A simple way to diagnose the condition of the brain in 15 seconds has been identified

A brief burst of words that a person can name in the first 15 seconds of a verbal fluency test may be a more accurate indicator of cognitive health than the entire minute of the task.

As reported by BAKU.WS, this conclusion was reached by an international team of psychologists. The work was published in the journal Experimental Aging Research (EAR).

The increasing prevalence of dementia and other forms of cognitive decline is prompting specialists to look for quick and accessible methods of early diagnosis. Neurodegenerative processes can begin decades before obvious symptoms appear, which is why it is particularly important to study the condition of middle age - when the first unnoticeable changes may already be forming.

The study involved 74 Spanish-speaking adult respondents over 40 years of age who underwent cognitive testing and psychiatric screening online.

The main tool was a semantic verbal fluency test - participants were asked to name as many words as possible from a given category in one minute. Scientists divided the minute into four 15-second segments and analyzed the rate at which words appeared.

The first interval turned out to be the most informative: it explained most of the variation in results and better predicted scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment - standard screening tests for cognitive decline. The researchers believe that the first seconds reflect the most efficient stage of searching for information in memory, when a person quickly activates stored semantic connections.

The study also confirmed the link between mental state and the quality of cognitive task performance. People with anxiety or depressive symptoms named fewer words, with depression more often slowing speech at the very beginning of the task, while anxiety reduced productivity closer to the end of the minute. However, age remained the main risk factor - with years, the likelihood of psychiatric symptoms increased regardless of cognitive abilities.