The Clock-Drawing Test

Time for a Change?

Chan, Amy PhD
Remington, Ruth PhD
Paskavitz, James MD
Shea, Thomas B. PhD

Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA
Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Massachusetts
CNS Imaging, Perceptive Informatics Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts
Center for Cellular Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusettes, Lowell, Massachusetts,[email protected]

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias 23(4):p 377-381, August/September 2008. | DOI: 10.1177/1533317508316680

Clock-drawing tests are simple and rapid screening devices for dementia. It was observed that individuals <60 years of age showed similar performance with a digital prompt (“ . . .make the clock read 12:45”) or an analog prompt (“ . . .quarter to 1”), whereas individuals >70 years of age showed improved performance with an analog prompt. The digital prompt has routinely been used to force participants to recode the prompt via conceptualization. Differential scoring across a range of ages has likely derived from the advent and increase of digital clocks with the younger segment of the population. This implies the need for as-yet undetermined alteration in the nature of prompts to force recoding as the current younger population ages.