Abstract

The Simplest way of assessing memory and attention function in daily clinical practice

Author(s): Mehmet Kemal Arikan, Nevzat Tarhan, Omer Uysal, Serra Kupcuoglu, Barlas Gunay, Zeynep Kucuk

Attention and memory are important parts of cognition that must be routinely examined in daily practice of psychiatry and neurology. Traditionally, their assessment has been done via anamnesis where the clinician simply asks the patient whether they are suffering from any cognitive difficulties in their daily lives. The present study investigated whether there is a significant association between the patient’s simple anamnestic information about cognitive impairments and the scores in related subtests of Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA). We found that there is a statistically significant correlation between the simple anamnestic information and the scores on the related subtests of the MoCA. These results suggest that patients can be quickly and accurately evaluated in terms of their attention and memory functions by using a basic “yes/no” question.