Table 2.
EMQ Items and Percentage of Subjects Endorsing Each Item
| Subscale | EMQ Item | Total # Reported Errors | % of Subjects Endorsing Item | Cronbach’s Alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech | Forgetting the names of friends or relatives or calling them by the wrong names. | 40.0 | 25.7 | 0.71 |
| Forgetting the names of common things or using the wrong names. | 43.0 | 26.7 | ||
| Finding that a word is “on the tip of your tongue.” You know what it is but can’t quite find it. | 98.0 | 61.0 | ||
| Forgetting something you were told a few minutes ago. Perhaps something your spouse or a friend has just said. | 31.0 | 23.8 | ||
| Forgetting something you were told yesterday or a few days ago. | 53.0 | 40.0 | ||
| Repeating something you’ve just said or asking the same question several times. | 24.0 | 19.0 | ||
| Forgetting what you have just said. Maybe saying “What was I talking about?” | 36.0 | 28.6 | ||
| Losing track of what someone is trying to tell you. Unable to follow the thread of their conversation. | 29.0 | 21.0 | ||
| Starting to say something, then forgetting what it was that you wanted to speak about. | 39.0 | 32.4 | ||
| Letting yourself ramble on to speak about unimportant or irrelevant things. | 35.0 | 22.9 | ||
| Forgetting to tell somebody something important. Perhaps forgetting to pass on a message or remind someone of something. | 26.0 | 21.9 | ||
| Getting the details of what someone has told you mixed up and confused. | 24.0 | 21.0 | ||
| Repeating a story/joke you’ve already told. | 11.0 | 9.5 | ||
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| Reading/Writing | Forgetting the meanings of unusual words. | 75.0 | 37.1 | 0.42 |
| Forgetting what the sentence you just read was about and having to reread it. | 82.0 | 55.2 | ||
| Unable to follow the thread of a story. Lose track of what it is about. | 17.0 | 13.3 | ||
| Forgetting how to spell words. | 67.0 | 39.0 | ||
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| Faces/Places | Forgetting where you have put something. Losing things around the house. | 58.5 | 45.7 | 0.50 |
| Failing to recognize friends/relatives by sight. | 11.0 | 7.6 | ||
| Failing to recognize TV characters or other famous people by sight. | 35.0 | 21.0 | ||
| Getting lost or turning in the wrong direction on a journey/walk you have often been on. | 11.0 | 10.5 | ||
| Failing to recognize places you’re told you’ve often been to before. | 5.0 | 1.9 | ||
| Finding TV stories difficult to follow. | 21.0 | 12.4 | ||
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| Actions | Forgetting to do some routine thing which you would normally do once/twice a day. | 27.0 | 21.0 | 0.41 |
| Discovering that you have done some routine thing twice by mistake. | 2.0 | 1.9 | ||
| Having to go around checking whether you have done everything you meant to do. | 45.0 | 34.3 | ||
| Forgetting what you did yesterday or getting the details of what happened mixed up and confused. | 14.0 | 13.3 | ||
| Starting to do something, then forgetting what it was you wanted to do. Maybe saying “What am I doing?” | 46.5 | 34.3 | ||
| Being absent minded. Doing something which you didn’t really intend to do. | 11.0 | 9.5 | ||
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| New Things | Unable to remember the name of someone you met for the first time recently. | 48.0 | 40.0 | 0.50 |
| Failing to recognize someone you met for the first time recently. | 14.0 | 11.4 | ||
| Getting lost on a journey or walk which you’ve only been on once or twice before. | 9.0 | 8.6 | ||
| Unable to pick up a new skill such as a game or working some new gadget after you’ve practiced once or twice. | 21.0 | 15.2 | ||
| Unable to cope with a change in your daily routine. Following your old routine by mistake. | 8.0 | 7.6 | ||
| Forgetting to keep an appointment. | 6.0 | 5.7 | ||
Top five items in terms of percent of subjects endorsing that error are marked by bold font.