What is in a Cognitive Test?
Does President Biden Need One?
By Chuck Warren
After President Biden's disastrous debate, the media realized the jig is up and they can no longer cover for him.
Media personalities like Joe Scarborough have gone from insisting that he’s perfectly normal to doing their best to force him out. According to CNN, reporting on Biden’s age was “a difficult task” because his opponent is Donald Trump, and those who insisted that there was something wrong with him were all on the right. But now that he has threatened their partisan outlooks, CNN, the New York Times editorial board, and the Washington Post are demanding that he not run.
By the way, does anyone think they would be doing a 180 if President Biden were up 3-4 percent? That is a question for another day.
Biden, 81, has always been stubborn and egotistical, but his mental decline is very apparent. In a 22-minute interview with George Stephanopoulos on Friday, when asked whether he could be convinced to step aside, he responded that “if the Lord Almighty” commanded, he “might” do it.
Stephanopoulos also asked whether Biden had taken a cognitive test. He responded that he takes one every day due to the demanding duties of his work and because he routinely meets with his physician. Further probed, he responded that he hasn’t met with a neurologist.
He’s technically right that a meeting with a doctor counts as an informal cognitive test, but it should ideally be with a neurologist, not a primary care physician.
A cognitive test begins with a conversation between the patient and the specialist. There, the doctor tries to examine the patient, including their speaking abilities, gait, and coherence. Then, there is a more formal test to assess their thinking.
There are two different immediate tests: one is called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), and the other is the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). You can find the PDFs for both below. They are both fairly short.
Questions include tasks such as drawing a cube, drawing a clock, noticing patterns, and remembering words. These tasks aim to assess the patient’s memory, spatial awareness, and planning skills. Another task involves connecting dots in a sequence: 1 —> A —> 2 —> B —> 3 —> C —> 4 —> D —> 5 —> E.
If the patient doesn’t score high enough, they will be asked to take a more advanced test. It will be similar but longer and more detailed. For instance, they may be told a story and asked to recall details from it.
Accompanying these tests are usually MRI scans to show the degree of brain shrinkage. Brain shrinkage typically begins in the 30s or 40s and isn’t necessarily a sign of dementia, although a significant amount could indicate it. There are exceptions where people with significant shrinkage remain fully functional.
The morning after the interview with Stephanopoulos aired, the Washington Post published a story about Biden's doctor, an Army colonel. The story mentioned that the physician always declines interview requests, was critical, and added to the pressure on Biden.
The fact that the interview failed to convince the Washington Post, otherwise a Biden partisan newspaper, proves that it convinced no one. With the long holiday weekend over, expect the pressure to continue to mount.
Biden can end all the debates by taking these very simple tests and publishing the results. His refusal to do so is not simple stubbornness and arrogance; it’s proof that he’s worried that the critics are right.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.
Excellent piece!