No abstract

Animaloid companion robots represent a very interesting paradigm. An increasing number of studies on this topic has been carried out in the past, involving such robots and older users affected by some kind of cognitive disease, from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to more severe stages of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. In the study described in this paper, an AIBO robotic dog was programmed and used to show simple reactive behaviors during the interaction with old adults. Experimental sessions were carried out with a group of 24 older subjects with cognitive deficits of relatively small entity (MMSE>23). Preliminary results seem to show the acceptability of this approach especially in subjects with a good relationship with technology. In the next future, the interaction between the robot and the old adults will be tested in more complex situations.

Aims: To validate the Italian version of the Short Cognitive Evaluation Battery (SCEB), consisting of 4 tests (temporal orientation, five words, clock drawing and verbal fluency) in healthy controls (CONT), patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and major depressive disorder (DEP). Methods: Twenty-nine AD patients (mean Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE, score: 22.1 ± 3.1), 27 MCI patients (mean MMSE score: 26.5 ± 2.0), 27 depressed patients (mean MMSE score: 26.9 ± 2.8), and 48 controls (mean MMSE score: 29.7 ± 0.5) were enrolled. Results: MANCOVA showed highly significant (p < 0.0001) difference among groups. As for total SCEB score, AD were separated from CONT with high accuracy (93%; with sensitivity 93%, specificity 92%, area under ROC curve, AUC, 0.96) and from DEP with satisfying accuracy (84%; with sensitivity 76%, specificity 93%, AUC 0.84). Results in MCI versus CONT comparison yielded more moderate accuracy (80%; with sensitivity 70%, specificity 87%, AUC 0.80), which increased in the subgroup of MCI patients who later converted to AD (85%; with sensitivity 75%, specificity 83%, AUC 0.86). The direct comparison between MCI converters and nonconverters did not yield accurate results. Conclusion: The Italian version of the SCEB is a short (between 6 min in CONT and 12 min in DEP) screening tool in cognitive disorders of the elderly, and is potentially useful in clinical practice.