The doctor who created one of the most popular mental health cognitive assessments told The Post on Tuesday that it might be a good idea for an aging politician to take the test — after being asked about President Biden.
Canadian neurologist Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, who developed the famous Montreal Cognitive Assessment, sidestepped politics and declined to comment directly on Biden, 81.
But when asked about the growing public call for Biden and former President Donald Trump, 77, to take the test, he replied, “It’s a good thing for us to assess cognition when there is any suspicion of cognitive function.
“If the test shows normal results, the possibility of impairment is very low. Then everyone was convinced that this might just be normal aging – that we can all be forgetful and make mistakes. But it does not mean that there is significant cognitive impairment,” he said.
Speculation and questions about Biden’s mental acuity have reached a fever pitch after a string of public gaffes — and last week’s blistering report from special counsel Robert Hur strongly suggested Biden has “diminished faculties” and is a “well-intentioned old man with a poor memory.”
President Biden has touted his accomplishments in office as evidence that he is mentally fit to run the country. Getty Images
Nasreddine warned that “it’s very difficult to tell by conversation alone if there is a significant decline.”
He spent less than a decade developing the MoCA test as a faster and cheaper alternative to an extensive neuropsychological battery of approximately three to five hours of examination.
The test features 30 questions given in 10 minutes and instructs patients to identify animals and copy cube images, among other challenges.
Montreal Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire
For example, one part of the test required a list of words read to the subject who was then instructed to list them back.
Another common question instructs subjects to “Name the maximum number of words in one minute that begin with” a specific letter such as “S.”
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is one of the most popular assessments of its kind. mocacognition.com
Trump famously took the exam in 2018 under the guidance of then-White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, who is now a Republican congressman.
The 77-year-old former president sometimes boasts about his performance in the MoCA test,
“There’s only about 2% in this room that can do it, but I did it. I did it very easily,” Trump crowed at an event in Las Vegas late last month.
“But I was laughed at — they said, ‘Oh, that’s so easy.’ It’s not easy. It’s not easy. Go home and try to do it.”
Donald Trump was very proud of his performance in the test. Getty Images
Nasreddine stressed that scoring a perfect score on the test was not an easy task.
“The main misconception [is] people say it’s a kindergarten test because it looks simple. But it’s not that simple. I mean almost only 10% of the population can get 30 out of 30,” he said.
Recently, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley began releasing copies of the exam, mocking Trump and Biden for taking it.
Nasreddine said, “He shouldn’t have done that.
Nikki Haley wants politicians over 75 to take a mental competency test. AP
“It should not be given or self-administered,” he stressed about the test, noting doctors must supervise the exam and that there is a MoCA Xpresso assessment for use by the general public.
Biden insisted that his “recollection is fine,” and his lawyer, Bob Bauer, who was present during a five-hour interview with Hur last October, disputed the special counsel’s characterization of the sit-down.
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“Joe is 81 years old, that’s true, but he’s 81 years old and does more in an hour than most people do in a day,” First Lady Jill Biden also argued in a recent message to supporters. “His age, with his experience and expertise, is a tremendous asset, and he proves that every day.”
The White House is mulling its options on whether to push for the release of parts of the Hur-Biden transcript.
Canadian neurologist Dr. Ziad Nasreddine spent years developing the test. mocacognition.com
Questions about Biden’s age have long haunted him. He is already the oldest president in US history and will be 86 years old after a hypothetical second term.
In an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday, 86% of US adults believe Biden is too old to complete another term.
If Trump wins and serves a full term, he will unseat Biden as the oldest commander-in-chief.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
