The Puppy Escape Narrative: Validation of an Openly Available Recall Task for MCI Detection
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Introduction
Narrative recall is widely used to detect cognitive impairment, but dominant instruments carry proprietary restrictions. The Craft Story 21 (CS), the non-proprietary NACC UDS4 standard, is not available standalone. Here, we validate the freely available Puppy Escape (PE).
Methods
346 participants (153 cognitively normal, 106 subjective cognitive impairment, 87 mild cognitive impairment) completed PE and CS. Analyses evaluated convergent and criterion validity, MCI-vs-control discrimination, and incremental validity.
Results
PE and CS converged (r=.43–.47) and were equivalent on 10/12 neuropsychological measures. PE Delayed discriminated MCI from controls (d=1.03; ROC-AUC equal to CS, DeLong p=.510) and added variance beyond CS (ΔR²=+.054, p<.001). Automated subscores revealed MCI deficits in location, action, and name content. PE-18 short form retained discrimination (d=1.02) with 18 items.
Discussion
PE matched CS across all validation domains and captured complementary diagnostic information. PE and PE-18 are available via online registration explicitly permitting industry-sponsored research and fee-for-service clinical use.
