C.Calia 1, L. Destino2, A. Semeraro 2, M. Pennelli 2, M. F. De Caro 2 The diagnostic and discriminative validity of three neuropsychological screening tests: MMSE, TYM and MoCA C.Calia 1, L. Destino2, A. Semeraro 2, M. Pennelli 2, M. F. De Caro 2 1 Queen Margaret University, 2 University of Bari Background The increasing prevalence of people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as the high financial and emotional costs associated with this diagnosis; make early detection of an individuals risk for Alzheimer’s disease a high priority. Neuropsychological assessment is essential in determining the percentage of MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) conversion to dementia (Gagnon and Bellville, 2011). Objective This study investigated the diagnostic and discriminative validity of three neuropsychological screening tests: the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE; Folstain, 2000), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al., 2005) and Test Your Memory (TYM; Brown, 2009). Materials and Methods The study included 120 people divided in 3 groups according to their diagnosis: MCI (median age: 70.46 years, SD = 8.1, range 54-84; median years education: 8.4, SD = 3.7), AD (median age: 73.92 years, SD = 8.9, range 50-90; median years education: 6.62, SD = 4.4) and subjective memory disorder (median age: 66.94 years, SD = 7.5, range 55-84; median years education: 11.46, SD = 5.3). Each participant was assessed with MMSE, TYM and MoCA. Results and Conclusion The overall scores from the battery of tests showed that each of these tests tend to under investigate specific cognitive functions: executive functions and visual-spatial skills in the case of MMSE, memory in the MoCA and attention in the TYM. On the contrary, there are cognitive areas that have a specific relevance and which contribute significantly in the allocation of the overall score of the test: specifically orientation tasks are privileged in the MMSE and Moca, while language in the TYM. The comparison between MMSE, MoCA and TYM shows that the cognitive variables have different weight depending on the test used. In conclusion, the authors suggest the need for a unique test that combines the strengths of the three tests analysed in this study. Reference Brown, J., et al (2009). Self administrated cognitive screening test TYM for detection of Alzheimer’s disease: cross sectional study, BMJ 338:b 2030. Castellano, S., & Di Nuovo, S. (2011). Assessment psicometrico nelle diverse forme di demenza, Life Span and Disability XIV pp 109-138. Measso, G., Cavarzeran, F., Zappalà, G., Lebowitz, B. D., Crook, T. K., Pirozzolo, F. J., Amaducci, R.A., Massari, D.,& Gricoletto, F. (1993). Il Mini Mental State Examination: studio normativo di un campione random della popolazione italiana con correzione per età e scolarità. Developmental Neuropsichology, 9, 77-85. Nasreddine, Z. S. et al (2005). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: a brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. J Am Geriatr Society 2005; 53: 695-699. Petersen, R. C., (2011). Mild Cognitive Impairment. The New England Journal of Medicine363, pp 2227-2234.