Article of the month January

The website committee selected the paper of J.A. García-Casal et al. This work describes the usability, reliability, and discriminant validity of a computer-based emotion recognition test, the Affect-GRADIOR, for elderly people with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Limited capacity in recognition of emotional facial expressions is more pronounced in people with AD and aMCI, and has been found to be predictive in the development of aMCI in AD. In addition especially processing speed of emotion recognition is impaired in people with AD and aMCI. Although participants had limited experience with computers, they found Affect-GRADIOR easy and comprehensible. The authors conclude that Affect-GRADIOR is reliable for the evaluation of recognition of facial emotions in older adults, and that the program had good discriminant properties to detect differences in emotion recognition between healthy controls and people with AD and aMCI, but discriminated poorly between people with aMCI and AD. This computer-based emotion recognition assessment can be a helpful tool in early screening and differential diagnoses, providing opportunities for early treatment.

Usability study and pilot validation of a computer-based emotion recognition test for older adults with Alzheimer‘s disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment. García-Casal JA, Martínez-Abad F, Cid-Bartolomé T, Smith SJ, Llano-Ordóñez K, Perea-Bartolomé MV, Goñi-Imizcoz M, Soto-Pérez F, Franco-Martín M. Aging Ment Health. 2018 Jan 22:1-11. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1423033. [Epub ahead of print]