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Objective: Verbal fluency tests are quick and easy to administer neuropsychological measures and are regularly used in neuropsychological assessment. Additionally, phonological fluency is a widely used paradigm that is sensitive to cognitive impairment. This paper offers normative data of phonological verbal fluency (letters P, M, R) for Spanish middle- and older-aged adults, considering sociodemographic factors, and different measures such as the total number of words, errors (perseveration and intrusions), and 15 sec-segmented scores. Method: A total of 1165 cognitively unimpaired participants aged between 50 and 89 years old, participated in the study. Data for P were obtained for all participants. Letters M and R were also administered to a subsample of participants (852) aged 60 to 89 years. In addition, errors and words produced every 15 seconds were collected in the subsample. To verify the effect of sociodemographic variables, linear regression was used. Adjustments were calculated for variables that explained at least 5% of the variance (R 2 ≥.05). Results: Means and standard deviations by age, scaled scores, and percentiles for all tests across different measures are shown. No determination coefficients equal to or greater than.05 were found for sex or age. The need to establish adjustments for the educational level was only found in some of the measures. Conclusions: The current norms provide clinically useful data to evaluate Spanish-speaking natives from Spain aged from 50 to 89 years. Specific patterns of cognitive impairment can be analyzed using these normative data and may be important in neuropsychological assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have reported subtle differences in cognition between individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) compared to those with normal cognition. This study aimed to (i) identify these differences using discrepancy scores (e.g., categorial-phonemic verbal fluency performance) derived from neuropsychological tests in three cognitive domains (memory: Wechsler's Word List and Digits; executive functions: Stroop and verbal fluency; and language: BNT and ECCO_Senior) and (ii) determine which discrepancy scores are significant for classification. Seventy-five older adults were included: 32 who were labeled SCD+ (age 71.50 ± 5.29), meeting Jessen et al.'s criteria, and 43 in the normal cognition group (SCD-; age 69.81 ± 4.62). Both groups completed a protocol including screening and the specified neuropsychological tests. No differences were found between the groups in their age, education, episodic memory, global cognitive state, or mood. Significant differences between the groups were observed regarding the discrepancy scores derived from BNT (naming) and ECCO_Senior (sentence comprehension). These scores accurately classified participants (71.6%), with ECCO_Senior having a primary role. ROC curves indicated a poor-to-fair model quality or diagnostic accuracy (AUC_ BNT = 0.690; AUC_ ECCO = 0.722). In conclusion, discrepancy scores in the language domain are important for distinguishing between individuals with SCD and normal cognition, complementing previous findings in this domain. However, given their relatively poor diagnostic accuracy, they should be used with caution as part of a more detailed neuro-psychological assessment.

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.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have more risk of suffering from violence and situations of discrimination than heterosexual people. The current study compares LGB people with heterosexual people in protective factors, violence, health and well-being factors. The sample comprises 609 Spanish people between 14 and 25 years old. We established a cross-sectional design. A survey including questions about sociodemographic information and protective, violence and health and well-being factors was designed ad hoc for this study. The results show that the LGB group ( n = 342) is more at risk of verbal and physical violence and feels more isolated than the heterosexual participants ( n = 267). In contrast, heterosexual participants report having more employment discrimination. No significant differences were found in social support or psychological health. These results are important to understand the state of social normalization and non-discrimination for LGB people in certain contexts in Spain, and its impact on psychological health.

Currently, entrepreneurship is a priority for economic, social, and technological growth. Therefore, the interest in understanding entrepreneurship processes has increased significantly. Individual variables play a fundamental role, and academic research has pointed out the influence of emotional intelligence in entrepreneurial processes; however, its relationship with other interpersonal processes and individual variables, such as personality and self-efficacy, has not been extensively studied. The aim of this research was to analyze the relationship among emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and entrepreneurial intention, controlling for the effects of personality, gender, and age. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were applied through a questionnaire survey of 1,593 college students to test the relationship between the constructs in the model. The results show that the personality traits are associated with entrepreneurial self-efficacy, emotional intelligence positively influences entrepreneurial intention, and self-efficacy mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial intention. Practical implications for training programs are examined, and future lines of research were discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 López-Núñez, Rubio-Valdehita and Díaz-Ramiro.)

Objective: Semantic verbal fluency constitutes a good candidate for identifying cognitive impairment. This paper offers normative data of different semantic verbal fluency tests for middle-aged and older adults natives from Spain considering sociodemographic factors, and different measures for each specific category (number of words produced, errors, and words evoked every 15 s)., Method: Two thousand and eighty-eight cognitively unimpaired subjects aged between 50 and 89 years old, community dwelling, participated in the study. The statistical procedure includes the conversion of percentile ranges into scalar scores. Secondly, the effects of age, education and gender were verified. Linear regressions are used to calculate the scalar adjusted scores., Results: Scalar scores and percentiles corresponding to all semantic verbal fluency tests across different measures are shown. Additional tables, which show the points that must be added or subtracted from direct scores, are provided for Education regarding the total number of "animals" and "clothes" evoked by participants, as well as for Age and Education in case of the total number of "clothes". Gender affects the number of "clothes" produced by participants in the first two 15-second segments., Conclusions: The current norms should provide clinically useful data for evaluating Spanish-speaking natives from Spain aged from 50 to 89 years., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.)

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.

Background: 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.

This study analyzed the levels of mental workload and the presence of burnout on a sample of fashion retailing workers from Spain and its relationship with the current CoViD-19 (Coronavirus disease-19) pandemic. We established a cross-sectional design. Participants ( n = 360) answered an online survey including questions about sociodemographic data, perception of CoViD-19, CarMen-Q questionnaire (workload), and MBI (burnout syndrome). The survey campaign took place in October and November 2020. The results showed that participants exhibited deep concern about the CoViD-19 pandemic and its influence in the workplace. Although the mental workload was near the middle point of the scale, participants showed moderate to high burnout levels, revealing that the sample was at risk of experiencing higher burnout levels over time as the pandemic and associated economic crisis continued. The multiple regression analysis results indicated that environmental changes, work overload, somatic symptoms, insomnia, negative job expectations, and uncertainty constituted significant mental workload predictors. Insomnia, somatic symptoms, and negative job expectations constituted significant predictors for burnout. Differences between job positions and genders in mental workload and burnout were found. In conclusion, the uncertainty at work derived from the CoViD-19 pandemic harms fashion retailing workers' psychological well-being in Spain.

Introduction: This pilot study analyzes the effect of a cognitive training program in adults with intellectual disability (ID)., Method: Twenty subjects (mean age 52.7 ± 9.77 years) with mild and moderate ID were divided in control and experimental group. Only the experimental group received the training program. This program was applied through the GNPT® (Guttmann, NeuroPersonalTrainer®) platform for people with ID., Results: The results revealed a significant improvement in the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2 scores (Matrices subtest) in the experimental group [ Z  = 2.12; p = .03] after the intervention, indicating an enhancement in fluid ability due to effect of cognitive training program., Conclusion: Findings provide evidence of the importance of applying these programs in a systematized way in adults with ID., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (© The British Society of Developmental Disabilities 2020.)

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., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Young transgender and non-binary individuals (TNBI) are exposed to situations of discrimination and have a greater risk of violence. The purpose of this study is to analyze which protective, violence and health and well-being factors have more influence on TNBI compared to cisgender people. The sample comprised 856 youth between 14 and 25 years old. A survey including questions about sociodemographic information and protective, violence and health and well-being factors was designed ad hoc for this study. The results show the non-binary group received the least support from family and friends, higher risk of suffering cyberbullying, and many feel isolated and unhappy. TNBI have suffered more verbal attacks both inside and outside their school and physical attacks at school than cisgender young. These results are important because they may contribute to the promotion of public policies and clinical interventions that favor the integration of TNBI in our society.

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.

The present study explores the role of cognitive reserve, executive functions, and working memory (WM) span, as factors that might explain training outcomes in cognitive status. Eighty-one older adults voluntarily participated in the study, classified either as older adults with subjective cognitive decline or cognitively intact. Each participant underwent a neuropsychological assessment that was conducted both at baseline (entailing cognitive reserve, executive functions, WM span and depressive symptomatology measures, as well as the Mini-Mental State Exam regarding initial cognitive status), and then 6 months later, once each participant had completed the training program (Mini-Mental State Exam at the endpoint). With respect to cognitive status the training program was most beneficial for subjective cognitive decline participants with low efficiency in inhibition at baseline (explaining a 33% of Mini-Mental State Exam total variance), whereas for cognitively intact participants training gains were observed for those who presented lower WM span.

Background: Mental workload has emerged as one of the most important occupational risk factors present in most psychological and physical diseases caused by work. In view of the lack of specific tools to assess mental workload, the objective of this research was to assess the construct validity and reliability of a new questionnaire for mental workload assessment (CarMen-Q)., Method: The sample was composed of 884 workers from several professional sectors, between 18 and 65 years old, 53.4% men and 46.6% women. To evaluate the validity based on relationships with other measures, the NASA-TLX scale was also administered., Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed an internal structure made up of four dimensions: cognitive, temporal and emotional demands and performance requirement. The results show satisfactory evidence of validity based on relationships with NASA-TLX and good reliability., Conclusions: The questionnaire has good psychometric properties and can be an easy, brief, useful tool for mental workload diagnosis and prevention.

The excessive workload of university students is an academic stressor. Consequently, it is necessary to evaluate and control the workload in education. This research applies the NASA-TLX scale, as a measure of the workload. The objectives of this study were: (a) to measure the workload levels of a sample of 367 psychology students, (b) to group students according to their positive or negative perception of academic context (AC) and c) to analyze the effects of AC on workload. To assess the perceived AC, we used an ad hoc questionnaire designed according to Demand-Control-Social Support and Effort-Reward Imbalance models. Using cluster analysis, participants were classified into two groups (positive versus negative context). The differences between groups show that a positive AC improves performance (p < .01) and reduces feelings of overload (p < .02), temporal demand (p < .02), and nervousness and frustration (p < .001). Social relationships with peers and teachers, student autonomy and result satisfaction were relevant dimensions of the AC (p < .001 in all cases).

Introduction: One research strategy that can be used with the cognitive reserve is to establish groups of elderly persons who differ in key variables that affect the cognitive reserve and then compare their performance in cognitive tests., Aims: To determine which of the variables that have an influence on the cognitive reserve (measured by means of the cognitive reserve questionnaire) are related with performance in the Boston Naming Test, and in the vocabulary and grammar comprehension tests from the ECCO&#95;Senior battery., Subjects and Methods: The sample consisted of 83 elderly persons aged between 60 and 75 years., Results and Conclusions: Schooling, parents' schooling, job and reading habits are closely related to the performance of the elderly in naming, grammar comprehension and vocabulary. Schooling affects the comprehension of sentences with a higher propositional density, and reading habits seem to be closely related with the comprehension of sentences that are more complex in terms of their syntax. Schooling and job affect the performance obtained when dealing with verbs in the vocabulary test.

Memory and language tests are usually used to differentiate healthy elderly individuals and individuals with cognitive impairment (CI). In the latter case, there are usually no tests to assess grammatical comprehension. The aim of this paper is to explore the differences in grammatical comprehension between healthy older adults and older adults with CI, identifying the sentences that best discriminate these groups, as well as the underlying dimensions that are most relevant to the individuals. Participants were 71 elderly people, divided into two groups according to their performance on the Spanish version of the Mini Mental State Exam: normal and CI. All were given a comprehension test that included 12 kinds of sentence structures. The CI group performed significantly worse than healthy elderly group. The greatest differences were observed in the sentences adjusted to canonical order in Spanish. The sentences with higher weights in the discriminant function were the ones adjusted to the one-proposition canonical order. Propositional density was the most salient dimension in both groups. Individuals with CI had difficulty assigning thematic roles to constituents, even when it could be done by following a strategy based on the linear order of the roles.

Interindividual variability in vocabulary, sentence comprehension and working memory is studied in older people with mild cognitive impairment, very low cognitive impairment and normal state, according to the Mini Examen Cognoscitivo (MEC). In the study participated 71 seniors, aged between 62 to 90 years of age, with low instructional level (from one to five years of regular education). Variability measures were calculated in a test of lexical knowledge, another of working memory, and also in one of sentence comprehension. The results obtained using a polynomial regression analysis of the absolute residual scores on the MEC, showed that: (a) variability increases in a linear fashion as the MEC score decreases in the case of nouns, and sentences with one proposition that do not follow the canonical order of constituents in Spanish; (b) Performance on the simpler sentences (one proposition and canonical order) and in the most complex ones (two propositions and non-canonical order) variability showed a change in its trend from MEC scores that indicate cognitive deterioration; (c) In relation to performance on the verbs, variability's change of trend is not linked to cognitive deterioration. We discuss the results in terms of the utility of these measures as potential indicators of cognitive impairment.

Introduction: The sentence comprehension test from the sentence comprehension cognitive examination (ECCO) battery can be used to assess children and adults with grammar comprehension disorders by means of a simple verification procedure that requires few memory resources. AIM. To present a psychometric analysis of the sentence comprehension test based on the classical theory of tests and on item response theory, as well as several studies that show its usefulness for assessing grammar comprehension in different populations., Subjects and Methods: The test was applied to 2238 subjects with ages ranging from 6 to 85 years., Results: The analysis shows that the test has a high overall reliability and, through the age groups that were considered, it includes elements that are especially discriminating or informative (lexical and syntactic distractors) and is biased towards medium-low levels of the trait., Conclusions: In view of the results, the sentence comprehension test from the ECCO battery provides a reliable measure of grammar comprehension through a wide variety of constructions and has great potential value for use in the clinical and research domains.

This paper describes our search for the possible relationship between workers' health and quality of life and several psychosocial risks: Cognitive demands, Control, Rewards and Organizational support. These psychosocial risks were assessed by means of the DECORE Multidimensional Questionnaire, which provides five scores, one for each factor, plus a global score. Workers' health was assessed with the following variables: job satisfaction, stress perception, fatigue perception, medical leave, occupational accidents, and disease. 614 workers from various business sectors were examined. Results show that workers who feel more fatigued, stressed, and less satisfied perceive their work environment more adversely. Similar results were obtained for workers who went on medical leave, had an occupational accident, or suffered from disease.