scholarly journals Limitations of the Trail Making Test Part-B in Assessing Frontal Executive Dysfunction

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Chan ◽  
Sarah E. MacPherson ◽  
Gail Robinson ◽  
Martha Turner ◽  
Francesca Lecce ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Completion Time ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Focal Lesions ◽  
Robust Test ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Frontal Lesions

AbstractPart B of the Trail Making Test (TMT-B) is one of the most widely used neuropsychological tests of “executive” function. A commonly held assumption is that the TMT-B can be used to detect frontal executive dysfunction. However, so far, research evidence has been limited and somewhat inconclusive. In this retrospective study, performance on the TMT-B of 55 patients with known focal frontal lesions, 27 patients with focal non-frontal lesions and 70 healthy controls was compared. Completion time and the number of errors made were examined. Patients with frontal and non-frontal lesions performed significantly worse than healthy controls for both completion time and the number of errors. However, there was no significant difference for both completion time and the number of errors when patients with frontal and non-frontal lesions were compared. Performance was also not significantly different between patients with focal lesions within different regions of the frontal lobe (orbital, left lateral, right lateral, medial). Our findings suggest that the TMT-B is a robust test for detection of brain dysfunction. However, its capacity for detecting frontal executive dysfunction appears rather limited. Clinicians should be cautious when drawing conclusions from performance on the TMT-B alone. (JINS, 2015, 21, 169–174)

scholarly journals Errors on the Trail Making Test Are Associated with Right Hemispheric Frontal Lobe Damage in Stroke Patients

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Kopp ◽  
Nina Rösser ◽  
Sandra Tabeling ◽  
Hans Jörg Stürenburg ◽  
Bianca de Haan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Lobe ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Completion Time ◽  
Frontal Lobes ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Left Frontal Lobe ◽  
Frontal Lobe Damage ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Frontal Lesions

Measures of performance on theTrail Making Test (TMT)are among the most popular neuropsychological assessment techniques. Completion time onTMT-Ais considered to provide a measure of processing speed, whereas completion time onTMT-Bis considered to constitute a behavioral measure of the ability to shift between cognitive sets (cognitive flexibility), commonly attributed to the frontal lobes. However, empirical evidence linking performance on theTMT-Bto localized frontal lesions is mostly lacking. Here, we examined the association of frontal lesions following stroke withTMT-Bperformance measures (i.e., completion time and completion accuracy measures) using voxel-based lesion-behavior mapping, with a focus on right hemispheric frontal lobe lesions. Our results suggest that the number of errors, but not completion time on theTMT-B, is associated with right hemispheric frontal lesions. This finding contradicts common clinical practice—the use of completion time on theTMT-Bto measure cognitive flexibility, and it underscores the need for additional research on the association between cognitive flexibility and the frontal lobes. Further work in a larger sample, including left frontal lobe damage and with more power to detect effects of right posterior brain injury, is necessary to determine whether our observation is specific for right frontal lesions.

Diagnostic Efficiency of the Trail Making Test as a Function of Cut-off Score, Diagnosis, and Age

1978 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman G. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Veterans Administration ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Diagnostic Efficiency ◽  
Male Veterans ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Administration Hospital ◽  
Cutoff Scores ◽  
The Brain

This study is a reinvestigation of the effectiveness of the Trail Making Test in discriminating between brain-damaged ( n = 51) and pseudoneurologic ( n = 72) subjects. All subjects were hospitalized male veterans at the Allen Park Veterans Administration Hospital. An analysis of covariance showed that the pseudoneurologic subjects performed at a significantly higher level than the brain-damaged subjects. Further analysis with two different cutoff scores exhibited unequal discriminatory power throughout the whole range of Trail Making Test scores. These results suggested diagnosing only when the scores were 9 or lower and 13 or higher. This use of extreme scores resulted in an over-all hit rate of 87% in the study. Comparisons with five major subgroupings of the pseudoneurologic subjects yielded only one significant difference: more accurate discrimination with the 12 cut-off score between 10 general-medical and peripheral nerve-damaged subjects (100% correct) and 18 psychotic subjects (39% accuracy).

Relation of Acuteness of Organic Brain Dysfunction to Trail Making Test Performances

1962 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen B. Fitzhugh ◽  
Loren C. Fitzhugh ◽  
Ralph M. Reitan
Keyword(s):  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Organic Brain

scholarly journals Executive attention and working memory in narcoleptic outpatients

2012 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 335-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirleny Moraes ◽  
Sueli Rossini ◽  
Rubens Reimão
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness ◽  
Daytime Sleepiness ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Executive Attention ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Normal Controls

OBJECTIVE: This pioneering study aimed to evaluate executive attention and working memory in Brazilian narcoleptic outpatients. METHODS: Narcoleptic group: 19 treated narcoleptic outpatients (13 F; 6 M) (mean age=37.58; SD = 8.93); control group: 19 subjects (15 F; 4 M) (mean age=34.42; SD=12.31). INSTRUMENTS: Epworth Sleepiness Scale - Brazilian Portuguese Version (ESS-BR), Victoria Stroop Test (VST), Trail Making Test (TMT) and Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) of WAIS-III. RESULTS: Significant difference at Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) (p<0.001) and at working memory (p=0.009) with worse results for narcoleptic patients. Patients were slower at VST-1 (p=0.002), VST-2 (p=0.045) and at TMT-A (p=0.016), TMT-B (p=0.006) and B-A (p=0.024). CONCLUSION: Narcoleptic patients showed higher degrees of EDS, an impaired executive attention at a temporal level and lower performance in working memory when compared to normal controls.

scholarly journals Cognition and interpersonal coordination of patients with schizophrenia who have sports habits

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0241863
Author(s):  
Keisuke Fujii ◽  
Yujiro Yoshihara ◽  
Yukiko Matsumoto ◽  
Keima Tose ◽  
Hideaki Takeuchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Team Sports ◽  
Visual Cognition ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Interpersonal Coordination ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Partial Correlations ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Figure Test

Team sports activities are effective for improving the negative symptoms and cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia. However, the interpersonal coordination during the sports and visual cognition of patients with schizophrenia who have team sports habits are unknown. The main objectives of this study were to test two hypotheses: first, patients with schizophrenia perform the skill requiring ball passing and receiving worse than healthy controls; and second, the patients will be impaired in these functionings in accordance with the previous studies regarding schizophrenia in general. Twelve patients with schizophrenia and 15 healthy controls, who had habits in football, participated in this study. The participants performed three conventional cognitive tests and a 3-vs-1 ball possession task to evaluate their interpersonal coordination. The results showed that in the 3-vs-1 possession task, the displacement in the pass angle for the patients was significantly smaller than that for the control. The recall in the complex figure test, the performance in the trail making test, and that in the five-choice reaction task for the patients were worse than those for the control. Moreover, we found the significant partial correlations in the patients between the extradimensional shift error and the pass angle as well as between the time in the trail making test and the displacement in the pass angle, whereas there was no significant correlation in the control group. This study clarified the impaired interpersonal coordination during team sports and the visual cognition of patients with schizophrenia who have team sports habits.

scholarly journals Verification of Trail Making Test in Elderly People with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsushi Toda ◽  
Shinsuke Nagami ◽  
Ayako Katsumata ◽  
Shinya Fukunaga
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Independent Risk Factors ◽  
Behavior Disturbance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Behavioral And Psychological Symptoms

AbstractIn Alzheimer's disease (AD), attention and executive dysfunction occur early in the disease. However, little is known about the relationship between these disorders and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). This study investigated the relationship between BPSD and attention and execution functions. Twenty-five patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early AD were included. Neuropsychological tests, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Raven’s colored progressive materials (RCPM), and trail making test (TMT) were conducted for patients with dementia. The dementia behavior disturbance scale (DBD) was used for psychological and behavioral evaluations of patients with dementia. The AD group showed significantly lower MMSE, DBD, and TMT-B scores than the MCI group. Multiple regression analyses revealed a significant correlation between DBD score, MMSE, and TMT-B.Conclusion: BPSD is associated with cognitive function severity in patients with MCI and early AD, suggesting that attentional and executive functions are independent risk factors for these neural substrates.

Factor structure of the Comprehensive Trail Making Test in children and adolescents with brain dysfunction.

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 964-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Allen ◽  
Nicholas S. Thaler ◽  
Kimberly A. Barchard ◽  
Mary Vertinski ◽  
Joan Mayfield
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Trail Making Test ◽  
Trail Making ◽  
Comprehensive Trail Making Test
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