Delayed Recall Flashcards
7 cards from real MOCA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Delayed Recall flashcards as text
The MoCA total cutoff score for cognitive impairment is typically 26/30. Which statement about Delayed Recall's contribution is accurate?
Answer: Delayed Recall contributes up to 10 of the 30 total MoCA points
Delayed Recall accounts for up to 10 of the 30 possible MoCA points, making it the highest-weighted single domain on the test.
A patient with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) typically shows which pattern on MoCA Delayed Recall compared to a healthy older adult?
Answer: Reduced spontaneous recall often requiring category or recognition cues
MCI patients commonly show impaired free recall but retain the ability to benefit from cuing, distinguishing them from more severe dementia where even recognition may fail.
What does it mean when a MoCA Delayed Recall patient shows NO benefit from category cues (recalls same words before and after cuing)?
Answer: The patient may have a storage/encoding deficit rather than a pure retrieval problem
No improvement with category cuing suggests the memory was not adequately encoded or consolidated, pointing toward a storage deficit — the pattern typical of Alzheimer's disease.
Why must the examiner avoid rehearsing the five words with the patient during the intervening tasks between registration and delayed recall?
Answer: Rehearsal would make the task too easy and reduce test validity
Allowing rehearsal or reminders would transform the delayed recall into a working memory or short-term retention task rather than a true delayed episodic memory assessment.
Which of the following conditions is LEAST likely to produce a severely low MoCA Delayed Recall score?
Answer: Early-stage Parkinson's disease without dementia
Early-stage Parkinson's disease without dementia typically spares episodic memory, whereas the other conditions directly damage memory consolidation or retrieval pathways.
How should a trained MoCA examiner respond if a patient volunteers one of the five target words during an intervening subtest?
Answer: Acknowledge it neutrally but do not reward it as a Delayed Recall response
The examiner should neither discourage nor specifically reward spontaneous mentions during other subtests; only responses given during the formal Delayed Recall prompt count toward the score.
What is the primary reason the MoCA presents five words from different semantic categories during registration?
Answer: To ensure category cues during recall are diagnostic rather than redundant with list structure
Using words from distinct semantic categories (e.g., a body part, a fabric, a building) ensures that category cues provide meaningful retrieval support without overlapping, making the cuing stage diagnostically valid.