Presentation

Our first psychophysical research dates from 1981. It presented olfactory studies with possible clinical applications associated with early detection of neurological and endocrine impairments and ageing per se, as in the recently created Olfactory Clinics. New sensitivity measures were defined from quantitative data and response biases were studied, contributing to the new perspective of a complementary theory of sensory and cognitive psychophysics. Overall, a consolidated working group was formed. Up to 1995 we had presented one Master Degree Thesis and six PhD Theses that study sensory and cognitive issues in different sensory continua. Eleven research projects were funded by different government organizations. Fifty nine presentations at national and international congresses were made and sixty seven publications. Starting in 1996, our research was broaden to applied fields as sensory evaluation of indoor air and of food, including the age factor among its independent variables. Since 1998, we have participated in national and international research projects adding to our psychophysical studies these new lines of research: (1) olfactory sensitivity as a predictor of ageing and/or cognitive impairment and/or neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer´s Disease; (2) cognitive maps in the elderly;(3)time perception in ageing and (4) age effects in confidence judgments in sensory and cognitive tasks. Very recently we have started a new line of research concerning, as (5), sport activities and ageing.

Members

Spanish Research Members:
Ana Julia Garriga Trillo (Head, Professor of Methodology, UNED)
José María Merino Merino (Professor of Methodology, UNED)
Paula Lubin Pigouche (Professor of Methodology, UNED)
Pilar Rubio de Lemus (Professor of Methodology, UNED)
Cristina Díaz Berciano (Instructor, CES, San Pablo-CEU and UCM)
Pilar Muro Cacho (Instructor, UNED)

International Collaborators:
John C. Baird (Psychological Applications and Dartmouth College, USA)
Frederico Marques (Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal)
Elizabeth Maylor (Warwick University, UK)
Armando Luis Monica de Oliveira (Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal)
Lars-Göran Nilsson (Stockhölm University, Sweden)
Naftali Raz (Wayne University, USA)

Spanish Collaborators:
Ángel Gil de Miguel (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid)
Francisco González Represa (Caixa Ourense, Ourense)
Enriqueta Alonso Gasa (Ministry of Science and Education)
Luis Herrero Arjona (Ministry of Science and Education)

PhD Students:
Francisco Aguilera Genicio

Research Areas

General: Pychophysical Research

Specific:
1. Olfactory Sensitivity and Psychophysical Functions
2. Indoor Air Quality
3. Sensory Evaluation of Food (Wine and Chocolate)
4. Distance Perception
5. Time Perception
6. Confidence Judgments
7. Cross-cultural studies
8. Gerontology: Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases
a. Olfactory sensitivity as predictor of cognitive impairment
b. Cognitive maps in the elderly
c. Time perception in the elderly
d. Age effects in confidence judgments
e. Sensory evaluation of foods in the elderly
d. Sports and ageing

Research Projects in the last five years

1. Project: Assessment of semantic memory impairment in Alzheimer: Validation of the TBAMIAD (Test Battery for the Assessment of Memory Impairment in Alzheimer´s Disease).
Financed by: Comunidad de Madrid
University: UNED
Date: 1998 - 2000
Amount: 12.000 euros
Project leader: Herminia Peraita Adrados
Number of researchers: 4
SUMMARY: Look in Peraita´s group, also in this web page.

2. Project: New psychophysical findings for sensory evaluation: determining flavour profiles in wines.
Financed by: DGES
University: UNED
Date: 1998 - 2000
Amount: 13.404 euros.
Project leader: Ana Julia Garriga Trillo
Number of researchers: 8

Keywords: Sensory evaluation, psychophysics, flavour profiles, enology.

SUMMARY:
Sensory evaluation is a measurement technique in which subjects give the desired measure. This is why it is so important within this discipline to develop and apply new techniques for obtaining results that minimize non sensory factors in the subject's responses. Since the "cognitive revolution" psychophysics studies not only the relationship between stimulus-response (S-R), but also the processes between S and R. In this way it leads to the detection of non sensory biases both in determining thresholds and in magnitude estimation tasks. There are two mechanisms to correct these biases: creating new techniques that minimize them or choosing subjects that are less prone to them. The classical methodology employed by wine tasters does not consider these options. It is the main goal of this project to apply this new psychophysical methodology in determining the sensory characteristics of wine for constructing its flavour profile. We will use Guirao's (1987) converging limits technique (CLT) together with the traditional graphical method and we will choose as panel members subjects with a very high sensitivity score determined by Garriga-Trillo's (1987, 1996) indexes: M, MR and CI. Two Spanish Chardonnay's white wines will be used in the experimental trials. A secondary goal will lead us to recommend the flavour profile obtained for the characterization of Controlled Origin Name (CON), an aspect more used in wine commercialisation today.

3. Project: Early detection of cognitive impairment in healthy elderly and Alzheimer´s patients: A prospective and comparative study of semantic memory.
Financed by: DGES
University: UNED
Date: 2001-2003
Amount: 32.400 euros
Project leader: Herminia Peraita Adrados
Number of researchers: 7
Keywords: Alzheimer´s disease, ageing, semantic memory.
SUMMARY: Look in Peraita´s research group, also in this web page.

4. Project: Updating a neuropsychological tool for studying and assesing semantic memory (review, amplification and validation of TBAMIAD (Test Battery for the Assessment of Memory Impairment in Alzheimer´s Disease, Peraita et al, 2000).
Financed by: R+D IMSERSO
University & Others: UNED and AFSCPI (Association for studying cognitive proceses and its impairment-APCA (Asociación para el estudio de los procesos cognitivos y sus alteraciones)
Date: 2002
Amount: 7.604,45 euros
Project leader: Herminia Peraita Adrados
Number of researchers: 6.
SUMMARY: Look in Peraita´s research group, also in this web page.

5. Project: New perspectives in psychophysical scaling: Olfactory sensitivity measures as predictors of sensory-cognitive deficits in old age.
Financed by: Ministry of Science and Technology (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología)
University: UNED
Date: 2003- 2005
Amount: 18.240,00 euros
Project leader: Ana Julia Garriga Trillo
Number of researchers: 6.

SUMMARY:
Traditional psychophysical scaling (Weber´s Law, 1846; Fechner´s Law, 1860; Stevens Law, 1957) assumes that psychological scaling (Thurstone´s Law of Comparative Judgment, 1927) is something outside its domain. This dichotomy did not exist when Thurstone first published his Law but it is now totally accepted. It is also linked to the separation of the sensory continuum and the judgmental, or cognitive, one. Baird (1997) proposes a more close relationship between continua stating a complementarity theory for psychophysics including within it a sensory and a judgment model. Garriga-Trillo (1995) has found that this proximity exists and could lead to a direct connection between global and local psychophysics within psychophysical scaling. Bearing in mind axiomatic measurement theory we will, in the first instance, try to get the unicity of results from both scaling options and within both psychophysics. To empirically contrast these theoretical issues we will use the olfactory modality. Detection, discrimination and estimation tasks will be employed for our purpose. On considering these tasks and the unicity issue, we will be able to calculate and compare, in the second instance, different olfactory sensitivity measures, their reliability and validity and also their probability distributions as presented in Garriga-Trillo (1987, 1997). Knowing that olfactory deficits could predict sensory and cognitive impairments in old age (Chan, Tam, Murphy, Chiu & Lam, 2002; Doty, 2001; Gray, Staples, Murren, Dhariwal & Bentham, 2001; Royall, Chiodo, Polk & Jaramillo, 2002) we will consider for our empirical study a sample including both young subjects and subjects whose ages are above 50 years. With the data obtained from these samples, in the third instance, we will study the functional relationship between olfactory sensitivity measures and cognitive variables included in the RABATEMS E-95 battery by Peraita et al (in elaboration). With these variables, we will study if "unified" olfactory sensitivity measures could predict sensory-cognitive impairments in old age.

6. Project: Cognitive and sensory impairment in ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. Short name: DECS-EEN.
Financed by: Ministry of Science and Education
Universities: UNED (Madrid), URJC (Madrid), Stockhölm Universitaet (Sweden), University of Warwick (UK), Universidade de Lisboa & Wayne University (Detroit, USA).
Date: 2005-2006
Amount: 11.000 euros
Project leader: Ana Garriga-Trillo
Number of Participants: 11
SUMMARY:
It is evident that the population in the Western World is progressively ageing. This fact leads to a lot of problems for these societies - among others medical, social and economic ones – and, as a consequence, any possible solution to be approached would need to be interdisciplinary. Considering another issue, not all of the countries from our western world are trying to solve these problems with the same intensity, nor with the same means and expertise. Overall and taking into account that Spain lies far behind in attention care to elderly people (as shown in the IMSERSO, December 2004, report) it is necessary to start developing several actions in this direction. Our Working Group is specialized in studying the sensory and cognitive deficits that concern a high percentage of elderly people that have dependency, economic and socially integration problems, among others. Nevertheless, and knowing that many nearby countries are more advanced in treatments and problem solving for the elderly, it is necessary to count on their theoretical and practical know how. Our working group maintains fluid interchanges with non Spanish research groups, as can be seen in our organization of the First International Conference on Ageing, Cognition and Neuroscience recently held at UNED. This conference has helped us to interact with highly qualified colleagues from different countries from Europe and from USA. The creation of scientific and technical thematic webs within the framework of financial grants for implementing complementary actions can establish the needed frame of action to attain our goals in the field of ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. With this financial help we pretend to build a thematic web of professionals from different areas including psychologists, medical doctors, biologists and mathematicians with both theoretical and applied approaches.