GIUV2017-344
Overall, the research activity of our working group has focused on the assessment of cognitive functioning in patients with mental disorders, the development of alternatives to facilitate the assessment of their intellectual functioning, the specific study of implicit memory in these same patients to determine to what extent the types of tasks and the parameters used to assess the functioning of this memory system condition the results of such assessment and, finally, the evaluation of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes of cognition in mental disorders, especially in schizophrenia. This work has been carried out for more than two decades with the support of research projects funded by the Universitat de València, the Consellería de Educación, the Consellería de Sanidad and the Ministerio de Educación. This research has resulted in the publication of numerous works which are listed in the attached CVs. More specifically, our research activity has been developed through the following lines of work:
Cognitive assessment in schizophrenia. This line of research focuses on the evaluation of neurocognitive functioning, including social cognition, in the mental disorder in...Overall, the research activity of our working group has focused on the assessment of cognitive functioning in patients with mental disorders, the development of alternatives to facilitate the assessment of their intellectual functioning, the specific study of implicit memory in these same patients to determine to what extent the types of tasks and the parameters used to assess the functioning of this memory system condition the results of such assessment and, finally, the evaluation of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes of cognition in mental disorders, especially in schizophrenia. This work has been carried out for more than two decades with the support of research projects funded by the Universitat de València, the Consellería de Educación, the Consellería de Sanidad and the Ministerio de Educación. This research has resulted in the publication of numerous works which are listed in the attached CVs. More specifically, our research activity has been developed through the following lines of work:
Cognitive assessment in schizophrenia. This line of research focuses on the evaluation of neurocognitive functioning, including social cognition, in the mental disorder in order to determine the interrelationships that exist between the different cognitive domains, and to assess the extent to which they determine the social functioning of the patient. In the context of this line of research, our attention has focused on the neurocognitive domains of attention, episodic memory and executive functioning, and within social cognition, on the domains of emotional perception, theory of mind, social perception and attributional style. Although they could be framed within the field referred to in our research line nº1, our research team has been developing two more specific lines of research (lines nº2 and nº3).
Intellectual functioning in schizophrenia. This line of research focuses on the development of abbreviated versions of the classic tests used to assess intellectual functioning, with the aim of facilitating their use in patients with mental disorders and allowing rapid screening of the patient.
Implicit memory in schizophrenia. In general terms, scientific evidence indicates that implicit memory functioning is preserved in mental disorder. However, sometimes the evidence is contradictory and the reason may lie in the disparity of tasks used in the assessment of implicit memory and in the methodological conditions that occur within each test. In this line of research, our work focuses on clarifying which tasks are the most appropriate and which methodological conditions should be considered within these tasks in order to validly assess implicit memory. Assessment of cognitive deficits in people with different diagnoses of mental disorder, basically schizophrenia, by means of tasks widely used in experimental psychology such as lexical decision and fragment completion.
Psychological intervention in cognition in schizophrenia. In this line of research our work focuses on the evaluation of programmes focused on the rehabilitation of neurocognition and social cognition to improve the social functioning of people with mental disorders (e.g. IPT, Gradior, EMT).
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- To identify the patterns of interrelation between neurocognition, social cognition, and social functioning in patients with mental disorders. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to assess the patient's neurocognition (attention, episodic memory, and executive functioning), social cognition (emotional perception, theory of mind, social perception, and attributional style), and social functioning. Identifying these patterns of interrelation allows us to determine which aspects of neurocognition and social cognition affect the patient's daily functioning and, consequently, to identify the neurocognitive and social cognition domains on which to focus attention for the development of rehabilitation programs.
- The tests used in the assessment of intellectual functioning require the completion of various tasks that, in total, take a considerable amount of time. For patients with mental disorders, this time is even longer, and completing the assessment represents an additional effort for these patients. These circumstances often lead to an inadequate assessment of their intellectual functioning. Given this situation, our objective is to develop abbreviated versions of the most commonly used tests in the assessment of intellectual functioning (Wechsler scales) specifically for use with patients with schizophrenia. These versions aim to achieve reliability equivalent to that of the full versions of the tests, significantly reduce the time required to complete them, and, indirectly, facilitate their use in the assessment of these patients.
- The study of implicit memory function in mental disorders has expanded considerably in recent years because, while there is consistent evidence that episodic memory is impaired, evidence regarding the potential impairment of implicit memory has not been as consistent. This is largely due to the variety of laboratory tests used for its assessment and the way in which the parameters used in these tests have been manipulated. In this context, our objective is to clarify the pattern of results that can be observed when assessing implicit memory function based on the type of experimental task used (e.g., fragment completion, lexical decision) and the parameters manipulated in those tasks (e.g., associative strength, stimulus asynchrony).
- Our work studying intellectual, neurocognitive, and social cognitive functioning in patients with a severe mental disorder such as schizophrenia ultimately aims to identify unaffected cognitive domains in these patients that can be used as resources when designing cognitive rehabilitation programs. Therefore, another of our objectives is to evaluate cognitive and social cognitive rehabilitation programs in patients with mental disorders, in order to provide empirical evidence to assess their effectiveness.
- Intellectual functioning in mental disorder.Development of abbreviated versions of the classic tests used in intellectual assessment, with the aim of facilitating the assessment of intellectual functioning and the screening of patients with severe mental disorders.
- Cognitive assessment in mental disorder.To assess neurocognition and social cognition in schizophrenia, including attention, episodic memory, executive functions, emotional perception, theory of mind, attributional style and social perception.
- Psychological intervention in cognition in mental disorders.To evaluate the effectiveness of different programmes (e. g. IPT, EMT, INT) in improving neurocognition, social cognition and social functioning in people with mental disorders.
- Implicit memory functioning in schizophrenia.Study of the functioning of the semantic memory network to specifically identify both deficits and preserved functions in schizophrenia in order to develop personalised rehabilitation plans.
| Name | Nature of participation | Entity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| JUAN C RUIZ RUIZ | Director | Universitat de València | |
| Research team | |||
| CARMEN DASI VIVO | Member | Universitat de València | |
| MARIA PILAR BLASCO GONZALEZ | Member | Universitat de València | |
| MARIA PILAR BLASCO GONZALEZ | Member | Universitat de València | |
| MARIA DOLORES SANCERNI BEITIA | Collaborator | Universitat de València | |
| INMACULADA FUENTES DURA | Collaborator | Universitat de València | |
| PATRICIA MARIA CORREA GHISAYS | Collaborator | Universitat de València | |
| PATRICIA MARIA CORREA GHISAYS | Collaborator | Universitat de València | |
| PATRICIA MARIA CORREA GHISAYS | Collaborator | Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental | Postdoctoral researcher |
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- Behavioral Sciences Methodology
- SCREENING
- SCHIZOPHRENIA
- NEUROCOGNITION
- INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING
- SOCIAL COGNITION
- PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTION
- COGNITIVE REHABILITATION
- REHABILITATION IN SOCIAL COGNITION
- IMPLICIT MEMORY
- SEMANTIC MEMORY
