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Donald Trump scores top marks in cognitive test - how well would you do?
The cognitive test on which Donald Trump received a perfect score is considered a good screening
tool for mental decline in an otherwise healthy person, medical experts said.
The US president asked to be administered a mental test and was given the Montreal Cognitive
Assessment as part of a medical exam by Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician,
who on Tuesday said he had absolutely no concerns about Mr Trump's neurological function.
The president scored 30 out of 30.
Cognitive testing looks for signs of mild cognitive impairment and/or Alzheimer’s
disease.
Sample questions on the Montreal test include repeating a set of numbers in order both forwards
and backwards and remembering a list of common words.
Test takers are asked to identify animals, and draw a clock face, putting in all of the
numbers and setting the clock hands to a specific time, as well.
It takes about 10 minutes to administer.
In general, patients with good or average memory forget one of the five words and can
still be within the normal range, said Dr. James Mastrianni, an expert in memory disorders
and other neurodegenerative conditions at the University of Chicago Medicine.
"It's a screening assessment that we use routinely in the clinics to determine whether someone
has some degree of cognitive impairment or not," he said.
"If they score poorly on that assessment, then usually there is more detailed evaluation
that follows.
But if they score well that usually indicates there is pretty good cognitive function.
They are essentially intact," Mastrianni added.
The standard version of the test is "pretty good" but "not definitive" said Dr. Ronald
Petersen, an Alzheimer’s disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Petersen said he could not comment specifically on the president’s cognitive health.
The test does not assess the president’s psychiatric fitness and the president did
not undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to his doctor.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, there is no single test that proves a person
has Alzheimer's disease.
That diagnosis is made through a complete assessment that considers all possible causes.