Mixed Deck — All MOCA Topics Flashcards
100 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 20 Mixed Deck — All MOCA Topics flashcards as text
When evaluating calculation ability with the MoCA serial 7 task, clinicians should be cautious interpreting low scores in patients who:
Answer: Have limited formal education or low numeracy backgrounds
Education and cultural background strongly influence performance on arithmetic tasks. Low serial 7 scores in individuals with limited formal education may not reflect cognitive impairment.
The word DAISY in the MoCA word list belongs to which semantic category, and why is that category included?
Answer: It is a flower — included to represent the living things/plant semantic category
DAISY is a flower. Five distinct categories (person feature, texture/fabric, building, flower, color) are used to ensure the words span different semantic fields, preventing inter-item semantic associations that could assist recall.
Which of the following is NOT part of the standard MoCA word recall protocol?
Answer: Asking the patient to write down the words
The MoCA word recall is an oral test; patients are never asked to write the words down.
During MoCA administration, the examiner notices the patient hesitates 20 seconds before correctly naming the camel. How is this scored?
Answer: 1 point — correct regardless of response time
The MoCA Naming subtest has no time limit; any correct response earns full credit regardless of latency.
A patient correctly names the lion and camel but calls the rhinoceros a 'big animal.' What is their naming score?
Answer: 2
The patient correctly named 2 of 3 animals, earning 2 points; a vague description like 'big animal' does not receive credit.
Which neurological condition is particularly associated with severely impaired visuospatial performance on the MoCA?
Answer: Lewy body dementia and posterior cortical atrophy
Lewy body dementia and posterior cortical atrophy (a variant of Alzheimer's disease) are strongly associated with prominent visuospatial deficits, often more severe than memory deficits at early stages.
After completing sentence repetition, the MoCA later tests delayed recall. How does this sequence benefit the assessment?
Answer: It ensures sentence repetition does not contaminate the word list recall
The MoCA's structure separates different memory stimuli so that sentence repetition does not interfere with the word list used in delayed recall.
What is the role of time orientation in cognitive functioning?
Answer: It helps individuals plan, schedule, and manage time effectively.
Time orientation is crucial for organizing daily life, understanding sequences of events, and anticipating future needs. It allows individuals to adhere to appointments, manage responsibilities, and maintain a sense of routine. Deficits in time orientation can severely impact an individual's ability to function independently and make appropriate decisions.
What is 72 minus 7?
Answer: 65
72 minus 7 equals 65, the final number in the MoCA serial 7s sequence.
Which neurodegenerative disease typically shows better free recall performance relative to Alzheimer's disease, even at similar overall MoCA scores?
Answer: All of the above can show better recall than Alzheimer's
Non-Alzheimer's dementias often spare the hippocampus relatively more, preserving memory encoding compared to Alzheimer's.
Which neurological condition most commonly produces anomia (inability to name objects) that would impair MoCA Naming performance?
Answer: Aphasia due to left hemisphere lesion
Anomia is most often caused by lesions in left-hemisphere language areas, such as those seen in aphasic syndromes.
A patient being tested on the 16th gives the date as the 15th. How is the date item scored on the MoCA?
Answer: No credit; the date must be exact
The MoCA requires the exact date; an error of one day scores zero for that item.
What cognitive ability does the MoCA naming section primarily evaluate?
Answer: Confrontation naming ability
The naming section assesses confrontation naming — the ability to produce the correct name of a visually presented object.
A patient draws a clock with all 12 numbers but places the hands at 11 and 10 instead of 11 and 2. Which scoring element is lost?
Answer: Hands point
The hands point is lost when the hands are not correctly set to the instructed time (10 past 11).
On the MoCA orientation section, what is the maximum number of points a patient can earn for time and place combined?
Answer: 6 points
The orientation section awards 1 point each for date, month, year, day, place, and city — totaling 6 points.
Which set of five words is used in the standard English MoCA Delayed Recall task?
Answer: Face, Velvet, Church, Daisy, Red
The five target words in the standard MoCA are Face, Velvet, Church, Daisy, and Red.
Serial 7 subtraction (starting from 100) is an alternate attention/executive task on the MoCA. Compared to phonemic fluency, serial 7s more specifically stresses which executive process?
Answer: Mental arithmetic within working memory under time pressure
Serial 7s require holding a running total in working memory while performing arithmetic operations sequentially, placing a distinct demand on numeric working memory under cognitive load.
How many words beginning with F must a patient generate in 60 seconds to earn the MoCA letter fluency point?
Answer: 11 or more
The patient must produce 11 or more F-words in 60 seconds to earn 1 point. Proper nouns and the same word said again (with different endings) do not count.
The MoCA digit span forward sequence (21854) must be read by the examiner at which pace?
Answer: One digit per second
Standardized administration requires reading each digit at a rate of one per second.
Which of the following best describes why optional cues in MoCA delayed recall do NOT earn full points?
Answer: Because they distinguish encoding failure from retrieval failure
The distinction between free recall and cued recall is clinically important. Cuing a word that could not be freely recalled suggests retrieval difficulty rather than encoding failure, a different pattern of impairment.