Recent studies deal with disorders and deficits caused by vascular syndrome in efforts for prediction and prevention. Cardiovascular health declines with age due to vascular risk factors, and this leads to an increasing risk of cognitive decline. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is defined as the negative cognitive changes beyond what is expected in normal aging. The purpose of the study was to compare older adults with vascular risk factors (VRF), MCI patients, and healthy controls (HC) in social cognition and especially in theory of mind ability (ToM). The sample comprised a total of 109 adults, aged 50 to 85 years (M = 66.09, SD = 9.02). They were divided into three groups: (a) older adults with VRF, (b) MCI patients, and (c) healthy controls (HC). VRF and MCI did not differ significantly in age, educational level or gender as was the case with HC. Specifically, for assessing ToM, a social inference test was used, which was designed to measure sarcasm comprehension. Results showed that the performance of the VRF group and MCI patients is not differentiated, while HC performed higher compared to the other two groups. The findings may imply that the development of a vascular disorder affecting vessels of the brain is associated from its “first steps” to ToM decline, at least regarding specific aspects of it, such as paradoxical sarcasm understanding.

Cardiovascular health declines with age, due to vascular risk factors, and this leads to an increasing risk of cognitive decline. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is defined as the negative cognitive changes beyond what is expected in normal aging. Th

With the aging of the population, a key concern of both societies and health services is to keep the population cognitively healthy until the maximum age limit. It is a well-known fact that vascular aging has a negative effect on the cognitive skills of adults, putting them at greater risk of developing dementia. The present longitudinal study aimed to evaluate the main dimensions of cognition in two pathological groups with different health profiles: a group of adults with vascular risk factors (VRF) (n = 35) and a group of adults with vascular risk factors and mild cognitive impairment (VRF + MCI) (n = 35). The two groups were matched in age, education, and gender. They were assessed with extensive neuropsychological testing at three different times with a distance of about 8 months between them; the assessment regarded executive functions, memory capacity, and Theory of Mind abilities. The analyses carried out were (a) mixed-measures ANOVA, (b) repeated measures ANOVA, and (c) ANOVA. The findings showed that global cognitive status and short-term memory are the main cognitive abilities that decline in community dwelling people bearing VRF. Hence, this group of adults should be examined at least every 2 years for this decline. As regards people with both VRF and MCI, it seems that the assessment of Theory of Mind abilities can better capture their further impairment. Global cognitive status, task/rule switching function, and long-term memory (delayed verbal recall) were revealed as the abilities that clearly and steadily differentiate VRF people with and without MCI.

The identification of basic emotions plays an important role in social relationships and behaviors linked to survival. In neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the ability to recognize emotions may already be impaired at early stages of the disease, such as the stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, as regards vascular pathologies related to cognitive impairment, very little is known about emotion recognition in people bearing vascular risk factors (VRF). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine emotion recognition ability in the health continuum “healthy advancing age—advancing age with VRF—MCI”. The sample consisted of 106 adults divided in three diagnostic groups; 43 adults with MCI, 41 adults bearing one or more VRF, and 22 healthy controls of advancing age (HC). Since HC were more educated and younger than the other two groups, the age-group and level of educational were taken into account in the statistical analyses. A dynamic visual test was administered to examine recognition of basic emotions and emotionally neutral conditions. The results showed only a significant diagnostic group x educational level interaction as regards total emotion recognition ability, F (4, 28.910) = 4.117 p = 0.004 η² = 0.166. High educational level seems to contribute to a high-level-emotion-recognition-performance both in healthy adults of advancing age and in adults bearing vascular risk factors. Medium educational level appears to play the same role only in healthy adults. Neither educational level can help MCI people to enhance their significantly lower emotion recognition ability.

The early identification of cognitive decline is crucial for well-timed intervention and diagnosis, particularly in the context of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, we investigated the complex interplay between trait affect, objective cognitive performance, and subjective memory estimations in a sample of 105 older adults. Using path analysis, we aimed to determine whether trait affect and objective cognitive control abilities predict individuals’ subjective perceptions of their own memory abilities. The results revealed that both positive and negative trait affect significantly predicted subjective memory estimations, while objective cognitive control performance did not significantly predict these estimations. These findings highlight a crucial dissociation between objective and subjective cognitive measures. Therefore, the present results underscore the critical importance of complementing self-reported cognitive estimations, which can be biased by stable emotional dispositions, with objective cognitive tools like the R4Alz-pc (preclinical) index. This approach enables a more accurate evaluation of cognitive health in advancing age, especially for the early detection of subtle dysfunction in preclinical AD.

Background/Objectives: Early identification of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is critically important. This study investigates whether early cognitive decline in preclinical AD can be detected through the executive functioning index R4Alz-pc by predicting memory-related worry and negative affect. Methods: A sample of 105 cognitively healthy, community-dwelling older adults (M = 59.25 years) completed the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) and the R4Alz-pc index battery. Results: Lower performance on the R4Alz-pc index was significantly associated with increased negative affect related to memory. Mediation analysis indicated that memory-related worry mediated the relationship between executive dysfunction and negative affect. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of early, objective cognitive assessment using easy-to-administer and non-invasive tools like the R4Alz-pc, enabling timely detection and intervention for preclinical AD. Such methods may reduce reliance on costly biomarker-based diagnostics.