Aprendizaje activo en Psicobiología

[EN] This innovation project emerged with the goal of favour, stimulate and promote the effective acquisition of neuroanatomical knowledges within the context of two subjects belonging to the degree in Psychology from the University of Jaen. For this, the students prepared, individually, a model of the Central Nervous System shaping the different main structures that make up it using plasticine like a puzzle. The project was implemented in two phases, during the academic years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. In each phase we made 3 brief seminars in small groups (15-20 students/50 minutes) and independent work sessions tutored in person and virtually through the ILIAS platform and / or email by the teachers involved in the project. A « structures form » was used to assess the degree of achievement of the objectives and also a questionnaire was employed to collect the level of student satisfaction with the new teaching method. The results showed that this new activity encouraged greater involvement of students in the learning process, favoring their comprehensive training, increasing their motivation, interest and creativity to make ultimately more effective and rewarding the adquisition of the knowledge.[ES] Con la finalidad de favorecer, estimular y promover en alumnos la adquisición efectiva de los conocimientos neuroanatómicos planteados como objetivos docentes en dos asignaturas pertenecientes al Grado en Psicología de la Universidad de Jaén surgió el presente proyecto de innovación. Para ello los alumnos elaboraron, de forma individual, una maqueta del Sistema Nervioso Central moldeando las diferentes estructuras que lo componen con plastilina e integrándolas como un todo, a modo de puzzle. El proyecto se ejecutó en dos fases, durante los cursos académicos 2013-2014 y 2014-2015. En cada fase se realizaron 3 seminarios en pequeño grupo (15-20 alumnos/50 minutos) y sesiones de trabajo autónomo tutorizadas presencialmente y virtualmente a través de la plataforma ILIAS y/o mediante correo electrónico por los docentes implicados en el proyecto. Para valorar el grado de consecución de los objetivos planteados se utilizó una « plantilla de estructuras » y para recoger el nivel de satisfacción del alumnado con el nuevo método docente empleado un cuestionario. Los resultados reflejaron que esta nueva actividad fomentaba una mayor implicación del alumno en el proceso de aprendizaje, favoreciendo su formación integral, aumentando su motivación, interés y creatividad, en definitiva haciendo el proceso de adquisición de conocimiento más efectivo y gratificante.Sáez Zea, C.; Agüero Zapata, Á.; De La Torre Vacas, M. (2015). Aprendizaje activo en Psicobiología. En In-Red 2015 - CONGRESO NACIONAL DE INNOVACIÓN EDUCATIVA Y DE DOCENCIA EN RED. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2015.2015.1621OC

Diagnostic Accuracy, Effectiveness and Cost for Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Screening of Three Short Cognitive Tests Applicable to Illiterates

BACKGROUND: Illiteracy, a universal problem, limits the utilization of the most widely used short cognitive tests. Our objective was to assess and compare the effectiveness and cost for cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia (DEM) screening of three short cognitive tests applicable to illiterates. METHODS: Phase III diagnostic test evaluation study was performed during one year in four Primary Care centers, prospectively including individuals with suspicion of CI or DEM. All underwent the Eurotest, Memory Alteration Test (M@T), and Phototest, applied in a balanced manner. Clinical, functional, and cognitive studies were independently performed in a blinded fashion in a Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit, and the gold standard diagnosis was established by consensus of expert neurologists on the basis of these results. Effectiveness of tests was assessed as the proportion of correct diagnoses (diagnostic accuracy [DA]) and the kappa index of concordance (k) with respect to gold standard diagnoses. Costs were based on public prices at the time and hospital accounts. RESULTS: The study included 139 individuals: 47 with DEM, 36 with CI, and 56 without CI. No significant differences in effectiveness were found among the tests. For DEM screening: Eurotest (k = 0.71 [0.59-0.83], DA = 0.87 [0.80-0.92]), M@T (k = 0.72 [0.60-0.84], DA = 0.87 [0.80-0.92]), Phototest (k = 0.70 [0.57-0.82], DA = 0.86 [0.79-0.91]). For CI screening: Eurotest (k = 0.67 [0.55-0.79]; DA = 0.83 [0.76-0.89]), M@T (k = 0.52 [0.37-0.67]; DA = 0.80 [0.72-0.86]), Phototest (k = 0.59 [0.46-0.72]; DA = 0.79 [0.71-0.86]). There were no differences in the cost of DEM screening, but the cost of CI screening was significantly higher with M@T (330.7 ± 177.1 €, mean ± sd) than with Eurotest (294.1 ± 195.0 €) or Phototest (296.0 ± 196. 5 €). Application time was shorter with Phototest (2.8 ± 0.8 min) than with Eurotest (7.1 ± 1.8 min) or M@T (6.8 ± 2.2 min). CONCLUSIONS: Eurotest, M@T, and Phototest are equally effective. Eurotest and Phototest are both less expensive options but Phototest is the most efficient, requiring the shortest application time

Using XAI in the Clock Drawing Test to reveal the cognitive impairment pattern.

he prevalence of dementia is currently increasing worldwide. This syndrome produces a deteriorationin cognitive function that cannot be reverted. However, an early diagnosis can be crucial for slowing itsprogress. The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is a widely used paper-and-pencil test for cognitive assessmentin which an individual has to manually draw a clock on a paper. There are a lot of scoring systems forthis test and most of them depend on the subjective assessment of the expert. This study proposes acomputer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system based on artificial intelligence (AI) methods to analyze the CDTand obtain an automatic diagnosis of cognitive impairment (CI). This system employs a preprocessingpipeline in which the clock is detected, centered and binarized to decrease the computational burden.Then, the resulting image is fed into a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to identify the informativepatterns within the CDT drawings that are relevant for the assessment of the patient’s cognitive status.Performance is evaluated in a real context where patients with CI and controls have been classified byclinical experts in a balanced sample size of 3282 drawings. The proposed method provides an accuracyof 75.65% in the binary case-control classification task, with an AUC of 0.83. These results are indeedrelevant considering the use of the classic version of the CDT. The large size of the sample suggests thatthe method proposed has a high reliability to be used in clinical contexts and demonstrates the suitabilityof CAD systems in the CDT assessment process. Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods areapplied to identify the most relevant regions during classification. Finding these patterns is extremelyhelpful to understand the brain damage caused by CI. A validation method using resubstitution withupper bound correction in a machine learning approach is also discusseThis work was supported by the MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa” under the RTI2018- 098913-B100 project, by the Consejeria de Economia, Innovacion, Ciencia y Empleo (Junta de An765 dalucia) and FEDER under CV20-45250, A-TIC080-UGR18, B-TIC-586-UGR20 and P20-00525 projects, and by the Ministerio de Universidades under the FPU18/04902 grant given to C. JimenezMesa and the Margarita-Salas grant to J.E. Arco

Utilidad diagnóstica, fiabilidad y validez del Fototest en la detección de deterioro cognitivo y demencia

Tesis Univ. Granada. Instituto de Neurociencias Federico Olóri

The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) as a potential pest for agriculture in the Mediterranean basin

Data availability statement The datasets generated during the current study and the video-recordings are available from the corresponding author on reasonable requestThe monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) has been introduced in the last decades to many cities in many parts of the world. For most of this time it has been restricted primarily to urban areas, but it is starting to spread to rural habitats. In its native range, the monk parakeet is considered a pest for agriculture, consuming a wide variety of crops such as grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, there is very little information about its potential role as a pest for agriculture in the areas where it is exotic. Here we conducted an experimental survey of the impact of the monk parakeet on corn in SE Spain using camera traps. The monk parakeet was the animal that produced the highest damage, being responsible for 98.6% of the time employed by all animals consuming corn. The percentage of cobs damaged ranged from 36.8 to 100% depending on the cultivar, whereas the crop loss (measured as the length of the cob consumed with respect to the total length of the cob) ranged from 17.7 to 71.1%. The results suggest that the monk parakeet may be a serious pest for agriculture in the Mediterranean basin if their populations continue growing.Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project PID2019- 106806GB-I00)Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJC2018-036411-I)Universidad de Granada / CBU

The MISE Method. A new communicative approach for evaluating and training singing through mental imagery: executive implications

Describing the qualities of a singer's voice is a challenging task, even for experts. Voice pedagogues usually evaluate vocal qualities through auditions, after which they make subjective judgments. As a means of communication, language has limitations in expressing concrete sound sensations, and sometimes such a description can be abstract for the singer. Our work aims to design and validate a new educational approach for vocal assessment and training, using the Mental Images for Singing Education (MISE Method). In addition, we analyze whether this pedagogical methodology favors the improvement of vocal technique and the learning of concepts according to the level of experience of the students and their executive performance. Our results show that the introduction of Mental Imagery produces beneficial effects in the teaching and learning of vocal techniques, regardless of the initial performance level. This makes the MISE Method an effective assessment and training tool, allowing the formalization of a communication language hitherto used intuitively in the singing classroom. However, our results were inconclusive at the cognitive level, so future research is needed to expand the study of executive processes according to the type of mental images used

sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356221146813 – Supplemental material for The MISE method: A new communicative approach for evaluating and training singing through mental imagery—Executive implications

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356221146813 for The MISE method: A new communicative approach for evaluating and training singing through mental imagery—Executive implications by Mª del Coral Morales-Villar, Carmen Sáez-Zea, Rosaura Fernández-Pascual, Francisco José Comino-Crespo and Mercedes Vélez-Toral in Psychology of Music</p

Characteristics of the short cognitive tests.

<p>M@ T: Memory Alteration Test. T: time in minutes. O: orientation; M: memory; F: verbal fluency; N: naming; C: calculation. RS: record sheet. DEM: dementia; CI: cognitive impairment. *36/37 for individuals without and 37/38 for those with primary schooling.</p