Please consider joining the Brain Health Registry. If you are interested in participating in Alzheimer’s research or just like to take online tests (as I do), it is a fun activity that helps create a data base to support ongoing research.

It takes about an hour to get set up for the Registry. Once you have filled in the usual passwords and personal history, there is a terrific Cognitive Performance Test that establishes your baseline cognition. It’s basically a bunch of card tricks.

There is deck of cards on your computer screen. When a card flips over, press the ‘K’ key to indicate the card has flipped. Easy. Then, press the ‘K’ key if the card is black and the ‘D’ key if it is red. Still easy. Next, the screen shows a card and you press ‘K’ if you have seen it before, and ‘D’ if you have not seen it before. Not so easy. Actually, very hard. After bruising my ego, and getting eight incorrect, the fourth segment is easier. Just hit ‘K’ if the card displayed is the same as the one just shown, or ‘D’ if it is different. No so difficult.

The point of the test is to establish a baseline performance. I will be prompted to take the test in six-month intervals to see how consistent I do over time. Think about doing it as well.