The Tower of London test is a test used in applied clinical
neuropsychology
Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology focus on how injuries or illnesses of the brai ...
for the assessment of
executive functioning specifically to detect deficits in
planning
Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...
, which may occur due to a variety of medical and neuropsychiatric conditions. It is related to the classic problem-solving puzzle known as the
Tower of Hanoi.
The test was developed by the psychologist
Tim Shallice.
Test
The test consists of two boards with pegs and several beads with different colors. The examiner (usually a clinical
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
or a
neuropsychologist) presents the examinee with problem-solving tasks: one board shows the goal arrangement of beads, and the other board is given to the examinee with the beads in a different configuration. By moving beads from one peg to another, the examinee must alter the second board to match the first - a task that requires a degree of thinking ahead.
One common use of the test is for diagnosis of executive impairment. The performance of the examinee is compared to representative samples of individuals of the same age to derive hypotheses about the person's executive cognitive ability, especially as it may relate to
brain damage
Brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating trauma-induced damage.
A common ...
. A certain degree of controversy surrounds the test's
construct validity.
Variants
Several variants of the test exist. Shallice's original test used three beads and pegs with different heights, although later researchers have generalized this to more beads without a peg height restriction.
Versions of the test are available from a number of sources, including a stand-alone test by William Culbertson and Eric Zillmer (published by
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...
) and a child/adolescent version that is part of the original
NEPSY neuropsychological battery of tests by Marit Korkman, Ursula Kirk, and Sally Kemp (although removed from the second edition). A computerised variant, known as the Stockings of Cambridge test, is available as part of the
Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).
References
Further reading
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External links
Tower Of London Game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower Of London Test
Neuropsychological tests
Cognitive tests