[A descriptive study of the neuropsychological and psychopathological profile in patients with type 1 myotonic dystrophy].

Introduction: Type 1 myotonic dystrophy (MD-1) or Steinert disease is a multisystemic progressive disorder. Studies have shown cognitive deficits, depressive symptoms and a high incidence of anxiety personality traits that compromise both the functionality and the quality of life of these patients.

Aim: To describe the cognitive and psychopathological profile of a sample of patients with the adult variant of MD-1.

[Sluggish cognitive tempo: an updated review].

Introduction: The study of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) arose largely from research carried out on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This construct is defined by a range of behavioural symptoms such as the appearance of drowsiness, daydreaming, physical hypoactivity, little initiative, lethargy and apathy.

Development: The construct of SCT is reviewed by means of recently published papers on its clinical characteristics, associated symptoms, evaluation, prevalence, aetiology, comorbidity, neuropsychological profiles and treatment.

[Proposal for a neuropsychological cognitive evaluation battery for detecting and distinguishing between mild cognitive impairment and dementias].

The early and etiological diagnosis of dementia syndrome in the clinical practice remains the neuropsychological assessment through the study of the cognitive profile of the patient and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the functions, both impaired and preserved. In this article, we describe a neuropsychological battery of cognitive evaluation to detect mild cognitive impairment in any of its clinical forms and dementia; as well as discriminate between the main profiles of dementia syndrome, based on its topographic and etiological classification (frontotemporal, temporoparietal, subcortical, cortico-subcortical and multifocal). This battery is implemented in the neuropsychological assessment specialized surgery from Navarra Hospital Center Neurology Service.

[The role of the neuropsychologist in neurology services: a descriptive study of the users of the specialised neurological assessment unit of the Hospital Complex of Navarra during its first year in service].

INTRODUCTION. A large number of neurological diseases course with impairment of higher cognitive functions, their evaluation being important for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes. The main purpose of neuropsychological assessment is to identify behavioral, emotional and cognitive consequences of brain dysfunction.

[Ecological validity and multitasking environments in the evaluation of the executive functions].

Evaluation of executive functions is a major issue of neuropsychological assessment, due to the role displayed by these on a cognitive, behavioural and emotional level, and the implication of these functions in daily life functioning. In order to perform a reliable assessment, the strategy traditionally followed for the evaluation of executive functions has been their atomization in different cognitive subprocesses, which is useful in a clinical or a research context. However, in clinical practice it is frequently artificial to disintegrate a global and complex cognitive process, such as executive functions, in a variety of related components; thus, tests designed according to these theoretical processes have low value in clinical procedures (diagnosis, rehabilitation design) due to their poor correspondence with the subject's or patient's clinical reality.

[Neuropsychological evaluation of the executive functions by means of virtual reality].

Executive functions include a wide range of self regulatory functions that allow control, organization and coordination of other cognitive functions, emotional responses and behaviours. The traditional approach to evaluate these functions, by means of paper and pencil neuropsychological tests, shows a greater than expected performance within the normal range for patients whose daily life difficulties would predict an inferior performance. These discrepancies suggest that classical neuropsychological tests may not adequately reproduce the complexity and dynamic nature of real life situations.

[Professional career, disability and dependence after acquired brain injury: a prospective study in the two years following the brain injury].

Aims: The purpose of the current study is to analyze the labor trajectory, grade of disability and degree of dependence ecognized in a group of people with acquired brain injury with difference types and severity of injuries and with memory deficit as the main cognitive sequel, over a period of two years after the injury and to explore which premorbid clinical and demographic variables related to the brain injury are predictors of the return to work.

Patients And Methods: 129 subjects (aged 18-80 years), who were attended by the Neuropsychology and Neuropsychiatry Department of Navarra's Hospital. Qualitative variables were compared using the Chi square test and means were compared using Student t test and to determine the correlation between continuing variables we used Pearson's correlation coefficient.

[Factorial structure of the dysexecutive questionnaire in a sample of the Spanish population with acquired brain injury and memory deficit complaints].

Introduction And Aims: The dysexecutive questionnaire (DEX) has been used to study executive deficits in both clinical samples (both psychiatric and neurological) and non-clinical samples, although agreement on its factorial structure is lacking. The aim of this research is to study that structure in the self-administered version in a sample of the Spanish population with acquired brain injury and memory loss complaints, and to compare that solution with those obtained in other studies.

Patients And Methods: The questionnaire was administered to 119 subjects with acquired brain injury with different aetiologies (traumatic, vascular, tumours, multiple sclerosis, toxic-metabolic and others).

[Relation between white matter and cognitive functions].

Introduction: After being largely neglected as a contributor to the organisation of the cognitive operations for many years, the white matter of the brain is now again the object of much research. These advances are complemented with the latest neuroimaging techniques, such as diffusion tensor imaging, which make it possible to obtain a more detailed view of the role played by the pathways of the white matter in the cognitive operations.

Development: The study reviews the relation between lesions in the white matter and different cognitive processes and functions such as language, attention, visuospatial and visual-constructional skills, spatial negligence, processing speed, memory and executive functions.

[Are intelligence and executive functions the same thing?].

Introduction: With the growth of cognitive science, the study of the cognitive components involved in solving tests to assess intelligence become especially significant. From this perspective, the g factor is conceived as the representative of the operation of high-level cognitive processes that control the computational programmes of the brain. Different names have been used to denominate the cognitive processes that underlie the g factor: control processes, executive functioning, executive control or executive functions.