title: Mapping the clockworks: what does the Clock Drawing Test assess in normal and pathological aging?
abstract: The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is a cognitive screening tool used in clinical and research settings. Despite its role on the assessment of global cognitive functioning, the specific cognitive components required for test performance are still unclear. We aim to assess the role of executive functioning, global cognitive status, visuospatial abilities, and semantic knowledge on Shulman's CDT performance. Fifty-three mild cognitive impairment, 60 Alzheimer's dementia, and 57 normal elderly controls performed the CDT, the Frontal Assessment Battery, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Stick Design Test, and a naming test (TN-LIN). An ordinal regression assessed specific neuropsychological influences on CDT performance. All the cognitive variables were related to the CDT, accounting for 53% of variance. The strongest association was between the CDT and executive functions, followed by global cognitive status, visuospatial processing, and semantic knowledge. Our result confirms the multidimensional nature of the test and the major role of executive functions on performance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychological Investigations (LIN), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo HorizonteMG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jonas Jardim de
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Paula
authors.forename: Débora Marques de
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Edgar Nunes de
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Moraes
authors.forename: Leandro Fernandes
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Malloy-Diniz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric