A huge challenge in developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease is moving discoveries from fundamental, preclinical research into the clinical domain. This is referred to as the “translational gap.” One goal of our research is to shrink the translational gap by designing preclinical research that is directly informed by clinical research, and vice versa. Our research utilizes the heightened control enabled by studying animal models to evaluate the cognitive processes most vulnerable to sleep and circadian rhythm disruption and then translates the insight gained from the rodent models to evaluate the same processes in humans. Touchscreen cognitive tests have been developed to increase the similarity between rodent and human testing, enabling greater control, precision, and translational potential.