How fast does it take a normal person to identify a word? Approximately 250 milliseconds. But what does it mean if it takes a person longer? Recent work suggests that the longer the delay the more likely that person may be prone to cognitive conditions, such as Alzheimer’s. Specifically, this project showed that people who were diagnosed with mild congestive impairment took longer to identify (or process) words compared to other people. If true, these results could perhaps help identify people at risk for cognitive decline at some point in their life.