Biden and his brain function: this is what a cognitive test looks like

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, suffered a setback in the presidential debate tonight in Atlanta, and rumors have already spread around the world about his poor cognitive function and the possibility that he suffered from dementia. What does the cognitive test look like, which Trump already passed several years ago, and will you pass it?

Biden’s awkward showdown: Canning night passed over the White House after the presidential show in Atlanta in which Joe Biden stuttered and struggled to face a showdown with Trump. Calls for Biden’s resignation have already been heard in the Democratic Party, and rumors are whispering around the world about his deteriorating brain function and the question of dementia.

According to estimates, although it is impossible to know for sure just by looking forward to the confrontation, Joe Biden does not meet the criteria for dementia, and he suffers from cognitive decline that corresponds to his age – 81 and a half years.

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With the extension of life expectancy, the incidence of cognitive impairment also increases, due to the depletion of brain tissue, which can be demonstrated with a simple test by a specialist, which includes questioning, a physical examination, a request to perform tasks, as well as the cognitive test, the most popular of which is the MoCa, which Donald Trump has already performed, and according to him, passed Good luck to him.

This is a test that has been translated into many languages ​​including Hebrew, takes about ten minutes and is easy to understand. In the test, a score is given from zero to thirty and it makes it possible to identify early signs of dementia or impaired brain function.

These are the parameters tested in the test:

1. Short-term memory: the subject is asked to repeat words and remember them about five minutes later. The examiner has to note the patient’s level of attention when learning the words, but this does not receive any score. In total, the subject is asked to remember 5 words, where one point is given for each word.

2. Spatial perception: tested through a clock drawing test which the subject is asked to illustrate and receives a total of 3 points: one point for drawing a circle, one point for placing digits and a final point for the direction of the hands at 11:10. In addition, the examinee is asked to draw a three-dimensional cube for which the examinee receives one point.

3. Administrative ability: the examinee is asked to draw a continuous line between all the numbers and letters in a certain order. The subject does not receive any hints, only a general instruction to complete a line drawing in the order shown in the figure. The section score is one point.

4. Ability to abstract: the subject is asked to look for similarities between two words. First, the patient is asked about similarities between two types of fruit (for example: an apple and a pear). If he fails to arrive at the correct answer, the examiner explains to him that it is about fruits, and moves on to the next test. Each correct answer in the abstract ability test earns the subject one point – a total of 2 points. The fruit question is not included in the calculation, and partial answers, such as “wheels” in a question about a train and a bicycle, or “numbers” in a question about a clock and a ruler, are not accepted as correct.

5. Attention and concentration: the subject is asked to identify a certain letter from a list of letters read by the examiner and to tap on the table when the letter he was asked to mark is heard. Here too he will get one point if he makes less than two mistakes.

6. Serial subtraction of 7 from 100: the subject will receive 3 points for 4-5 correct answers in a series of 93-86-79-72-65, 2 points for 2-3 correct answers, 1 point for only one correct answer, and 0 points if there are no correct answers at all. Repeating the series of numbers back and forth earns 2 points.

7. Oral ability: is tested by simulating three animals that appear in the illustration: a lion, a rhinoceros and a camel. For each correct name, the subject will receive a point, for a total of 3 points. In addition, the subject will be asked to repeat two complex sentences, 2 points in total.

8. Speech fluency: the examinee is asked in one minute to mention as many words as possible that begin with a certain letter. 11 words or more are worth 1 point.

9. Orientation in place and time: the subject will receive points depending on if he is able to specify the place of the test, the city, the time, the day, the month and the year.

10. Years of education: Since there is an assumption that more educated subjects are expected to have better cognitive function, a subject with 12 years of formal education will receive one additional point. Is a final score of 26 or higher considered normal?