Cognitive performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment across the healthy adult lifespan. Gluhm A, Goldstein J, Loc K, Colt A, Van Liew C, Corey-Bloom M. Orientation: You will be asked about the date, month, year, day, city, and place you are in.Delayed recall: You will be given five words and asked to repeat them back after five minutes.Abstraction: You will be asked what is in common between two different things (such as an apple and an orange, or a car and an airplane),.You will then be shown a series of capital letters and asked to pick out all of the 'As.' Language: You will first be asked to repeat back two different sentences verbatim.You will then be given a series of letters and asked to pick out the letter 'A.' Finally, you will be given several numbers and asked to subtract them from 100. Attention: You will first be given a series of numbers and asked to repeat them forward or backward.Naming: You will be shown pictures of three animals and asked what type of animal they are.Finally, you will be asked to draw a dial clock that reads 10 minutes past 11:00. Next, you will be given a drawing of a three-dimensional cube and asked to make a copy. Executive and visuospatial function: You will first be given a picture with numbered dots (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and lettered dots (A, B, C, D, E) and asked to connect them sequentially, alternating numbers and letters.Even something as simple and easily treatable as a urinary tract infection can cause alarming cognitive changes. There are many TREATABLE health conditions that could cause these types of symptoms, which is why it’s so important to see a doctor and find out the true cause of the issue. What the score means is that someone needs to be evaluated for any potential cognitive issues. This is a screening test only and MUST be interpreted by a doctor. No, it absolutely does not mean that someone has Alzheimer’s or dementia. For more information, see How We Make Money. This article wasn’t sponsored and doesn’t contain affiliate links. Sources: MoCA, Wikipedia, Today’s Geriatric Medicine Testing for Dementia: Why the Mini Mental Status Exam Isn’t Enough for Diagnosis.The Mini Mental Status Exam: A Dementia Screening Tool.SAGE Test: 15 Minute At-Home Test for Alzheimer’s.Next Step Find out how the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) works After the initial screening, more testing would be needed. They also can’t be used to distinguish between conditions.įor example, you couldn’t use either test to diagnose someone with Alzheimer’s disease versus frontotemporal dementia. They’re both initial screening tests that are used to determine whether further cognitive testing is needed. Traumatic brain injury (often from falls)Įven though these are good screening tools for cognitive impairments, neither test was designed to diagnose cognitive conditions.The MoCA has also been shown to be a better screening tool for conditions like: So, if a doctor sees a patient who is questioning their mental functioning, they might give the MoCA test.īut if a patient comes in and is clearly cognitively impaired, a very sensitive test wouldn’t be as necessary since the issues are more obvious. The MoCA is generally better at detecting mild impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease because it’s a more sensitive test and is more challenging.

The MoCA looks similar to the MMSE, but the MoCA tests a variety of different cognitive functions and the MMSE focuses mostly on memory and recall. Executive functions – ability to manage cognitive processes.Ability to process and understand visual information about where objects are.The MoCA usually tests these cognitive areas: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a one page, 30 point test that takes about 10 minutes. How the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) works

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