Dr. Rosie Curiel Cid Presents on Cognitive Stress Tests at 2022 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference

Rosie Curiel Cid, Psy.D., Chief of Cross-cultural Neuropsychology in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging, discussed the Cognitive Stress Test (CST)—an innovative tool designed by scientists in our CNSA—to differentiate cognitively unimpaired adults from those who show pre-Mild Cognitive Impairment (pre-MCI) and amnestic MCI (aMCI). She also addressed how the stress test approach may have different effects based on race and ethnicity, a core area the CNSA is focusing on in current research. Dr. Curiel Cid emphasized,“The Cognitive Stress Test does not cause stress or distress, but it does stress the cognitive system enough for you to pick up on early deficits.”

After AAIC 2022, Neurology Live caught up with Dr. Curiel Cid to review findings from the conference. There were a number of notable takeaways, including a higher percentage of intrusion errors in the aMCI group, which confirmed significant difficulties with inhibition, source memory, and monitoring. Additionally, the findings represented the first data that older adults with aMCI and pre-MCI have deficits related to their ability to recover from proactive semantic interference despite repeated opportunities to learn. The study investigators, including Dr. Curiel Cid, concluded that the tool and data need to be validated in a larger sample that includes biomarker data to correlate with the results.