MoCA Naming 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During MoCA administration, the examiner notices the patient hesitates 20 seconds before correctly naming the camel. How is this scored?
- 0 points — response was too slow
- 0.5 points for a delayed correct response
- 1 point — correct regardless of response time (Correct answer)
- 1 point only if hesitation is documented
Correct answer: 1 point — correct regardless of response time
The MoCA Naming subtest has no time limit; any correct response earns full credit regardless of latency.
Question 2: A patient with Alzheimer's disease fails the MoCA Naming task. Which pathophysiological process most directly explains this deficit?
- Degeneration of cerebellar Purkinje cells
- Loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra
- Demyelination of optic nerve fibers
- Atrophy of temporal lobe structures involved in semantic memory (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Atrophy of temporal lobe structures involved in semantic memory
Temporal lobe atrophy in Alzheimer's disease disrupts the semantic networks needed to retrieve specific object names.
Question 3: A bilingual patient names the rhinoceros correctly in Spanish but not in English during an English-language MoCA. How should the clinician handle this?
- Score it as incorrect with no notation
- Consider accepting the response and noting it, or administer a validated version in the patient's dominant language (Correct answer)
- Award half a point for the Spanish response
- Repeat the test entirely in Spanish before scoring
Correct answer: Consider accepting the response and noting it, or administer a validated version in the patient's dominant language
Best practice is to administer the MoCA in the patient's dominant language; cross-language correct responses should be noted and interpreted cautiously.
Question 4: Which of the following errors on the MoCA Naming task is an example of a semantic paraphasia?
- Calling the camel a 'camoo'
- Saying 'I don't know' for the rhinoceros
- Describing the rhinoceros as 'big and gray'
- Calling the lion a 'tiger' (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Calling the lion a 'tiger'
A semantic paraphasia is a substitution with a related word from the same category, such as calling a lion a 'tiger.'
Question 5: In populations with limited formal education, MoCA Naming scores may be artificially depressed primarily because:
- The images are too small for older adults to see clearly
- Lower-frequency animal names may not have been learned in limited schooling contexts (Correct answer)
- The task is scored differently for uneducated patients
- Uneducated patients lack visuospatial processing skills
Correct answer: Lower-frequency animal names may not have been learned in limited schooling contexts
Lexical knowledge of specific animal names like 'rhinoceros' correlates with vocabulary exposure gained through education.
Question 6: The MoCA Naming subtest contributes how many points to the total MoCA score of 30?
- 5 points
- 2 points
- 4 points
- 3 points (Correct answer)
Correct answer: 3 points
Naming is worth a maximum of 3 points out of the total 30-point MoCA score.
Question 7: Which condition would most likely cause a patient to FAIL the MoCA Naming task while passing all other subtests normally?
- Mild generalized cognitive decline
- Isolated anomic aphasia (Correct answer)
- Frontal lobe executive dysfunction
- Severe visuospatial neglect
Correct answer: Isolated anomic aphasia
Anomic aphasia selectively impairs word retrieval while leaving other cognitive domains relatively preserved.
MoCA Naming 5
During MoCA administration, the examiner notices the patient hesitates 20 seconds before correctly naming the camel.
How is this scored?