The Nation - News from Feb. 16, 1989

A quick, 10-word memory test developed by researchers to help identify Alzheimer’s patients in early stages of the brain disorder has won praise from the American Medical Assn. The test, which takes less than 10 minutes, seems to be “a brief, efficient and accurate means of predicting Alzheimer’s” in elderly patients, the AMA said in a statement. The 10 words used in the test are chimney, salt, harp, button, meadow, train, flower, finger, rub and book. The University of Minnesota researchers who developed the test report that it is 95.2% accurate in distinguishing elderly people with early signs of Alzheimer’s disease from those with no sign of mental impairment. Most of the Alzheimer’s patients were able to recall no more than two of the words when tested on their memory of them.