Joana Câmara

University of Coimbra | UC · Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences

Remote delivered cognitive rehabilitation programs (r-CRP) are increasingly recognized as alternative and complementary intervention approaches to traditional cognitive rehabilitation (CR) in the context of several neurological conditions, including acquired brain injuries (ABI). This systematic review examines the methodological characteristics of...

Bilateral thalamic infarcts are associated with severe and long-term impairments, leading to a poor functional prognosis. As a result, patients can exhibit a wide range of cognitive and behavioral deficits, including difficulties with attention, learning and memory, language, emotional processing, time perception, and loss of self-activation, manif...

Cognitive impairments are a prevalent consequence of acquired brain injury, dementia, and age-related cognitive decline, hampering individuals' daily functioning and independence, with significant societal and economic implications. While neurorehabilitation represents a promising avenue for addressing these deficits, traditional rehabilitation app...

(1) Background: Different intervention strategies, such as reminiscence and music-based therapies, effectively mitigate the cognitive decline of individuals with dementia (IwD). An important challenge when implementing these approaches lies in the need for content customization. We designed Musiquence platform, a framework that allows the customiza...

Objective: To conduct a pilot randomized control trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of full-body interaction cognitive training (FBI-CT) inspired by instrumental activities of daily living in chronic psychiatric inpatients and to explore its preliminary impact on cognitive and noncognitive outcomes. Materials and Methods: Twenty psy...

Resumo: O treino cognitivo (TC) através das novas tecnologias representa uma estratégia de intervenção promissora na mitigação dos défices cognitivos pós-AVC. Neste estudo-piloto, avaliamos o impacto a curto prazo de um novo sistema de TC com maior validade ecológica-a plataforma NeuroAIreh@b-, numa amostra de sobreviventes de AVC na fase crónica....

In this pilot study, we sought to evaluate the feasibility and short-term efficacy of a novel ecologically valid cognitive training (CT) system – the NeuroAIreh@b platform – delivered via tablet in a sample of acquired brain injury (ABI) patients (stroke and traumatic brain injury). So far, ten ABI patients have completed the one-month CT intervent...

In this pilot study, we sought to evaluate the feasibility and short-term efficacy of a novel ecologically valid cognitive training (CT) system-the NeuroAIreh@b platform-delivered via tablet in a sample of acquired brain injury (ABI) patients (stroke and traumatic brain injury). So far, ten ABI patients have completed the one-month CT intervention;...

We present the preliminary results on the usability of four tablet-based cognitive training tasks of the NeuroAIreh@b platform. These tasks address the training of activities of daily living and have been designed involving professionals of various disciplines following human-computer interaction methods. After an iterative development process acco...

Objective: To present the case study of LT, a 58-years old male with 13 years of schooling who suffered an ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory one year and a half ago. LT is still on sick leave and presents several cognitive deficits (attention and concentration, verbal learning and memory, expressive language) that jeopardize h...

O AVC representa a principal causa de morte e incapacidade em todo o mundo, incluindo Portugal. A evidência científica atual sugere que o treino cognitivo (TC) informatizado, assente em atividades de vida diária (AVDs), poderá contribuir para uma maior transferência dos ganhos adquiridos em contexto terapêutico para a vida real. A implementação des...

In this work, we will assess and compare two content-equivalent cognitive training (CT) interventions delivered in desktop virtual reality (VR) (Reh@City v2.0) and paper-and-pencil (Task generator (TG)) formats in a sample of patients with mental and behavioral disorders. We found that both CT methodologies were associated with favorable cognitive,...

We developed a new cueing system that capitalises on the spared musical processing abilities of people with dementia. We studied the cueing efficacy by testing different musical distortions (pitch, rhythm, and pitch-rhythm) while using different augmented reality-based interaction modalities in multiple cognitive stimulation tasks. A total of 18 vo...

Cognitive deficits are a core feature of mental and behavioral disorders, leading to poor treatment adherence and functionality. Virtual reality (VR) methodologies are promising solutions for cognitive interventions in psychiatry once they provide greater ecological validity. This study assessed and compared two content-equivalent cognitive trainin...

Given the high prevalence of cognitive impairment and functional dependence after Acquired Brain Injury (such as stroke and traumatic brain injury), degenerative conditions (such as dementia and multiple sclerosis) and psychiatric disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorders and schizophrenia), finding effective cognitive assessment and rehab...

BRaNT (Belief Revision applied to Neurorehabilitation Therapy) consists of an at-home cognitive training (CT) platform inspired by our previous work with two CT tools: Task Generator and Reh@City. The present work will explore the process of enhancing the ecological validity of the cognitive training tasks (CTTs) to be integrated in the BRaNT platf...

Introduction: Intellectual developmental disorders and psychiatric disorders compromise cognitive functioning. These disorders are associated with a higher risk for late-life dementia. Therefore, cognitive training interventions represent an important strategy to promote healthy cognitive aging and maintain cognitive functioning in the context of t...

Introduction: Dementia leads to progressive and irreversible cognitive and behavioral deterioration. Currently, the cognitive stimulation program Making a Difference, mostly known as Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), is an evidence-based non-pharmacological intervention applied in mild to moderate stages of dementia. CST is widely known for its...

The present study aimed to understand the impact of a customized cognitive stimulation program for individuals with dementia on the different cognitive domains typically compromised in this neurodegenerative syndrome. We created the content for a customized 14-sessions cognitive stimulation program, that was applied to thirteen individuals with dem...

Introduction: Cognitive deficits are a core feature of psychiatric disorders, leading to poor treatment adherence and functionality. Additionally, these conditions are important risk factors for late-life dementia. Therefore, cognitive training (CT) interventions are of great value in the context of psychiatric disorders, having the potential to im...

Machine Learning (ML) delivers an accurate and quick prediction outcome and it has become a powerful tool in health settings, offering personalized clinical care for stroke patients. ML and Deep Learning applications in health care are growing, nonetheless there is a greater need for further investigation in some research fields. Therefore, this st...

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between creativity, particularly divergent thinking, and cognitive reserve (CR), in a sample of older adults without cognitive impairment. 53 community-dwelling subjects met the inclusion criteria and were submitted to the Creativity Test (ProCriativ) and the Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire (CR...

Multidomain cognitive impairment is typical after stroke and often compromises the person's ability to carry out activities of daily living (ADLs). Although cognitive training (CT) has proven to be an effective strategy in the cognitive rehabilitation (CR) of stroke patients, lack of human resources and limited personalization hamper its implementa...

To investigate the relationship between creativity, specifically DT, and CR in a sample of older adults without cognitive impairment

Dementias are responsible for progressive and irreversible cognitive, behavioural and functional deterioration which impair the persons’ communication, increasing social isolation and leading to mood changes and low quality of life. Nowadays, the Cognitive Stimulation Therapy program (CST) – a cognitive stimulation (CS) tool developed by Spector an...

Na atual conjetura debatemo-nos com o problema do envelhecimento demográfico. A idade avançada constitui um dos principais fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento de quadros demenciais degenerativos, com ênfase para a Doença de Alzheimer, responsável pela maioria dos casos de demência. Portugal é o quarto país da OCDE com maior prevalência de casos...

Na atual conjetura debatemo-nos com o problema do envelhecimento demográfico. A idade avançada constitui um dos principais fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento de quadros demenciais degenerativos, com ênfase para a Doença de Alzheimer, responsável pela maioria dos casos de demência. Portugal é o quarto país da OCDE com maior prevalência de casos...

O declínio da comunicação é uma manifestação inevitável da demência. No geral, as capacidades de receção (descodificação e compreensão) e expressão da linguagem (codificação e transmissão) são afetadas. As alterações da linguagem são exacerbadas por outros défices confluentes, desde logo na memória semântica e de trabalho, atenção e funcionamento e...

Neuroeducation is an emergent multidisciplinary field of knowledge that aims to apply some of the neurosciences principles to school learning. With neuroeducation, issues are possible to explore how children learn and to identify which educational practices are better to enhance cognitive processes of learning. The variables that influence school p...

A neuroeducação é um domínio do conhecimento emergente, de natureza multidisciplinar, que se destina a aplicar princípios subjacentes às neurociências à aprendizagem escolar. Este ensaio tem como principal objetivo mostrar que, com recurso à neuroeducação é possível explorar o modo como as crianças aprendem e identificar as práticas educativas que...

Catastrophes can be defined as traumatic incidents conducting to major life, health and or material losses, affecting many individuals. The increasing occurrence and magnitude of these incidents led to the consciousness of its impact on psychological functioning and mental health have promoted the development of structured and organized interventio...

O envelhecimento demográfico no contexto português é uma realidade cada vez mais presente e corroborada pelos números: existem 2 milhões de pessoas com idade igual ou superior a 65 anos, sendo que entre 2015 e 2080 o número de idosos passará de 2.1 milhões para 2.8 milhões e o índice de envelhecimento duplicará – por cada 100 jovens existirão 317 i...

No presente estudo, analisou-se a relação entre a qualidade das relações de amizade e as autoperceções dos adolescentes, expressas no seu autoconceito. A amostra foi constituída por 65 estudantes portugueses, com idades compreendidas entre os 12 e os 16 anos (M = 14). Os instrumentos foram o Questionário de Qualidade da Amizade e a versão portugues...