The Clock Drawing Test was created by Battersby in 1956 to assess visuospatial deficits associated with right hemisphere cerebral lesions. The inability to consider the left quadrants of the clock is a typical deficit found in these patients and it represents a lack of attention to that side of the body and space (neglect). Later it was found that time representation through a clock drawing involves the activation of several brain regions and the collaboration of multiple cognitive functions (abstraction, gestalt, numeric knowledge, organization and execution abilities...). Such capacities are progressively lost in dementia patients.

Nowadays the Clock Drawing Test (“draw a circle, place the numbers and indicate 11:10h”) is one of the most popular tests used in dementia screening and follow-up.

This diagnostic test is the foundation for the exhibition Drawing Time - the clock drawing test, an itinerant exhibition made in partnership between Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, Alzheimer Association and the artist Luísa Ramires. It already had 5 editions in National Museums of Portugal and other cultural and scientific spaces.