Trail Making Test as a screening device for the detection of brain damage.

Abstract

The Trail Making Test is a relatively un-known instrument, although over the years several investigators have utilized it in mak-ing studies. As best as can be determined, the Trail Making Test dates back to a prototype originally known as the Taylor Number Se-ries,2 a test which required the subject to draw lines connecting a series of numbers from 1 to SO that were scattered randomly about a rectangular sheet of paper. In 1938, Partington (4) renamed the test "A Test of Distributed Attention " and constructed forms which were modifications of the above. He viewed the test mainly as one that dealt with the speed of motor performance. Further use of the test, however, led Partington to con-clude that a successful performance demanded that the subject manifest an integration of previously learned material into a pattern of response that involved shifts in organization, recall, and recognition, as well as motor per-formance. Later, Partington and Leiter (4) administered the test to an unselected adult male population with the notion of develop-ing a standardized procedure of administra-tion and scoring. When the results were scru-tinized, the authors concluded that the test was measuring general mental ability. They demonstrated that the scores on the test were in general agreement with the estimated in-telligence of the individuals to whom it was administered. At that time the test was called the Partington Pathways Test. A follow-up study (4) in 1945 on 256 un-

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