Doctor who developed the cognitive test Trump took says questions were ‘supposed to be easy’

In an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace that was filmed on Friday, July 17 and aired over the weekend, President Donald Trump bragged about his performance on a cognitive test and challenged former Vice President Joe Biden — the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee — to take the same test. But Trump disagreed, insisting that parts of MoCA were, in fact, challenging and urged Biden to “take a test right now.” In an interview with Market Watch, Nasreddine confirmed that he didn’t intend for MoCA to be difficult. The test is supposed to help physicians detect early signs of Alzheimer’s, and it became very popular because it was a short test — and very sensitive for early impairment.” Nasreddine discussed some of the questions with Market Watch, including one in which the person taking the test is asked to draw an analog clock and depict a specific time — explaining, “You need planning and executive function and spatial skills to space the numbers on the clock correctly…. This allows people to potentially practice the questions to perform better on the exam.” Nasreddine told Market Watch that if someone performs poorly on MoCA, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the person has early onset Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.