The team of Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona has developed facememorya pioneering digitized neuropsychological test that makes it possible to detect people with cognitive impairment, mainly with memory loss, and thus provide early warning of Alzheimer’s disease.
facememory is the first self-administered voice recognition and touch screen episodic memory test, that is, it the user can perform it without the help of a professional. In short, it is a particularly useful tool in the context generated by Covid-19, since it makes it possible for anyone to review the memory from their computer or digital tablet.
Digitalized neuropsychological tests have generated increasing interest in clinical practice contexts, especially for the early detection of Alzheimer’s
This test, according to a study recently published in the prestigious journal has enabled Ace researchers to successfully test the memory of 154 cognitively healthy people and 122 people with mild cognitive impairment.
The app, hosted on the , The results of the tests are automatically recorded in a medical database and analyzed by the Ace Alzheimer Center neuropsychology team in order to offer a personalized response that guides people who are detected to have low cognitive performance. The application has been developed with the android language and uses the Google Library for voice recognition and interactions with the device.
As pointed out from in the last decade, the digitized neuropsychological tests have generated increasing interest in clinical practice contexts, especially for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. According to Ace’s neuropsychology team, neuropsychological tests developed by specialized professionals that are administered through a smart device have advantages than favor early detection of this disease.
Specifically, during the time of the study, and unlike analog tests, FACEmemory has managed to predict the risk that, after a while, they will develop mild cognitive impairment in a certain percentage. This digitized neuropsychological test, which improves a previous similar application and which has already been patented by Ace, could also promote screening in primary care centers or hospitalss to refer to a specialized unit those people who show risk of dementia once the test has been carried out.
Montse Alegretprincipal investigator of the project and neuropsychologist at Ace Alzheimer Center, highlights that “FACEmemory is a useful screening tool for the detection of early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease”, highlighting that “the fact that, through your computer or tablet, everyone can review the memory It is a step forward, especially at the present time, to be able to detect the first signs of the disease and to be able to act on its progression”.
In this sense, faced with a disease for which there is currently no cure and which affects more and more people, making a diagnosis of dementia in mild phases, when there is still time to intervene, is a priority for Ace. . “Since 2008 we have made this service available to anyone: free memory review”, Explain Merce Boada, neurologist and medical director of Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona. “Now, with FACEmemory, we can do it online to reach many more people who are worried about their memory and who, due to mobility or geographical distance, have not been able to see a specialist”indicates.