Research article summary (published 30 Jul 2001):

The effect of differing scoring methods for the Tower of London task on developmental patterns of performance.

Full Abstract

The Tower of London (TOL) task is frequently used to assess executive functioning in both adults and children, although there remains considerable controversy over what it measures and how to score it. In this study we compare two scoring methods and find that correlations between them were high for 7-year-olds (.86), and dropped to a low of .47 for adults. These results demonstrate that the TOL necessarily has different construct validity in adults and children. Second, results of one method (based on errors only) show a developmental trend in performance from middle childhood to adulthood, while the other (based on errors and time) shows a developmental progression from ages 7 to 13, but not between 13-year-olds and young adults. Thus, scoring method influences the resulting developmental model.

Author information

Author/s: Baker, K (K); Segalowitz, S J (SJ); Ferlisi, M C (MC);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ont, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Validation Studies

Journal: The Clinical neuropsychologist (Clin Neuropsychol), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2001-Aug; vol 15 (issue 3) : pp 309-13

Dates: Created 2002/01/07; Completed 2002/02/26; Revised 2007/06/01;

PMID: 11778768, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Adult Child Child Development - physiology Cognition

Female Humans Male Neuropsychological Tests Research Design - standards

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