According to [12], trails in Reitans TMT are self-avoiding and gradually unwind in a clockwise

or anticlockwise direction.

A group of researchers [12], [13] have proposed more systematic and divergent approaches for
generating a theoretically unlimited number of TMT instances. They contended that, although
it is not clear whether Reitans TMT was constructed according to some implicit principles, it is
vastly different from trails that are generated by purely random processes [12]. They observed
two characteristics of Reitans TMT trails. Firstly, for both Part A and Part B, the trails gradually
uncoil in either a clockwise or an anticlockwise direction from the inner to outer part.
Secondly, the trails are self-avoiding, i.e. the line segments connecting consecutive points have
no intersections with one another. However, it is a non-trivial problem to generate new
instances of TMT which are endowed with these two characteristics [13]. Working reversely
from the desired characteristics, two approaches to generate self-avoiding trails were
proposed in [12] and [13].

The presence of these constraints brings out the fact that the usual description of the TMT
forms is somewhat misleading. If the circles had been truly randomly distributed, and the
numbers and/or letters truly randomly assigned to them, then the resulting pathways would
look something like the example in Figure 1. Moreover, the task of randomly assigning
numbers and/or letters to the circles in such a way that the resulting pathway would be self-
avoiding would potentially involve considering all possible links between all possible circles.
The resulting combinatorial explosion has the same characteristics as the notorious travelling
salesman problem, and appears to be analytically intractable (Lawler, 1985).

It seems obvious that paths A and B were not generated in this way but were probably
constructed by first drawing random-looking, but self-avoiding, curves, and then sequentially
assigning the numbers and/or letters to successive inflexion points on these curves. A
procedure of this kind resembles the explorations made by children in their early drawings
(Fein, 1993) and may seem trivial. However, such rope-coiling exercises, in the form of
mazes and labyrinths, have throughout human development represented the most complex
structures and concepts that-until recently-human beings have succeeded in articulating (Bord,
1976; Matthews, 1922, 1970). Even a few minutes random doodling brings out the point
that it is extremely difficult to distribute the curve fairly evenly over a rectangular surface, and
still preserve some apparent local randomness, without conforming to some familiar overall
configuration, such as a boustrophedon or spiral (and/or reverse spiral) arrangement.

Vickers, D., Vincent, N., & Medvedev, A. (1996). The geometric structure, construction, and
interpretation of pathfollowing (trailmaking) tests. Journal of clinical psychology, 52(6), 651-
661.

To achieve (1), the proposed approach uses pseudorandomized processes to generate

different instances. To achieve (2), it attempts to reproduce the spatial characteristics of
Reitans TMT to the greatest extent possible. According to [12], trails in Reitans TMT are self-
avoiding and gradually unwind in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. To reproduce these
characteristics, our DAC approach gener- ates sub-solutions in divided problem spaces and
combines sub-solutions to form a complete solution. In the divide phase, the test region is
divided into several nested and non-overlapping layers. Within each layer, a partial trail is
generated with the desired spatial characteristics. Then, in the combine phase, the partial
trails are joined together to form a complete trail while preserving the desired characteristics.

(Computerizing More Repeatable Trail Making Test for Longitudinal Cognitive Assessment)