Cognitive or brain function assessment
Testing cognition domain by domain at the bedside, reading an ACE-III or Mini-ACE profile, frontal tests, when to ask for neuropsychology, how biomarkers fit, and the results that change management.
Tier 2Medical sciences concept
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Cognition is examined by domain: attention, memory, language, visuospatial function, executive function, praxis and social cognition. The profile points to the cause; the total only grades severity.
- Check attention first. A delirious patient fails everything. Screening cut-offs (4AT, MMSE, MoCA, RUDAS, KICA-Cog) are in Screening tools for depression, delirium and cognition; this note covers the neurological profile.
- The ACE-III is the usual neurology clinic test because its subscores separate amnestic, language and frontal patterns.
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Sources
- Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with DementiaAU/NZNHMRC Partnership Centre for Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People, 2016 (no replacement published when checked November 2026)
- Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers (NG97)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2018 (current November 2026)
- Validation of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease (Hsieh S et al. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2013;36:242-50)AU/NZDementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 2013
- Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III: psychometric characteristics and relations to functional ability in dementia (So M et al. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2018;24:854-63)AU/NZJournal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2018
- The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside (Dubois B et al. Neurology 2000;55:1621-6)Neurology, 2000
- Classification of primary progressive aphasia and its variants (Gorno-Tempini ML et al. Neurology 2011;76:1006-14)Neurology, 2011
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Personal emails, About story and Australian-style copy