Trail Making Test and visual search

Abstract

The performance in the Trail Making Test (Form A) was correlated with a variety of verbal and nonverbal tests in 5 groups of patients: Broca's aphasics (N = 18), Wernicke's aphasics (N = 19) and nonaphasic patients with right hemisphere (N = 20), left hemisphere (N = 17) or diffuse (N = 18) lesions. Correlations with the Trail Making Test were found for two tests, both requiring visual search. The "Objects Finding Test" in which the target varies from item to item showed high correlations for all groups of patients. The "Hidden Patterns Test", in which the target is kept constant, correlated only on the groups of nonaphasic patients. It is concluded (1) that visual search, as tested here, is not restricted to lateralized cortical functions, and (2) that the performance in the Trail Making Test depends largely upon processes involved in visual search of varying targets.