The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, test discussed by President Trump and Chris Wallace is ‘not an IQ test,’ Dr. Ziad Nasreddine tells MarketWatch
The doctor who developed a widely used test that screens for early signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease says that cognition is “a pertinent question” during a presidential election with presumptive candidates over age 70. Problem is, both sides of the political divide are interpreting this test incorrectly.
Dr. Ziad Nasreddine in 1996 developed and copyrighted the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test, which is a 10-minute examination usually performed with pen and paper that measures the strengths of different areas of the brain related to cognitive domains, such as short-term memory, spatial awareness and executive functioning. (Remote testing, including via an app on the Apple iPad, has been expanded during the pandemic.)
And he tells MarketWatch that the MoCA Clinic & Institute has been inundated with calls and emails over the past week or so, ever since President Donald Trump bragged in a phone interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity several days ago that he had recently “aced” a cognitive test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Trump also said that medical staff were “very surprised” by how well he did. “They said, ‘That’s an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did.’ ”