See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/6961771

Developmental Normative Data for the Corsi Block-Tapping Task

Article in Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · September 2006

DOI: 10.1080/13803390500350977 · Source: PubMed

CITATIONS READS

180 3,945

5 authors, including:

Kathleen Farrell Pagulayan Robyn Busch

University of Washington Seattle Cleveland Clinic
55 PUBLICATIONS 1,790 CITATIONS 151 PUBLICATIONS 3,450 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Krista L Medina Robert Krikorian

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee University of Cincinnati
2 PUBLICATIONS 213 CITATIONS 89 PUBLICATIONS 4,462 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Robert Krikorian on 05 August 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

The Clinical Neuropsychologist t385-4046t| | | -l $ I 2.00
1998,Vol. 12,No. I, pp. 1-1 @Swets&Tnitlinser

DevelopmentalData for the PorteusMaze Test*

Robert Krikorianl and John A. Bartok2
rDepartment
orPsvchiatrv, orcifilJfft,i"#:ffi:Yr::fferrcincinnati, oH,and2Department
universitv or

ABSTRACT

The Porteus Maze Test (PMT) has remained an underutilized neuropsychological procedure despite its
history as a useful nonverbal measure of executive function ability and of general adaptational capacity.
In order to provide contemporary performance standardsfor this instrument, the Vineland Revision form
of the mazeswas administeredto 340 participantsincluding groups of elementaryand middle-chool chil-
dren and a university undergraduatesample,ranging in age from 7 to 2l years.There were weak associa-
tions between maze performance and IQ and SES, as well as a slight performance advantage for males.
Performance increased with chronological age and educational level, and the data suggestedperformance
plateausat certain ages.The internal consistencyestimatewas good (Cronbach'salpha = .81). These data
provide contemporaryperformancestandardsfor this instrument.In addition, they suggestthat the ability
tappedby the PMT developsin relation to other executivefunction measures.The weak relationshipwith
IQ corroboratesPorteus' original observationsregardingthe relative independenceof planning ability and
verbally weighted IQ measures.

The Porteus Maze Test (PMT) was developed
early in this century as a technique for measur-
ing planning ability. Stanley Porteus believed
that planning (or prehersal)was fundamentalto
intelligent behaviorand initially devisedthe pro-
cedure as a culture-free means of screeningfor
mental deficiency (Porteus,1965). Severalearly
studies were carried out with children utilizing
the mazesand other formal measuresof intelli-
genceand functional ability. On the basisofthis
work, Porteusdistinguishedlevel ofverbal abil-
ity and acquiredsemanticknowledge from non-
verbal ability and practical knowledge.He noted
that among mentally defective and otherwise
impaired subjects, those with relatively more
satisfactory life adjustment tended to perform
betteron the mazessuggestingthatmaze perfor-
mance may be related to adaptational ability
(Porteus).In addition, he observedthat whereas
poor performers on standard intelligence mea-
sures may do well on the mazes and perform
relatively well in life, other subjects who per-
formed adequatelyon intelligence measuresbut
poorly on the mazes were functionally inept.
Such an analysis entails recognition of the po-
tential independenceof specific functional ca-
pacities. Further, although it does not explicitly
addressthe issueof dissociationof material-spe-
cific deficits in clinical samples,it does imply a
dissociation of semanticand linguistic abilities
from nonverbal problem-solving ability. Over-
all, Porteusfelt that maze performancereflected
a generalized capacity that was inherent in the
cognitive processingrequisiteto a large number
of important tasks.
Mental anticipation and planning have since
been identified as executive function abilities
mediated by frontal lobe structures (Fuster,
1989; Luria, 1980; Shallice, 1988). Studiesof
the effects of psychosurgeryprovided opportu-
nities to evaluatethe usefulnessof the PMT as a
neuropsychologicalmeasureand generally indi-

Addresscorrespondenceto: Robert Krikorian, Departmentof Psychiatry,University of Cincinnati College of

Medicine, 231 BethesdaAvenue, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0559,USA. E-mail: robert.krikorian@uc.edu.
Accepted for publication: February 11, 1998.
 R. KRIKORIANAND J.A.BARTOK
cated its sensitivity to frontal lobe resectionand
disconnection.In addition,thoseinvestigations
showed the maze test to be one of the few early
procedures demonstrating deficits consistent
with clinical and functional changes,whereas
standardintelligence testsand clinical observa-
tion did not (Riddle & Roberts, 1978). This,
again, reflected the independenceof the cogni-
tive ability measuredby the maze test relative to
those abilities contributing to performance on
standardintelligence tests.Indeed, there is now
a venerablehistory of demonstrationsof the fact
that, in discretelyimpaired individuals,cogni-
tive dysfunction may not be detectedwith intel-
ligence testing (Damasio, 1994; Eslinger &
D a m a s i o ,1 9 8 5 ;S h a l l i c e& B u r g e s s 1, 9 9 1 ) .
The maze test requires the subject or patient
to solve a series of mazes of increasing diffi-
culty by drawing a continuouspencil line from a
given startpoint to a goal point. Porteus(1965)
prescribed strict rules for administration and
scoring of the mazes.There are currently three
forms of the PMT: the Vineland Revision form,
the more difficult Extension series,and the most
difficult Supplementalseries.The three seriesof
mazes are progressively more difficult in order
to compensatefor practiceeffectsthat havebeen
observed on repeated administrations. Both
quantitative and qualitative scoring can be de-
rived.
The usefulnessof the PMT as a measureof
brain dysfunction is relatively well established.
The instrument is interesting, as well, from the
point of view of cognitiveprocessingbecauseit
is an untimed,configuralproblem-solvingtask.
As such, it makes little demand on verbal abili-
ties, sustainedattention,and secondarymemory.
Accordingly, it is useful as a material-specific
test of executivefunction ability.
Developmental data were reported for the
PMT in relation to mental age or IQ (Porteus,
1965).The quantitativetestagescoreoriginally
was proposedas an index related to chronologi-
cal age and was used to compute an intellectual
quotient score. A large number of developmen-
tal studies were carried out in the first half of
this century. However, no developmental or
standardizationdata have been reported since.
The purposeof this report is to provide contem-
porary performancedata for children and young
adults. Such data would be useful in a variety of
clinical and experimental contexts and, poten-
tially, would bear on concepts of differential
developmentof discreteexecutivefunction abil-
ities.
METHOD
Participants
Groupsofschoolchildrenfrom gradesonethrough
eight were recruited from the West Clermont
SchoolDistrict, locatedin a suburbof Cincinnati.
Youngadultswererecruitedfrom the undergradu-
atepopulationat the Universityof Cincinnati.Po-
tentialsubjectswith gross,debilitatingcognitiveor
mental disorder such as mental retardation and
psychosiswere excluded.Otherwise,subject en-
rollmentwasnot limited.Threehundred-fortypar-
ticipantsincluding246childrenand94 adultswere
evaluated.
Procedure
Informedconsentwasobtainedfor all participants
prior to their participation.Parentsprovided con-
sent for participationof their children and also
suppliededucationalandoccupationalinformation
about themselvesso that socioeconomicstatus
(SES) could be calculated.Data regardingSES
were not obtainedfrom the young adult partici-
pants.
The participantswereevaluatedindividually in
officesat theelementaryandmiddle schoolsandat
the University.Eachparticipantwas administered
the VinelandRevisionform of the PMT according
to the standardprocedureas specifiedby Porteus
(1965). All children startedat level V, and maze
VII was the startingpoint for the adults.
The PeabodyPictureVocabularyTest- Revised
(PPVTR;Dunn & Dunn, 1981)also was given to
generatean estimateof the participant'slevel of
overall intellectualability. This multiple choice,
receptivevocabularymeasureyields a standard
score equivalentwith mean of 100 and standard
deviationof 15 and is highly correlatedwith both
verbalandfull scaleIQ (Dunn & Dunn, 1981).
 PORTEUSMAZE TEST

RESULTS A two-way ANOVA examining gender and

Demographic data for each of the grade levels
are shown in Table l. The mean agesof the ele-
mentaryandmiddle-schoolchildren increasedin
essentiallyone-yearintervals.There was no sta-
tistical difference betweenthe agesof the males
and females within any gradeexcept grade4. In
that grade, the overall age of the boys (M =
10.22, SD = .33) was slightly greater than the
age of the girls (M = 9.90, SD = .38), t(22) =
2 . 0 9 ,p = . 0 4 8 .
SES values for the children were calculated
on the basis of educationaland occupationalin-
formation provided by parentsand expressedon
the 5-point Hollingshead scaleofsocial position
(Hollingshead& Redlich, 1958). SES was de-
rived from a formula that unequally weights the
educationallevel and occupationofparents.The
overall M (SD) SES score for all grade levels
combined was 3.2 (.64) indicating middle-class
statusfor the school children. Mean SES values
varied little acrossthe groups, and this was con-
firmed by a one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA), F (7, 231) = 1.28, P = .26. Despite
the small variance in SES scores, there was a
small, inverse relationship between SES and
PMT performance.The age-adjustedassociation
of SES and PMT was semipartial r = -.15,
t(236) = -2.68, p = .008, and the I value was
.02.
grade effects was performed on the PPVTR
standardscores.The main effects for both gen-
der,F (1, 322) = 8.14,p - .005,and grade,F (8,
322) = 3.11, p = .002, were significant. The
overall mean PPVTR scoresfor both the males
(M = 109.7,SD = 12.3; and females (M = 105.6,
SD = 12.2) were within the averagerange, and
the size of the effect was small (.32). With re-
spect to the effect for grade, post hoc Tukey
comparisons indicated a significant difference
between grades6 and 13+ only (p = .006). The
age-adjustedcorrelation of the PMT with the
PPVTR standardscoreswas statistically signifi-
cant,semipartialr = .17,t(331) = 3.23,p = .001.
However, the semipartialI value was .02, indi-
cating that virtually noneof the variancein PMT
performance was attributable to receptive vo-
cabulary.There was no genderby gradeinterac-
tion effect for the PPVTR scores.
In general, mean scores for the PMT in-
creasedwith age (seeTable l). In order to iden-
tify possiblegenderand ageeffects,a two-factor
ANOVA was carried out. This analysis pro-
duced significant effects for both gender, F (1,
322) = 5.07, p - .025, and grade, F (8, 322) =
26.55,p < .0001),but there was no interaction
effect of gender by grade. Overall, males (M =
14.7, SD = 2.4) performed slightly better than
females (M = 14.3,SD = 2.6), but the effect size
w a so n l y . l 6 .

Table 1. Demographic Information and Cognitive Performance by Grade.

Grade n Age (years) SES PPVTR PMT PMT/

PMT.ax
M (sD) M (sD) M (sD) M (sD)
1 26 7.0 (.37) 3.1 (.s2) 10s.4 (e.l) 10.6 (2.7) .62
z 27 8.1 (.30) 3.3 (.62) 106.9 (14.1) l1.8 (3.4) .69
J 24 9.0 (.26) 3.0 (.72) 108.6 (10.8) r3.8 (2.4) .81
+ 24 10.0 (.39) 3.2 (.81) 107.0 (13.s) r4.0 (2.0) .82
26 11.0 (.36) 3.4 (.64) 112.0 (14.3) r4.7 (2.0) .82
6 A1 1a a (.33) 3.2 (.65) 112.1 (12.0) 14.6 (2.1) .86
7 32 12.9 (.35) 3.4 (.s0) 106.4 (12.s) 14.9 (2.0) .88
8 40 13.9 (.s0) 3.2 (.70) 106.1 (r3.0) rs.4 (1.8) .91
l3+ 94 21.'l (4.s) 102.5 ( 1 1 . e ) 16.0 (1.0) .94

Nate. SES = socioeconomicstatus;PPVTR = PeabodyPicture VocabularyTest - Revisedstandardscore; PMT

= PorteusMaze Test score; PMT.ux = PorteusMaze Test maximum possible score which is 17; no SES data
availablefor grade l3+.
 R. KRIKORIAN AND J.A. BARTOK
Figure I illustratesperformanceson the PMT
acrossthe gradesand depicts generally increas-
ing performance efficiency with advancing
grade (age). With regard to the expected differ-
encesbetween the grades,post hoc Tukey com-
parisonsshowedthat the performancesin grades
I and2 were significantly lower than those at all
higher grades,p < .05. In addition, the young
adults achieved a significantly higher mean
scorethan did the fourth gradersand those in all
Iower grades,p < .05. Maze performancefor the
young adult group was significantly different
from that ofthe sixth graders,p < .05, although
not different from that of the fifth and seventn
graders, despite very comparable mean scores
for those groups. The number of participants in
the sixth grade was much larger than in most of
the other groups,and this presumablyaccounted
for the fact that there was no difference for the
other groups performing at about the samelevel.
There was no significant difference in PMT per-
formance between any of the grades from 3
through 8.
Pre-planned polynomial contrasts demon-
stratedsignificant linear, F (l , 322) = 179.3, p <
17
16
15
I
o
814
F
o-13
c(E
c)
11
10
Grade
Fig. l. PorteusMaze Test performanceby grade.PMT = PorteusMaze Test.
.0001,quadraric,F (1, 322) = 18.0,p < .0001,
and cubic, F (1,322) = 6.6'1,p = .01, effects.
These effects, the results of the post hoc com-
parisons between grades, and examination of
Figure I suggestthat there may be performance
plateausat gradesI and2, at grades4 through 8,
and at grade 13+ (the young adults).
Twenty-sevenpercent of the participants in
the adult group achievedthe maximum score on
the PMT, reflectingthe relatively low ceiling for
the Extensionseriesof mazes.Table I showsthe
mean proportion of the maximum scorefor each
gradelevel. Thesedatafacilitate comparisonsof
performance among the groups and provide ad-
ditional information regarding the developmen-
tal progressionof performance.
Finally, Cronbach's alpha was computed to
assessthe internal consistencyofthe instrument.
Becauseperformances at the lowest levels of
difficulty (mazeyear levels V and VI) were uni-
formly correct and invariate for all the school
children, scores for these two levels were not
included in this analysis.The Cronbach's alpha
value was .81, indicating moderately high inter-
nal consistencyfor the instrument. Considering
5
 PORTEUSMAZE TEST
that the distribution of scoresin the adult group
was restrictedbecauseof the proportion of adult
participants with maximum scores,the estimate
of coefficient alpha in this sample may well be
attentuated.
DISCUSSION
Thesedataprovide initial, contemporaryperfor-
mance standardsfor the PMT for children, ado-
lescents, and young adults. This information
should enhancethe usefulnessof the instrument
in clinical and experimental contexts and may
contribute to an increase in the application of
this unique measureof executivefunction abil-
ity. Although the PMT is not widely usedat this
time, it had remarkableutility early in this cen-
tury as a means of classifying and predicting
functional outcomeof impaired children. Subse-
quently, it proved to be one of the initial tests
capableofdetecting the effectsoffrontal leukot-
omy.
The general effect of enhancedperformance
with increasing age is consistentwith develop-
mental data on a number of cognitive tasks,par-
ticularly those involving attentionaland execu-
tive function abilities (Chelune & Baer, 1986;
Isaacs & Vargha-Khadem, 1989; Krikorian,
Bartok, & Gay, 1994; Wechsler, l99l; Welsh,
Pennington, & Groisser, 1991). With regard to
measuresof executive function abilities, there
would appearto be different performance curves
that, presumably, reflect the differential task
demandsacrossinstruments and related differ-
encesin cognitive development.Whereasadult
level performance on the Wisconsin Card Sort-
ing Test is achievedby children by about age l0
(Chelune & Baer; Welsh, et al.), adult level per-
formance on the Tower of London (TOL) task
was demonstrated for children aged 12 to 14
years (Krikorian, et aL.). The data obtained in
the current sample suggesta maturational ceil-
ing for performance on the PMT similar to that
for the TOL task. It can be assumedthat with
greater numbers of participants, PMT perfor-
mance of all the groups at and below grade 6
would have differed from that of the young
adults. In addition, the performancesof adoles-
cents aged 13 and above would be statistically
equivalent to adult performance.Becauseboth
the TOL and the PMT are thought to elicit non-
verbal planning processes,this finding would be
consistentwith that cognitive component of the
two tasks. Apparently, the reasoning and sus-
tained attention requirementsof the Wisconsin
Card Sorting Test can be accomplishedby chil-
dren at a younger age.
The slim performance difference between
males and females corroboratesearlier studies
with the mazes.A small gender effect was ob-
servedin 99 of 105 studiesconductedby Porteus
and colleagues over a period of several years
(Porteus,1965).The genderdifference observed
in this sample was on the same order of magni-
tude as that observedin the earlier studies with
the mazes.This gendereffect likely reflects the
configural nature of the mazes. Many lines of
evidence indicate that males perform better than
females on certain spatial tasks (Harris, 1978).
Although this effect has been observedconsis-
tently and although it presumably reflects a sex
difference in nonverbal or configural process-
ing, the small magnitude of the effect suggests
that other, important cognitive components of
the task are not differentially performed by
males and females.
There was a very weak, age-adjustedrelation-
ship of the PMT with IQ estimate.However, the
associationwas so small that IQ did not contrib-
ute appreciably to PMT performance in this
sample.This would appearto corroborateobser-
vations made by Porteusthat the maze task, al-
though apparently assessinga capacity that is
crucial for adaptive functioning in general, is
not necessarilyrelatedto measuredintelligence,
in particular verbal intelligence.However, those
observationswere made largely on the basis of
studies of impaired children and reflected no-
tions about relative degreeof impairment and of
adaptational outcome. It is noteworthy that a
similar finding has been demonstrated in this
nonclinical sample.Other data show that execu-
tive function ability is related to intelligence in
nonclinical samplesfor thoseat the lower end of
the IQ distribution (Duncan, 1996). It may be
 R. KRIKORIANAND J.A,BARTOK
that the relationship of intelligence to executive
problem-solving ability is contingent on the
level of executivefunction ability or impairment
and,in addition, on the level of measuredintelli-
gence. In this regard, it would seemreasonable
to expect that executive ability would vary at the
extremesof the IQ distribution. One might pre-
dict significant executivefunction impairment in
thosewith very low IQ and, conversely,intact or
exceptionalability for thosewith very high mea-
sured intelligence.
This issue certainly is amenableto investiga-
tion and is a particular manifestationof the more
general problem of investigating relationships
among different domains of cognitive capacity.
Theserelationshipsmay vary acrossclinical and
nonclinical samples,such as children and adults
with developmentaland acquiredcerebraldisor-
ders and unimpaired individuals. In particular
with respect to the PMT, contemporary data
from other samplesrepresentingdifferent clini-
cal statesand demographicsconditionswould be
most useful. In addition, greater heterogeneity
within the samples might produce significant
associationswith demographicfactorsthat were
not observedin this sample with relatively uni-
form IQ and SES.
The coefficient alpha value (.81) indicated
good internal consistencyand suggeststhat the
maze test is a relatively uniform measure. As
noted, the value observed here may be an under-
estimate of the internal stability becauseof the
percentage of adult participants with the same
(maximum) score. Contemporarly test-retest
reliability data also are needed.This is a more
complicated issue with a task such as the PMT
where learning will affect performance at retest
after a short interval. Indeed,this had beendem-
onstratedin the past with the mazesand this ef-
fect of prior exposurenecessitatedthe creation
of additional forms of the test that were more
difficult. In principle, performance on each of
the successively more difficult forms of the
PMT should be equivalentwhen administeredin
sequence.This effect should be examinedagain
with contemporarysamples.
View publication stats
REFERENCES
Chelune, G., & Baer, R. (1986). Developmental
norms for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Jour-
nal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychol-
osy,8,219-228.
Damasio,A. (1994). Descartes' error: Emotion, rea-
son, and the human brain. New York: C.G.
Putman.
Duncan, J. (1995). Attention, intelligence, and the
frontal lobes. InM.Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive
neurosciences (pp. 721-733). Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Dunn, L., & Dunn, L. (1981). Peabody Picture Vo-
cabulary Test- Revisedmanucl. Circle Pines, MN:
American GuidanceService.
Eslinger. P., & Damasio, A. (1985). Severe distur-
bance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal
lobe ablation: Patient EVR. Neurology, 35,l73l-
1741.
Fuster, J. (1989). The prefrontal cortex: Anatomy,
physiology, and neuropsychology of the frontal
lobe (2nd,ed.). New York: Raven Press.
Harris, L. (1978). Sex differences in spatial ability:
Possibleenvironmental,genetic, and neurological
factors. In M. Kinsbourne (Ed.), Asymmetrical
function of the brain (pp. a05-522). Cambridge,
UK: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Hollingshead,A., & Redlich, F. (1958). Social class
andmental i//ness. New York: Wiley.
Isaacs,E., & Vargha-Khadem,F. (1989). Differential
course ofdevelopment of spatial and verbal mem-
ory span: A normative study. Britrift Journal of
D evelopmental Psycholo gy, 7, 377 -380.
Krikorian, R., Bartok, J., & Gay, N. (1994). Tower of
London procedure: A standard method and devel-
opmental data.Journal ofClinical and Experimen-
tal N europsycholo gy, 16, 840-850.
Luria, A. (1980). Higher cortical functions in man.
(2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.
Porteus, S. (1965). Porteus maze test: Fifty years'
application. Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Books.
Riddle, M., & Roberts,A. (1978). Psychosurgeryand
the Porteus Maze Tests: Review and reanalysis of
data.A rchiv es of General P sychi at ry, 3 5, 493- 497 .
Shallice, T. (1988). From neuropsychology to mental
structure. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
Shallice,T., & Burgess,P. (1991). Deficits in strategy
application following frontal lobe damage in man.
Brain,114,727-741.
Wechsler,D. (1991). WechslerIntelligence Scalefor
Children. (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: The Psycho-
logical Corporation.
Welsh,M., Pennington,8.,& Groisser,D. (1991).A
normative-developmental study of executive func-
tion: A window on prefrontal function in children.
Developmental Neuropsychology, 7, 131 -149.