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This term refers to a widely used test assessing organized visual search, planning, attention, set shifting, cognitive flexibility, and divided attention (Rabin et al. 2005): all capacities thought to be executive in nature. Originally developed by Partington in 1938 (Partington and Leiter 1949), it was first published as part of the Army Individual Test Battery (1984). The test is currently available in public domain (see Lezak et al. 2004; Strauss et al. 2006) and revised versions (e.g., Reynolds 2002; Salthouse et al. 2000) and as part of a number of assessment batteries (e.g., Delis et al. 2001).
The standard trail-making test (TMT) contains two parts: Trails A and Trails B, which usually take no more than 5–10 min to complete. In Trails A, the participant draws lines to connect consecutively numbered circles, drawn on a single A4 sheet (1-2-3…). In Trails B, the participant connects consecutively numbered and lettered circles, alternating between them...
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References and Further Reading
Arbuthnott, K., & Frank, J. (2000). Trail making test, part B as a measure of executive control: Validation using a set-switching paradigm. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 22, 518–528.
Bell-McGinty, S., Podell, K., Franzen, M., Baird, A. D., & Williams, M. J. (2002). Standard measures of executive function in predicting instrumental activities of daily living in older adults. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 828–834.
Chen, P., Ratcliff, G., Belle, S. H., Cauley, J. A., DeKosky, S. T., & Ganguli, M. (2000). Cognitive tests that best discriminate between presymptomatic AD and those who remain nondemented. Neurology, 55, 1847–1853.
Delis, D., Kaplan, E., & Kramer, J. (2001). Delis–Kaplan executive function scale. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.
Fellows, R. P., & Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (2015). Between-domain cognitive dispersion and functional abilities in older adults. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 37, 1013–1023.
Fellows, R. P., Dahmen, J., Cook, D., & Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (2017). Multicomponent analysis of a digital trail making test. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 31, 154–167.
Goldman, W. P., Baty, J. D., Buckles, V. D., Sahrmann, S., & Morris, J. C. (1998). Cognitive and motor functioning in Parkinson disease: Subjects with and without questionable dementia. Archives of Neurology, 55, 674–680.
Hester, R. L., Kinsella, G. J., Ong, B., & McGregor, J. (2005). Demographic influences on baseline and derived scores from the trail making test in healthy older Australian adults. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 19, 45–54.
Kortte, K. B., Horner, M. D., & Windham, W. K. (2002). The trail making test, part B: Cognitive flexibility or ability to maintain set? Applied Neuropsychology, 9, 106–109.
Lezak, M. D., Howieson, D. B., Loring, D. W., Hannay, H. J., & Fischer, J. S. (2004). Neuropsychological assessment (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Mitrushina, M. N., Boone, K. L., & D’Elia, L. (1999). Handbook of normative data for neuropsychological assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.
Partington, J. E., & Leiter, R. G. (1949). Partington’s pathway test. Psychological Service Center Bulletin, 1, 9–20.
Rabin, L. A., Barr, W. B., & Butler, L. A. (2005). Assessment practices of clinical neuropsychologists in the United States and Canada: A survey of INS, NAN, APA division 40 members. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 33–65.
Reynolds, C. R. (2002). Comprehensive trail-making test. Austin: PRO-ED.
Salthouse, T. A. (2011). What cognitive abilities are involved in trail-making performance? Intelligence, 39, 222–232.
Salthouse, T. A., Toth, J., Daniels, K., Parks, C., Pak, R., Wolbrette, M., & Hocking, K. (2000). Effects of aging on the efficiency of task switching in a variant of the trail making test. Neuropsychology, 14, 102–111.
Strauss, E., Sherman, E. M. S., & Spreen, O. (2006). A compendium of neuropsychological tests: Administration, norms, and commentary. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tombaugh, T. N. (2004). Trail making test A and B: Normative data stratified by age and education. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19, 203–214.
Vazzana, R., Bandinelli, S., Lauretani, F., Volpato, S., Lauretani, F., Di Iorio, A., et al. (2010). Trail making test predicts physical impairment and mortality in older persons. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 58, 719–723.
Zakzanis, K. K., Mraz, R., & Graham, S. J. (2005). An fMRI study of the trail making test. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1878–1886.
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Bucks, R.S. (2018). Trail-Making Test. In: Gellman, M., Turner, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1538-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1538-2
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