They all took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a standard personality and life experience test, Geda's team told a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Miami. In 2004 the team interviewed the participants or family members. Those who scored higher for anxiety and pessimism on the test were more likely, as a group, to have developed dementia by 2004, including vascular dementia. This did not mean a person who is pessimistic could assume he or she has a higher risk of developing dementia. "One has to be cautious in interpreting a study like this," Geda said. "One cannot make a leap from group level data to the individual. Certainly the last thing you want to do is to say, 'Well, I am a pessimist; thus, I am doomed to develop dementia 20 or 30 years later,' because this may end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy." And there is not any specific way to prevent dementia, although many studies have shown that a healthy diet, exercise, keeping active in other ways, doing puzzles and other activities lower the risk.