Ausencia de efecto de la práctica en el deterioro cognoscitivo leve amnésico. Evidencia en un seguimiento cuatro meses después del diagnóstico / Absence of practice effect in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Evidence in a follow-up four months after diagnosis

Introducción: la forma amnésica del deterioro cognoscitivo leve (DCL-amn) es considerada fenotípica de la enfermedad de Alzheimer en fase prodrómica. Dado el déficit de memoria que caracteriza a los pacientes con DCL-amn, se hipotetiza que su desempeño en tareas de memoria explícita no se vería afectado por el efecto de la práctica al realizar un retest en un tiempo relativamente corto. Objetivo: evaluar la memoria explícita verbal y visual de un grupo de pacientes (N = 13) con DCL-amn, comparando su desempeño en 2 momentos evaluativos: el primero al diagnóstico clínico y el otro cuatro meses después. Materiales y métodos: se realizó un estudio ex post facto descriptivo comparativo con el plan de investigación evolutivo de grupo. Se evaluó la memoria explícita verbal con el Buschke Selective Reminded Test y la memoria explícita visual con la figura compleja de Rey. El análisis estadístico se realizó con el programa SPSS versión 2.0, obteniendo medias y desviaciones estándar y empleando una p < 0,05 como estadísticamente significativa. Resultados: los análisis a partir de la prueba t-student demuestran que las diferencias entre ambos momentos no fueron estadísticamente significativas (p<0,05). Conclusiones: los resultados apoyan la evidencia previa de ausencia de efecto de la práctica en las evaluaciones sucesivas en el DCL-amn, que se explica por el déficit crónico de memoria anterógrada que impide hacer aprendizajes significativos, aún ante la exposición repetida a los mismos materiales de prueba y en cortos períodos de retest.

Introduction: The amnestic subtype of mild cognitive impairment (amn-MCI) is considered to be a phenotype of Alzheimer´s disease in the prodromal stages. Given memory deficit that characterizes patients with amn-MCI, it hypothesized that their performance in explicit memory task would not be influenced by the practice effect when a retest is performed over a relatively short time. Objective: To evaluate the explicit verbal and visual memory of a group of patients (N = 13) with amn-MCI, comparing their performance in 2 evaluative moments: the first to the clinical diagnosis and the other four months after. Materials and methods: An ex post facto comparative descriptive study was carried out with a group evolutionary research plan. Verbal explicit memory was evaluated with the Buschke Selective Reminded Test and explicit visual memory with the Complex Figure of Rey. The statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS program version 2.0, obtaining means and standard deviations and using p <0.05 as statistically significant. Results: The analyzes from the t-student test show that the differences between both moments were not statistically significant (p <0.05). Conclusions: The results support the previous evidence of absence of practice effect in the successive evaluations in the amn-MCI, which is explained by the chronic deficit of anterograde memory that prevents significant learning, even in the face of repeated exposure to the same test materials and in short retest periods.

Use of the 6-Minute Walk Test as Gait Therapy for Hemiplegic Patients: Possibility of Practice Effect by Providing Knowledge of Result

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the practice effect of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) after providing the subjects with knowledge of the results (KR). METHODS: Sixteen subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis volunteered to participate in this study. The 6MWT was performed by having the subjects take repeated walks along a 20-m walkway for 6 minutes; and the maximum distance walked was recorded. Two trials of the 6MWT were conducted under three conditions: no-KR, immediate-KR (providing knowledge of the time taken to complete each 20-m distance), and summary-KR (providing knowledge of the time taken to complete 60 m). RESULTS: The practice effects of all 3 conditions were determined by using the paired t-test, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with <0.75, and the Bland-Altman plot. The findings of the paired t-test showed a significant difference under the immediate-KR condition only; however, no significant differences were noted under the no-KR and summary-KR conditions. In a data agreement analysis across the two trials using the ICC, none of the obtained values under the three conditions were in an acceptable range indicative of a practice effect. In the Bland-Altman plot, a greater data variation was observed under the immediate-KR condition than under the other two conditions. When comparing the conditions, the immediate-KR condition differed significantly from the no-KR condition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support the presence of a practice effect across the 6MWT. However, a practice effect seems to be clinically possible when the immediate-KR condition is incorporated into this test.

A survey on the effect of the quality monitoring system for the medical English major's probation / 中华医学教育探索杂志

This paper is to survey two groups of medicine-oriented English major undergraduates who have their probation either before or after the Quality Monitoring System is introduced to them about their degrees of learning satisfaction through questionnaires and seminar discussions. As a result, it proves that the implementation of the Quality Monitoring System in student probation helps to raise the degrees of student learning satisfaction, which clearly promotes the probation quality and secures the fulfillment of the mission in practice.

An Experiment Study of the Working Memory Test's Practice Effect / 中国临床心理学杂志

Objective:To confirm the least practice times to eliminate the practice effect in the Working Memory Test. Methods: Four university students aged 19 to 24 were selected and tested at 8:30～11:30 A.M., 2:30～5:30 P.M. and 7:30～9:30 P.M. respectively in two days, and their behavioral data were collected. Results: From the data of the four analyzed subjects, there are significant practice effects in the Working Memory Test (two types, three difficult levels), comparing with their practice results fore-and-aft, the difference of practice results reaches the significant level ( P

Practice Effect of Working Memory Test / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To confirm the least practice times to eliminate the practice effect in the Working Memory Test Method: Four volunteers from college students practiced the Working Memory Test many times in two consecutive days Their scores were analyzed Result:Comparing their results before and after practice, there were significant practice effects with two types, three levels In order to eliminate these effects, the practice times before formal test was no less than 18 Conclusion:Practice effect is one of the factors affecting the results of the Working Memory Test, which can be eliminate after at least 18 times practice