Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted about acing a cognitive test, but experts say the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is intended to detect early signs of dementia, not measure intelligence. The test, created by neurologist Dr Ziad Nasreddine in 1996, is described as easy for people without cognitive impairment. Dr Nasreddine stressed to MarketWatch that it is not an IQ test or a measure of skill.
During a Fox News interview with Chris Wallace, Trump claimed that the last five questions of the test were “very hard” and that Joe Biden could not answer them. Wallace responded that he had taken the test and found it easy, noting questions such as identifying a picture of an elephant. Trump accused Wallace of misrepresentation, insisting the final questions were challenging.
The MoCA includes tasks such as drawing a cube and a clock, naming animals, repeating numbers forwards and backwards, recalling words, and counting backwards from 100 by sevens. For a cognitively healthy person, these questions should be straightforward. The final sections involve repeating sentences, generating words beginning with a specific letter, finding similarities between objects, recalling previously learned words, and stating the date, month, year, and location.
Trump’s critics have pointed out that his difficulty with the test may reflect more about his cognitive state than his claims suggest. The test is designed to be simple for those without impairment, making Trump’s boasts of acing it unremarkable, while his assertion that the later questions are hard could be telling.
