HSE Neurolinguists Create Russian Adaptation of Classic Verbal Memory Test
Researchers at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain and Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 Named after N.A. Alexeev have developed a Russian-language adaptation of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. This classic neuropsychological test evaluates various aspects of auditory verbal memory in adults and is widely used in both clinical diagnostics and research. The study findings have been published in The Clinical Neuropsychologist.
Memory plays a crucial role in our lives and is often negatively affected by various conditions, ranging from stroke to dementia. Clinicians need reliable, well-established tools to accurately assess this function in patients. One such method is the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), developed by Swiss psychologist André Rey in the mid-20th century. This test, used to assess the ability to learn and retain auditory information, has been adapted into numerous languages, including Norwegian, Greek, and Arabic. However, until recently, there was no Russian-language version suitable for all ages, except a version for young adults released a year ago.
A team of researchers at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain and Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 Named after N.A. Alexeev have developed a Russian-language adaptation of the RAVLT universally suitable for testing adults of all ages.
The specialists developed three alternative word lists for memorisation, considering factors such as word length and word usage frequency. Having multiple word lists makes it possible to administer the test repeatedly without the risk of patients remembering words from previous sessions. The Russian-language version of the test has been incorporated into the RAVLT World tablet application, with automated administration and scoring. A paper-and-pencil version of the test is available for those who prefer traditional methods.
'We hope that the Russian-language adaptation of the test will be widely used by clinicians to assess memory in various patient groups, including elderly persons with suspected neurodegenerative diseases, adults after a stroke, and those with epilepsy,' says Svetlana Malyutina, Deputy Director of the HSE Centre for Language and Brain. 'The test materials are currently available in a paper-and-pencil format, and in 2025, a new RAVLT World tablet application will be launched on RuStore.'
To implement the test in clinical practice, accurate data are needed to determine when a subject's performance is considered normal and when it indicates impairment. To achieve this, the researchers tested 354 neurologically healthy Russian-speaking volunteers aged 21 to 89. The results helped establish performance norms for populations varying in age, gender, and years of education. It was found that although older individuals tend to remember fewer words than younger ones, their patterns of learning and forgetting are similar. In the future, the researchers plan to compare age-related effects in healthy aging and cognitive impairment.
Victor Savilov
‘It is important that the assessment of test performance considers the level of education,' explains Victor Savilov, Head of the Memory Clinic Rehabilitation Department at Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 Named after N.A. Alexeev. 'This approach accounts for the impact of education on cognitive functions, allowing for detection of cognitive impairments with greater sensitivity.'
In addition, the researchers adapted the RAVLT for children and collected a large database of test performance by children aged 5 to 18. The release of the children's version of the test, planned for 2025, will be an important step in diagnosing cognitive impairments in the paediatric population.
See also:
Russian Scientists Propose Method to Speed Up Microwave Filter Design
Researchers at HSE MIEM, in collaboration with colleagues from the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI), have implemented a novel approach to designing microwave filters—generative synthesis using machine learning tools. The proposed method reduces the filter development cycle from several days to just a few minutes and in the future could be applied to the design of other microwave electronic devices. The results were presented at the IEEE International Conference '2026 Systems of Signals Generating and Processing in the Field of on Board Communications.'
Scientists Find That Only Technological Innovations Consistently Advance Environmental Sustainability
Renewable energy and labour productivity do not always contribute to environmental sustainability. Technological innovation is the only factor that consistently has a positive effect. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers, including Natalia Veselitskaya, Leading Research Fellow at the HSE ISSEK Foresight Centre. The study has been published in Sustainable Development.
HSE Researchers Train Neural Network to Predict Protein–Protein Interactions More Accurately
Scientists at the AI and Digital Science Institute of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science have developed a model capable of predicting protein–protein interactions with 95% accuracy. GSMFormer-PPI integrates three types of protein data (including information about protein surface properties) to analyse relationships between proteins, rather than simply combining datasets as in previous models. The solution could accelerate the discovery of disease molecular mechanisms, biomarkers, and potential therapeutic targets. The paper has been published in Scientific Reports.
HSE Scientists Uncover Mechanism Behind Placental Lipid Metabolism Disorders in Preeclampsia
Scientists at HSE University have discovered that in preeclampsia—one of the most severe complications of pregnancy—the placenta remodels its lipid metabolism, reducing its own cholesterol synthesis while increasing cholesterol transfer to the foetus. This compensatory mechanism helps sustain foetal nutrition but accelerates placental deterioration and may lead to preterm birth. The study findings have been published in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences.
HSE Experts Reveal Low Accuracy of Technology Forecasts in Transportation
HSE researchers evaluated the accuracy of technology forecasts in the transportation sector over the past 50 years and found that the average accuracy rate does not exceed 25%, with the lowest accuracy observed in aviation and rail transport. According to the scientists, this is due to limitations of the forecasting method and the inherent complexities of the sector. The study findings have been published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Wearable Device Data and Saliva Biomarkers Help Assess Stress Resilience
A team of scientists, including researchers from HSE University, has proposed a method for assessing stress resilience using physiological markers derived from wearable devices and saliva samples. The participants who adapted better to stress showed higher heart rate variability, higher zinc concentrations in saliva, and lower potassium levels. The findings were published in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience.
When Circumstances Are Stronger Than Habits: How Financial Stress Affects Smoking Cessation
HSE researchers have found that the likelihood of quitting smoking rises with increasing financial struggles. While low levels of financial difficulties do not affect smoking behaviour, moderate financial stress can increase the probability of quitting by 13% to 21%. Responses to high financial stress differ by gender: men are almost 1.5 times more likely to give up cigarettes than under normal conditions, whereas no significant effect is observed on women’s decisions to quit smoking. These conclusions are based on data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) for 2000–2023 and have been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
HSE Researchers Propose New Method of Verbal Fluency Analysis for Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment
Researchers from the HSE Center for Language and Brain and the Mental Health Research Centre have proposed a new method of linguistic analysis that enables the distinction between normal and pathological ageing. Using this approach, they showed that patterns in patients’ word choices during verbal fluency tests allow clinicians to more accurately differentiate clinically significant impairments from subjective memory complaints. Incorporating this type of analysis into clinical practice could improve the accuracy of early dementia diagnosis. The results have been published in Applied Neuropsychology: Adult.
How the Brain Processes a Word: HSE Researchers Compare Reading Routes in Adults and Children
Researchers from the HSE Center for Language and Brain used magnetoencephalography to study how the brains of adults and children respond to words during reading. They showed that in children the brain takes longer to process words that are frequently used in everyday speech, while rare words and pseudowords are processed in the same way—slowly and in parts. With age, the system is reorganised: high-frequency words shift to a fast route, whereas new letter combinations are still analysed slowly. The study was published in the journal Psychophysiology.
How Neural Networks Detect and Interpret Wordplay: New Insights from HSE Researchers
An international team including researchers from the HSE Faculty of Computer Science has presented KoWit-24, an annotated dataset of 2,700 Russian-language Kommersant news headlines containing wordplay. The dataset enables an assessment of how artificial intelligence detects and interprets wordplay. Experiments with five large language models show that even advanced systems still make mistakes, and that interpreting wordplay is more challenging for them than detecting it. The results were presented at the RANLP conference; the paper is available on Arxiv.org, and the dataset and the code for reproducing the experiments are available on GitHub.