Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

The Trail Making Test A and B: a technical note on structural nonequivalence

E D Rossini1, M A Karl

  • 1Faculty of Psychology, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL 60605.

Perceptual and Motor Skills
|April 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary

The Trail Making Test (TMT) involves drawing lines. TMT B requires significantly more line length than TMT A, challenging assumptions about cognitive load versus motor skills.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Teaching group treatment in doctoral programs for counseling psychology.

Psychological reports·1999
Same author

Academic training in group psychotherapy in clinical psychology doctoral programs.

Psychological reports·1998
Same author

Intellectual functioning of inpatients with dissociative identity disorder and dissociative disorder not otherwise specified. Cognitive and neuropsychological aspects.

The Journal of nervous and mental disease·1996
Same author

Temporal consistency and stability of three scales for measuring stress in adults.

Perceptual and motor skills·1996
Same author

Retrospective self-reported symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: reliability of the Wender Utah Rating Scale.

Psychological reports·1995
Same author

The Bender-Gestalt psychopathology scale: failure to infer validity in a school-aged sample.

Journal of personality assessment·1993

Area of Science:

  • Neuropsychology
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Motor Function Assessment

Background:

  • The Trail Making Test (TMT) is widely used to assess cognitive functions.
  • Previous research has focused on the cognitive demands of TMT A and TMT B.
  • The motor component, specifically the length of drawn lines, has been less emphasized.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the length of drawn lines in Trail Making Test A and Trail Making B for adults and children.
  • To challenge the assumption that differences between TMT A and TMT B are solely due to cognitive load.
  • To highlight the potential underestimation of the motor component in TMT interpretation.

Main Methods:

  • Quantitative analysis of the structural aspect of the TMT.
  • Measurement of the total length of lines drawn to complete TMT A and TMT B.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Comparison of line lengths between adult and school-aged child versions of the TMT.

    • Main Results:

    • Trail Making Test B requires a significantly greater length of drawn lines compared to Trail Making Test A.
    • This difference was observed in both adult (32% longer) and school-aged child (27% longer) populations.
    • The findings suggest a substantial motor component in TMT B that may be overlooked.

    Conclusions:

    • The increased line length in TMT B indicates a more significant motor demand than often assumed.
    • Interpretations of TMT B performance should consider both cognitive and motor factors.
    • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the interplay of cognitive and motor skills in TMT performance.