Dementia Test: Compare How a Loved One Is Now with 10 Years Ago
This dementia test screens for changes in someone you know well, using questions adapted from the short IQCODE. Get an instant result to help you discuss memory and daily functioning with their doctor.
Reviewed by David A. Brooks, PhD, ABPP, ABN 
Dementia Test is a free, confidential 16-question self-assessment, informed by the validated short IQCODE. It takes about 10 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
What this screen looks at, through your eyes
This dementia test looks at changes in memory, learning, and everyday judgment observed by someone who knows the person well. Cognitive decline means worsening thinking abilities compared with the person's previous abilities; this screen organizes your observations for a medical evaluation.
Memory over time
Remembering recent events and conversations, important details about family and friends, the day and date, and where things are kept. The heart of the IQCODE.
Learning new things
Whether they can still pick up new skills: working a new gadget or appliance, learning new information, adapting to anything unfamiliar. Learning is often affected early.
Everyday judgment
Following a story, making everyday decisions, handling money and finances, working out everyday sums, and reasoning things through. The skills independence rests on.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Informed by a validated instrument (IQCODE) | Rarely | Yes, adapted faithfully |
| Asks the person who knows them best | No | Yes, informant-style, like clinicians do |
| Compares now with 10 years ago | No | Yes, change is what matters |
| Covers reversible causes clearly | No | Yes (thyroid, B12, mood, meds, hearing) |
| Strong, clear doctor referral | Often vague | Yes, the central message |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–64 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–36 | No clear decline signal | Your answers do not show the pattern of change this screen is designed to flag. That is reassuring. The context below is still worth a read. |
| 37–39 | Borderline, worth a check-up | Your answers sit right at the edge of the range researchers use to flag possible decline. A calm, unhurried check-up is the sensible next step. |
| 40–64 | Signs consistent with cognitive decline, see a doctor | You have observed meaningful change across several areas. Please help this person see a doctor soon. This is not a diagnosis, and many causes are treatable. |
Types of dementia this screen does not tell apart
This dementia test flags reported changes in memory and everyday thinking without identifying their cause. The IQCODE, and this screen with it, is built to flag overall change, not to name a cause. Alzheimer's disease is the most familiar cause of dementia, but it is not the only one. Vascular dementia follows strokes or reduced blood flow to the brain and often progresses in steps rather than smoothly. Lewy body dementia can bring visual hallucinations, marked sleep disturbance, and Parkinson-like movement changes alongside memory decline. Frontotemporal dementia tends to show up first as changes in personality, judgment, or language rather than memory.
Telling these apart takes a doctor's exam, cognitive testing, and often brain imaging or blood work, not a questionnaire. That is exactly why a concerning result here points toward an evaluation rather than a conclusion: the pattern of change matters as much as the amount.
How to bring up a doctor's visit without causing alarm
Framing matters. A general checkup, a medication review, or a hearing and vision check are all easier conversations to start than 'I think you might have dementia', and any of them can lead naturally to the same cognition evaluation. Describe specific, concrete moments rather than a general impression, such as a missed bill or a repeated question, instead of 'you've been forgetful lately', which tends to provoke defensiveness rather than agreement.
If the person resists, it can help to frame the visit as something you would like for your own peace of mind, or to fold it into a checkup they were due for anyway. Involving a family member they trust, or the doctor's office directly, sometimes works better than raising it yourself. There is no perfect script, and a little persistence over a few conversations is normal.
Bring dated examples, a medication list, and notes about what the person can still do independently. Ask their permission to contribute your observations during the visit. If you disagree about what has changed, describe the specific event and let the clinician explore the difference rather than trying to settle it with a questionnaire score.
Support for you while you support them
Noticing change in someone you love and pushing for an evaluation is its own kind of weight, and it deserves attention too. The Caregiver Burnout Test is a quick way to check your own load if you have taken on more responsibility for this person's care. Watching someone change is also a form of loss even before any diagnosis, and the Grief Test can help put words to that if it resonates.
A simple Self-Care Plan and support from the Psychology.com therapist directory can make the uncertainty ahead more bearable, whatever the doctor's evaluation eventually shows.
The tests hub offers other self-assessments for related concerns. The Memory & Dementia Concern Screen is another starting point for concerns about your own memory; neither result should delay a medical appointment when everyday tasks are becoming harder.
When is sudden confusion an emergency?
Sudden confusion needs immediate medical attention, even if an earlier dementia screening result seemed reassuring. Someone may become disoriented, struggle to follow a conversation, or have difficulty staying alert. Seek emergency medical care rather than finishing or repeating this questionnaire. The NHS guidance on sudden confusion explains that causes can include infection, stroke, medication effects, and low blood sugar.
Stay with the person while help is coming, speak simply, and offer reassurance. Gather their medication information if it is available. A gradual memory concern and a sudden change require different responses; a screening score cannot establish that it is safe to wait.
Who should fill out an IQCODE dementia test?
The IQCODE is intended for a relative or friend who can compare the person with their own earlier abilities. Choose someone familiar with both their past routines and their current everyday life. Someone who recently met the person may notice concerning behavior but may not know whether it represents a change. The Australian National University guidance emphasizes knowing the person across the comparison period.
If you do not know how the person used to handle an activity, avoid inventing an answer or treating uncertainty as no change. Ask a longstanding relative or friend to contribute observations, or take your concerns directly to the doctor without relying on a completed score. Distinguish tasks the person has never done from tasks they previously managed and now find difficult. You can seek an evaluation even when nobody can provide a reliable historical comparison.
Methodology & sources
This screen reproduces the 16 items of the short-form IQCODE, the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly developed by Jorm and Jacomb (1989) and shortened by Jorm (1994). The IQCODE is one of the best-studied informant tools for detecting possible dementia: instead of testing the person directly, it asks someone who knows them well to rate how their memory and everyday thinking have changed compared with 10 years earlier. Because it measures change from the person's own baseline, it works across education levels and backgrounds, while the cited Cochrane review of early detection found insufficient evidence to recommend using it to predict who would later develop dementia. That review addressed prediction over time, which differs from describing cognitive changes already observed. Items are worded to stay faithful to the validated instrument while being easy to read.
About the scoring: the published IQCODE rates each item from 1 (much improved) to 5 (much worse) and uses the average, with a short-form cutoff of roughly 3.3 to 3.4 suggesting possible cognitive decline. Our engine scores each item from 0 to 4 and sums them, giving a range of 0 to 64, where answering 'Not much change' on every item gives 32. The two are directly convertible: a published average of 3.31 equals a sum of about 37 here, and an average of 3.5, a stronger signal, equals about 40. Our bands honestly mirror those validated cutoffs. This is an educational screen for deciding whether an evaluation is worthwhile, not a diagnostic test. Only a doctor can evaluate cognitive decline, and many causes of decline are treatable or reversible.
The numerical conversion described above changes the scoring scale; it does not independently validate this website, its wording, or its interpretation bands. Published thresholds depend on the population and setting in which they are used. The result cannot establish a dementia subtype, stage, or prognosis, and an apparently reassuring total does not outweigh a concrete decline in everyday functioning.
References
- Jorm AF, Jacomb PA. The Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): socio-demographic correlates, reliability, validity and some norms. Psychol Med. 1989;19(4):1015-1022. doi.org/10.1017/s0033291700005742
- Jorm AF. A short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): development and cross-validation. Psychol Med. 1994;24(1):145-153. doi.org/10.1017/s003329170002691x
- Burton JK, Fearon P, Noel-Storr AH, et al. Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for the early detection of dementia across a variety of healthcare settings. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;(7):CD011333. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011333.pub3
- Jorm AF. The Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): a review. Int Psychogeriatr. 2004;16(3):275-293. doi.org/10.1017/s1041610204000390
- National Health Service. Sudden confusion (delirium). nhs.uk/symptoms/confusion/
- Australian National University. Informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly: guidance, scoring, and forms. nceph.anu.edu.au/research/tools-resources/informant-questionnaire-cognitive-decline-elderly
- Burton JK, Fearon P, Noel-Storr AH, et al. Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for the early detection of dementia across a variety of healthcare settings. Full Cochrane review. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8406787/
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Dementia Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/dementia
Dementia Test FAQ
Is this dementia test a diagnosis?
No. This is a screening tool for education and decision-making, not a diagnosis. Only a doctor can evaluate cognitive decline, usually with an interview, cognitive testing, blood work, and sometimes brain imaging. A higher result here means one thing: a medical evaluation is worthwhile. It does not mean the person has dementia.
What is the difference between normal aging and dementia?
Normal aging can bring slower recall and occasional misplaced keys while everyday independence remains intact. Dementia involves cognitive changes that interfere with daily life, such as getting lost in familiar places or struggling with previously routine bills. This screen asks about change from the person's own earlier abilities. Persistent changes deserve a medical evaluation, even when a questionnaire result is reassuring; the score cannot establish the cause.
How is this different from your memory screen?
This test is answered about someone else. You rate how a person you know well has changed over 10 years, in the style of the IQCODE, the informant questionnaire clinicians use because family members often notice real change first. Our memory screen is the mirror image: you answer about yourself, informed by the AD8. If you are worried about your own memory, start there. If you are worried about a parent, partner, or friend, this is the right test.
The score is concerning. What should I do?
Arrange a medical appointment and ask for a memory and cognition evaluation. Encourage the person to see their primary-care doctor, a geriatrician, or a neurologist. Bring the result and concrete examples of change, and attend with their permission if possible. An elevated score suggests a reason to investigate; it does not identify the cause. If confusion appeared suddenly, seek emergency care instead of waiting for a routine appointment.
Can dementia-like symptoms be reversible?
Yes, and this is why an evaluation matters so much. Thyroid problems, vitamin B12 deficiency, depression, medication side effects and interactions, sleep disorders, infections, alcohol, and untreated hearing loss can all produce changes that look like cognitive decline, and many improve or fully resolve once treated. Depression in older adults in particular can mimic dementia closely. No score on any questionnaire can tell these causes apart. A doctor can.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you or the person you are answering about. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
Related tests
Stroop Test
Forty color-word trials, your Stroop interference in milliseconds, no signup.
Aphantasia Test
Informed by the validated VVIQ. See where your mind's eye falls, from aphantasia to hyperphantasia.
IQ Test: Free Reasoning Quiz
30 original reasoning questions with an estimated performance range, not a certified IQ score.