influence this can have on whether a beneficial effect of exercise is found or not. We also explore a variety of participant and intervention characteristics that may moderate the effect of exercise on cognitive function. The results of this review suggest that there may be a relationship between physical activity and cognition. However, more future work is required in this area
to establish exactly what type of exercise is most efficient and who may benefit from it."

Entre las terapias no farmacológicas que se han ido proponiendo en los últimos años, la estimulación cognitiva es la que recibe el mayor apoyo empírico, especialmente en el envejecimiento normal, el deterioro cognitivo leve y las demencias, llegando a proponerse como la primera intervención a realizar cuando se realizan esos últimos diagnósticos. Existen diferentes programas de estimulación cognitiva en castellano, adaptados a las diferentes características de las poblaciones a las que pretenden atender. Dado que la proliferación de dichos programas corre el riesgo de menoscabar su calidad, se plantean una serie de recomendaciones teóricas que deben tenerse en cuenta a la hora de aplicar estimulación cognitiva a estas poblaciones: i) su administración debe ser individual o en grupos muy reducidos y homogéneos que permitan utilizar las estrategias de intervención neuropsicológica independientemente del proceso cognitivo que se pretenda trabajar, y ii) la selección de las tareas a usar debe estar enmarcada en un modelo teórico que las fundamente y les dé sentido, evitando confundir la estimulación cognitiva con la mera repetición de ejercicios variados. En conclusión, el profesional debe seleccionar los materiales que resulten más adecuados de entre los disponibles en la literatura, ajustándolos tanto a las características del individuo en función de los resultados en su evaluación neuropsicológica, como al marco teórico en que el fundamenta su intervención. Todo ello utilizando estrategias de rehabilitación y contemplando otros aspectos cognitivos, emocionales y comportamentales que puedan estar comprometiendo el funcionamiento del paciente en la vida cotidiana.

Among the non-pharmacological therapies proposed in the last few years, cognitive stimulation has received the most empirical support, especially in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Indeed, this therapeutic modality is the firstline intervention in the latter two diagnoses. There are a large number of cognitive stimulation programs in the Spanish language that have been adapted to distinct clinical populations. Since the proliferation of these programs could reduce their quality, two theoretical recommendations are suggested for their implementation in clinical practice: i) interventions should be carried out individually or in small and homogeneous groups to facilitate the use of neuropsychological strategies regardless of the cognitive process to be treated, and ii) tasks should be selected within a theoretical framework to avoid confusing cognitive stimulation with merely repeating a variety of exercises. In conclusion, the most suitable materials for intervention should be selected according to the available empirical evidence. These materials should be adapted to both the patient’s neuropsychological profile and the theoretical framework supporting the cognitive intervention. In this context, the use of distinct rehabilitation strategies would also be desirable, bearing in mind the cognitive, emotional and behavioral variables that may be related to the patients daily life.

Introducción. Uno de los tests más utilizados para la evaluación de la afasia en la práctica clínica es el test de denominación de Boston (BNT), una prueba clásica en la que se presentan 60 láminas con dibujos en blanco y negro que valoran la capacidad de los sujetos para denominar dichos dibujos. Pese a su bondad psicométrica, resulta necesario reducir el número de ítems de la prueba con el fin de disminuir su tiempo de aplicación. Sujetos y métodos. Se reclutó una muestra de 547 sujetos mayores de 65 años a los que se les aplicó un protocolo de evaluación neuropsicológica, que incluía el BNT, para determinar sus estados cognitivos; 405 sujetos no presentaron alteraciones cognitivas relevantes, frente a 142 sujetos que fueron diagnosticados de deterioro cognitivo leve. Resultados. La reducción del número de ítems se realizó de acuerdo con los supuestos de la teoría de respuesta al ítem. Puesto que tanto la edad como el nivel educativo mostraron un efecto significativo en el rendimiento de la prueba, ambas variables fueron utilizadas para hallar los puntos de corte de la nueva versión reducida. Ésta presentó una adecuada fiabilidad (alfa = 0,765) y una elevada correlación con la prueba original (r = 0,876). Conclusiones. La nueva versión reducida consta de 15 ítems ordenados en función de su dificultad. Se trata de una tarea con un elevado poder discriminativo de utilidad en la clínica diaria para la detección de alteraciones del lenguaje en personas mayores.

Palabras clave. Afasia. Anomia. Demencia. Denominación. Deterioro cognitivo leve. Envejecimiento. Evaluación neuropsicológica. Teoría de respuesta al ítem. Test de denominación de Boston.

Introduction. One of the tests that is mostly widely used to evaluate aphasia in clinical practice is the Boston Naming Test (BNT), a classic test in which 60 black and white pictures are presented to subjects in order to evaluate their capacity to put a name to such pictures. Despite its psychometric goodness, the number of items in the test has to be reduced in order to lower the time required to apply it. Subjects and methods. Researchers recruited a sample of 547 subjects over the age of 65, who were then administered a neuropsychological evaluation protocol, including the BNT, to determine their cognitive statuses. No relevant cognitive alterations were observed in 405 subjects versus 142 who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Results. The number of items was reduced in accordance with the premises of the item response theory. Since both age and level of schooling were found to have a significant effect on performance in the test, the two variables were used to find the cut-off points of the shortened version. This new version presented an adequate degree of reliability (alpha = 0.765) and a high correlation with the original test (r = 0.876). Conclusions. The new shortened version consists of 15 items that are ordered according to the degree of difficulty. It is a task with a high level of discriminating power that is useful in day-to-day clinical practice for detecting alterations in the language of the elderly.

Key words. Ageing. Anomia. Aphasia. Boston Naming Test. Dementia. Item response theory. Mild cognitive impairment. Naming. Neuropsychological evaluation. "