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The trail making test is a neuropsychological test that assesses motor speed, speed of mental processing and mental flexibility. This test is considered to be highly vulnerable to the effects of brain injury.
Description
The original trail making test was a paper a pencil test with two parts. In part A the individual was asked to draw lines between 25 consecutively numbered circles spread randomly across a sheet of paper. Part B (sample shown below) is more difficult, the participant is asked to draw lines alternating between numbers and letters in sequence. For example, 1 → A → 2 → B, etc. They are asked to complete the task as quickly as possible without lifting the pencil from the paper. The test takes a maximum of 5–10 min to complete. The time taken to complete the task is recorded and this is used to assess the individual’s performance. Norms are available to interpret the scores [6]. Performance is affected by age with older...
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References
Davis, A. (1968). The influence of age on trail making test performance. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24, 96–98.
Delis, D. C., Kaplan, E., & Kramer, J. H. (2001). Delis Kaplan Executive Function System. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.
Gaudino, E. A., Geisler, M. W., & Squires, N. K. (1995). Construct validity in the trail making test: What makes part B harder. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 17, 529–535.
Lezak, M. D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mok, N., Tsang, L., Lee, T. M. C., Llorente, A. M. (2008). The impact of language on the equivalence of trail making tests: Findings from three pediatric cohorts with different language dominance. Applied Neuropsychology, 15(2), 123–130.
Spreen, O., & Strauss, E. (1998). A compendium of neuropsychological tests (3rd ed.). Victoria: Oxford University Press.
Williams, J., et al. (1995). Children’s color trails. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 10(13), 211–223.
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McKinlay, A. (2011). Trail Making Test. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2934
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2934
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
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