MemTrax

MemTrax is a short cognitive test intended for memory measurement. It is a continuous recognition task (CRT) paradigm, which is a type of assessment that is widely used in advanced research on memory mechanisms. CRTs are especially sensitive for early detection of memory problems, such as those caused by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. CRTs are also useful for detecting changes that can occur with head injury, altered levels of consciousness, and a variety of other brain illnesses or injuries that cause short term memory changes. MemTrax provides online assessment tool for measuring memory health as well as attention and recognition reaction time. MemTrax users are provided with a set of images on any video screen, which they either look at and remember, or indicate that they recognize a repeated image, by a specific movement response, within the shortest period of time possible.

History

MemTrax was developed by Dr. John Wesson Ashford, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist whose career has been dedicated to understanding the way Alzheimer’s disease affects memory. Dr Ashford is Chair of the Memory Screening Advisory Board of the Alzheimer's Foundation of America as well as a Senior Editor of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. He also holds the positions of Director of the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (affiliated) at Stanford University.

Development

Development of MemTrax was started in the 1980s when Dr. Ashford was seeking a more suitable way to evaluate memory loss in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. His work in the middle 1990s showed that the memory impairment of early Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed at least 10 years before a clinical diagnosis of dementia.

Research

Dr. Ashford conducted a study on more than 1000 participants, which showed that performance on MemTrax was associated with age and could reveal indications of possible Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

As of April 2014, two additional studies, the MEDIAG Early Diagnosis of Memory Disorders Study and the MemTrax Cognitive Assessment Reliability Study are on-going, collecting additional evidence in support of use of MemTrax in the early detection of memory issues, especially of indicators of early dementia that increases with age.

See also

• Alzheimer's disease
• Retrospective memory