Trump’s Perfect Score On Brain Test Spawns DIY Cognitive Exam

When Donald Trump aced a cognitive test in January, scores of people tried to take it, too, based mostly on media reports that invited them to match wits with the president. Casual users puzzled over line drawings of animals, while others wondered what it meant if they were bad at subtracting by sevens. That was a mistake, according to the scientist who created the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, a popular screening tool designed to spotlight potential problems with thinking and memory. The MoCA was never meant for general use and it requires a health professional to monitor the test and interpret the results.

MMSE vs. MoCA: What You Should Know

Both the MMSE and the MoCA are routine cognitive screening tests rated on a 30-point scale. They are both brief, though the MMSE is a little shorter, taking about seven to eight minutes to administer. The MoCA takes approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Neither test is very detail oriented and both would likely be used only for initial screening.

Diagnostic accuracy of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for cognitive screening in old age psychiatry

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is an increasingly used screening tool for cognitive impairment. While it has been validated in multiple settings and languages, most studies have used a biased case‐control design including healthy controls as comparisons not representing a clinical setting.

I failed — at age 34 — the now-politicized Montreal Cognitive Assessment

One sunny day in October 2016, I failed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). That’s the test pundits are having a field day with because it’s probably the one President Trump recently bragged that he “aced.” I remember that day vividly. My neurologist and I sat facing each other over a mahogany desk in Menlo Park, Calif. I’d taken the test because of worrisome cognitive symptoms I was experiencing. I failed, she said. At age 34.

I took a closer look at the cognitive test Trump claims to have aced

The test the president boasted about passing does not measure IQ but is typically used to check for early signs of dementia.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

It is a clinician-reported measure that takes about 10 minutes to administer. It measures cognition under the following domains: visuospatial skills, executive functions, attention, concentration, calculation, language, abstraction, memory, and orientation.

T-MoCA: A valid phone screen for cognitive impairment in diverse community samples

The T-MoCA demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties to be useful for screening of MCI, especially when clinic visits are not feasible.

The President Can Draw a Clock

The cognitive test that Trump passed was neither thorough nor difficult.

Trump aced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Here’s what that means

The newly famous cognitive test, explained.

Trump Says He ‘Aced’ a Cognitive Test. What Does That Really Mean?

Experts say one popular test that the president might have taken is by no means definitive, or even diagnostic.

Trump's Cognitive Test Asked Him to Draw a Clock and Remember What a Lion Is Called

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is an effective test for detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease, but it doesn’t determine if you’re a “very stable genius.”

What Donald Trump’s Mental Health Exam Doesn’t Tell Us 4 MINUTE READ

The 15-minute exam that Jackson administered is called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, and is widely used to test for early signs of diseases like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. None of the questions are difficult for someone who does not suffer from cognitive impairment, but “the test is very sensitive to early stages of these conditions,” says Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, who developed the assessment in 1996. “It’s unlikely that [Trump] has dementia or Alzheimer’s.”