The aging brain: What's "normal" and what's not

The clock drawing test evaluates, in part, hemispheric laterality in addition to organization and planning of the location of the numbers and the hands. Not gonna work with a digital clock!

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These are all taken into consideration when they go to update tests and develop new normative data. It’s not easy with progress but things happen and they manage to update the tests but yes, some of these tests have to have age ranges from the 40s to the 90+. That’s a wide range, and the norms vary by age. Items that are not easily discernible by different age populations will get thrown out during the testing trials of the new updated tests.

Sure thing! I am thinking about our grandkids generation… how many will know how an analog clock looks like! Hope they will have Az treatments that work to prevent the disease.

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I’ll bet some of them will still wear some $$$$ watches

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Thank goodness for Rolex, Gucci, and Chanel! :laughing:

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And Big Ben :slight_smile:

And world clocks

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Even my kids have rarely seen an iron. Old corded phones extremely rare as well. Phone booths which were once fairly common are now exceedingly rare.

I wonder what will be substituted for an analog clock drawing? Draw a compass and have the needle point to Southwest? How many have never seen a clock are aren’t familiar with NSWE directions?

A digital clock…that picture has already been changed on some of the naming assessments I used.

For the purposes of what clock drawing is used for in the neuropsych arena, (spatial planning, organization, hemi-laterality, problem solving, etc) there isn’t a good contemporary replacement for this task.

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Understood…my assessments are naming ones…and a digital clock would be the current version of ā€œclockā€ or ā€œtimeā€. I have to wonder how many younger folks will be using only their phones or whatever to find out the current time.

But we were discussing (upthread) the clock drawing task, not a naming task. In the neuropsych arena, the clock drawing task is not a naming task.

Thank you for the added info. I’m sure he’s aware of the nuances - me not so much.

If you are referring to the clock drawing task, it’s hard to think of a comparable contemporary item that covers the purpose(s) of this item. Sometimes a patient is asked to draw a bicycle, but that has slightly different spatial and planning skills and doesn’t necessarily address hemilaterality. I think people will be exposed to analog clocks and watches in their lifetime, but far less frequently.

Here are some interesting clock drawing attempts (these are in the public realm):

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Sorry - I wrote my response to you, which referred to the clock drawing test before I read the rest of the thread and saw it was already mentioned. I then edited my post to not be redundant. You were just too quick in your response.

In any case - those variations are very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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I was taught, with the clock drawing test, to ask the patient to draw a clock, put in all the numbers, and have it read 10 after 11 (so one hand is in one hemisphere/side of the clock and the other in the other). One patient simply wrote ā€œ10 after 11ā€ on the paper! Concrete thinking or creative problem solving or inattention to instructions?? Answer: the patient was also asked first to ā€œwrite your name and today’s dateā€ on the top of the paper. They wrote ā€œyour name, today’s dateā€. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
So answer- concrete thinking

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My mom did fairly well with drawing a circle and putting in the numbers. I’m not sure she could make the hands of the clock quite right but pretty close.

Making a digital clock isn’t nearly the same at all. A compass would require more of the skills drawing a clock requires.

My mom could draw the clock. She didn’t really have a grasp on the actual concept of time, though - she was kind of like my 3 year old HD, knowing that something would happen in two days, but not really understanding what two days meant.

A compass, which not all may be familiar with, doesn’t address the hemilateralty component or perhaps the needed organizational skills :woman_shrugging:

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I bet there’s a large percentage of the population that doesn’t know cardinal directions. Especially east/west. Much less be able to assign accurate degree locations. Like you said, there’s not many things that can take the place of a clock (a common item with standard features used and recognized by the majority of the population).

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My mother put all the numbers on one side of the clock. I must say though, she knew what a key was for! Not so much the tv remote (which she used as a phone at times) :slight_smile: