Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
Linguistic and cultural adaptation of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) version 8 for the Tamil-speaking
A P Porrselvi1, C R Sneha2, M G Nurul Mehnaz3
1Psychologist, Unified Brain Health Care, Chennai, India.
Background:
Cognitive screening for Tamil-speaking populations is constrained by a shortage of linguistically appropriate tools. The previously available Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) version 7 did not account for Tamil diglossia, limiting its use among Indian Tamil speakers. This study aimed to linguistically and culturally adapt the parallel forms MoCA 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 into Indian Tamil and conduct pilot testing.
Methods:
Three phases were conducted: forward and back translation with MoCA Institute approval; pilot testing for linguistic clarity; and secondary pilot testing with 139 participants (106 healthy controls and 33 with clinician-diagnosed Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia).
Results:
Cultural and linguistic modifications to the tests and manual were approved by the MoCA Institute, and all three versions were made available. MoCA scores declined with age (p < .001) and were higher among individuals with >12 years of education (p = .002). Unadjusted analyses showed lower clinical group scores; however, after controlling for age, most differences were non-significant, except in the Language domain. Several tasks appeared education-sensitive, indicating misclassification risk.
Conclusions:
The adapted Tamil MoCA versions demonstrate preliminary feasibility and cultural relevance, but validation with larger, age-matched samples is needed to establish normative data, education-based stratification, and other psychometric properties.
