Which presidents have publicly released cognitive test results and when?
Executive summary
Two recent presidents — Joe Biden and Donald Trump — have had their cognitive testing publicly discussed: Biden’s physician released a memorandum in 2024 saying he receives and “passes” an annual neurologic exam amid calls for cognitive testing [1]; Trump’s physicians have said he took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in 2018 and again in 2025, and the White House and Trump himself have repeatedly publicized that he “aced” or scored highly on that test [2] [3]. Available sources do not provide a comprehensive list of earlier presidents who publicly released cognitive test results.
1. Presidential cognitive testing enters public view
Cognitive testing of presidents became a public political issue in the Biden-Trump era after a 2024 debate spurred demands that President Joe Biden undergo testing; his physician’s memorandum noted Biden gets and “passes” an annual neurologic exam, bringing routine neurological checks into public debate about fitness for office [1]. That publicization highlighted a broader question: which presidents have voluntarily disclosed formal cognitive test results and how much detail the public should expect [1].
2. Biden: physician memo, annual neurologic exam, limited detail
Reporting shows the Biden camp responded to critics by releasing a physician memorandum in July 2024 stating Biden receives an annual neurologic exam and that he “passes” it, but the memo — and the coverage cited — does not include detailed, standardized cognitive test scores or a named test battery in the provided sources [1]. Available sources do not mention a specific published score or the precise test instruments for Biden beyond the physician’s statement [1].
3. Trump: Montreal Cognitive Assessment and repeated public claims
Multiple outlets report that former president and, as of 2025, president Donald Trump has publicly said he “aced” cognitive exams and that doctors administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in 2018 and 2025; his current and former White House physicians have confirmed use of the MoCA, and Trump has repeatedly boasted of perfect or “highest” scores [2] [3] [4]. The White House also incorporated the cognitive exam references into broader health releases tied to executive physicals and imaging results in late 2025 [5] [6].
4. What the publicly released material actually shows — and what it doesn’t
Available reporting documents physicians’ statements that tests were given and that results were satisfactory, but those communications often lack raw scores, full test administrations, or independent release of standardized results for external review [5] [7]. For Biden the public record cited is a physician memorandum signifying a passed neurologic exam without published test data [1]. For Trump, multiple sources report claims of “perfect” MoCA scores, but contemporaneous White House releases focus on summarizing health findings rather than publishing full cognitive-test score sheets [3] [5] [7].
5. Medical experts’ view and the limits of cognitive tests
Reporting cites neurologists and medical experts noting that brief bedside cognitive tests screen for impairment but do not measure intelligence and have limits in what they reveal about complex decision‑making or executive functioning [8] [1]. News coverage of White House releases also records experts questioning what specific imaging and tests were done and whether routine imaging would be done in asymptomatic patients, underscoring that public summaries can leave meaningful clinical questions unanswered [7].
6. Politics, publicity and the incentive to release — or not
Media accounts show a clear political incentive to tout positive cognitive results: both presidents and their teams have used test descriptions to counter narratives about age or fitness [3] [4] [5]. At the same time, physicians and news outlets flag that releasing selective phrases like “aced it” or “perfect score” functions more as political messaging than as transparent clinical disclosure; experts argue full transparency would require release of methods, raw scores and context that the cited White House memos did not provide [7] [6].
7. What remains undocumented in available reporting
Available sources do not mention any earlier 20th- or 21st‑century presidents publicly releasing detailed cognitive test results beyond the Biden and Trump examples cited here; nor do they present a comprehensive historical list of presidents and the dates or instruments used for any cognitive testing [1] [2]. If you want a definitive historical catalog, current reporting does not provide it.
Limitations: All factual assertions above are drawn solely from the provided news items; I do not assert material that those sources do not mention and note where sources lack specific scores, instruments or historical breadth [3] [5] [2] [7] [6] [1].