Remember these words: Rose, Chair, Hand, Blue, Spoon. Draw a clock. Name as many animals as you can in one minute. What’s the date today? List words that start with the letter F. Recall the first five words.
Since the 1980s, memory tests like these, often taken with a paper and pencil and scored by clinicians trained to read the results, have been the mainstay of the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, a brain disorder which erodes memory and thinking, eventually leaving a person unable to perform basic tasks. The condition affects an estimated 6.7 million Americans over age 65, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.