Porteus Maze Test

The Porteus Maze test (PMT) is a psychological test, designed to measure psychological planning capacity and foresight in children, adolescents, and adults. This nonverbal test of intelligence was developed by University of Hawaii psychology Professor Stanley Porteus.[1] Maze test consists of a set of paper forms in which the subject is required to trace a path through a drawn maze of varying complexity with a limit of 15–60 minutes to perform this test. The subject must avoid blind alleys and dead ends; no back-tracking is allowed.[2] A maze procedure is also involved as a supplementary subtest of the Wechsler intelligence scales as it allows for a wide range of application.[3]

The test is suitable for people of age 3 and up. The original Porteus Maze Test was developed by Porteus as a young man when he was head teacher of the Victorian Education Department's first special school in Melbourne, Australia. Porteus developed his idea further when he migrated to Vineland, New Jersey, then Hawaii. A well known version is called the "Vineland Series", after the Vineland Training School in New Jersey where Porteus first worked when he arrived in the US from his native Australia. Additional mazes were provided in the Extension to the Porteus Maze Test, and the Supplement to the Porteus Maze Test.

Background

The original Porteus Maze Test was developed by Porteus as a young man when he was head teacher of the Victorian Education Department's first special school in Melbourne, Australia. Much of these early intelligence tests were created to have sections that call for maze solutions a factor that Porteus didn't believe was necessary and which he did not include in his later adaptation.[4] The development of this particular maze test was in response to the restrictions of the Binet-Simon scales. Mazes in general are thought to assess procedures such as selection, trying, rejection, or adoption of alternative sequences of conduct or thought. Porteus asserts that, like the Binet-Simon scale, it is a valuable supplement in evaluating subjects' foresight and planning abilities. Porteus considered that this capacity was essential for adaptation to the most practical life situations and the failure of tests to provide a measure of it resulted in flawed diagnoses and inadequate assessment of the individual[5]

Test description

In his experiment, Porteus asks that participants trace their way through a complex network of passages to which the participant must find a route that will bring them to an exit point. Participants are cautioned to not cross through solid lines with their pen. Participants are expected implicitly to scan the maze viewing the pattern and determining a successful way to maneuver through the passages to the exit point. Entering a "blind alley" is a terminal error that results in the termination of the trial. Participants are then allowed to repeat the same maze with deduction to their scoring. The particular level of difficulty of the test determines the typical number of failed attempts that will end a subject's trial. The number of trials required to complete a given maze proves a measure of the skill to be beneficial based on the feedback and what has been learned from previous errors. The number of seconds to finish each maze can be seen as an indicator of cognitive efficiency as well as a marker of random acts, since time is spent on fast but incorrect decisions.

Outcomes

Completion of the maze is marked by the subject's arrival at the ending point. The participant's score is calculated by summing errors that included bumping of lines within the maze, cutting the corners of the maze pathway, and lifting of the pen during the trial. Individuals who oversee this test are to note the time it took the subject to finish the test, as it is also a measure of criterion.[6] Results of this test are determined with qualitative scoring, or Q scores. Subjects who score high showed qualities related to intellectual dullness. High Q scores also related to differences in verbal and performance intelligence. In social contexts, individuals who received high Q scores on the Porteus Maze test are associated with truancy as well as delinquency as the test demonstrates sensitivity to the recognition of non-self-controlled activity seen in both these areas.[7] Calculations of the outcomes of this test provides a mental age score of the individual, which is calculated according to standard procedures.[8] Results of this test are determined by two scores: a test quota (TQ) assumed to measure nonverbal forethought and planning ability, and a qualitative (Q) score based upon the style and quality of test performance. The qualitative score is a measure of impulse control and has been demonstrated to differentiate between various groups differing in impulsiveness [9] It was originally thought that a person's delinquent inclinations could be predicted by the relationship of the individuals TA and IQ, but upon closer review of literature it was seen that data does not support this view. Reanalysis of preceding studies shows that the Q score was specifically developed to recognize delinquents and seems to do so quite well. When the Q scores of delinquent and normal groups are compared, the differences are reliable and highly significant.[10] Participants who are less inhibited, obstinate, and perseverative have had difficulty with each new presentation of the maze test, often they would repeat the identical incorrect route they had initially used, often saying they knew that the particular route was incorrect. As this test is strictly a nonverbal measure of performance and intellect it has been administered to groups of subjects who speak all languages, have certain handicaps, and also to individuals who had never used pencil before. In most cases their scores were very low. If the subjects are unversed with a response procedure, it is important to hold time for explaining procedures with the participant as part of the test introduction.[11]

Validity and reliability

To determine the validity of the Q scores Edward J. O' Keefe, professor at Marist college, compares performance of high impulse and low impulse groups. Through this investigation it was determined that there was no differentiation in Q scores based on ratings in institutionalized, delinquent from non- delinquent, and extreme groups; resulting in discrepancy of the initial claim that qualitative scoring measures impulsivity [12] Noted psychologists Marry Riddle and Alan H. Roberts argue that the Porteus maze test is considered a reliable and valid measure of the concepts of foresight, impulsivity, judgment, planning ability, and ability to delay gratification. Riddle and Roberts also reported that the maze test showed acceptable psychometric properties and interrupter reliability [13] The Q score also discriminated between recidivist and norecidivist delinquent grouse and is considered the score most sensitive to differences in social adjustment. Poretus himself states that the reliability of this test is .96.Recurrent studies since the initial publication of the Porteus has established the validity of the test as a sensitive tool in measuring differences, which was not clearly observed by more generally used tests. In many of the early studies of correlations with other intelligence tests ranged widely from moderate to high coefficients. As the Porteus is a nonverbal performance test it not expected to have a high correlation with purely verbal tests, but the correlation is thought to at least be moderately positive.[14]

Revisions

The original Porteus Maze test was introduced by Porteus in August 1914 during a session held by the Education Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science while holding a meeting in Melbourne, Australia.[15] The original test lacked explanation for practice effects in retesting. In the revised version each year the test is harder than the previous; the latter tests are more challenging than the earlier test. Porteus developed his idea further when he migrated to Vineland, New Jersey, then Hawaii. A well known version is called the "Vineland Series", after the Vineland Training School in New Jersey where Porteus first worked when he arrived in the US from his native Australia. Additional mazes were provided in the Extension to the Porteus Maze Test, and the Supplement to the Porteus Maze Test.

The Vineland Revision

The revised test consists of 12 mazes for subjects 3 through 12, 14, and Adult. The purpose of this revision was to standardize the test, account for sex differences in performance, correlations with the binet-simon scale, army test, estimates of social capability and industrial aptitudes.[16] An extension of the original Maze Test has been devised to reduce practice learning as a result of the re-administration of the same test. Use of the extension should improve test-retest reliability coefficients.[17] author proposes that the Maze and its extension be used to select patients for psychosurgery.[18]

The Porteus Maze Extension

This particular series was published by the Centre de Psychologie Appliquée in 1958.[19] Porteus maze extension contains eight mazes created as a measure for 7–12 years old, 14 years of age, and adults. The most useful contribution of the maze test has probably been its sensitivity to brain damage. It has also been used quite extensively with primitive peoples, particularly in detailed studies from Australian aboriginals and of African pygmies and bushmen.[20]

The Porteus Maze Supplement

This revised test has eight mazes testing individuals 7–12, 14, and Adult. More difficult than its corresponding test in the extension [21]

Relationship to Other Tests of Spatial Ability

Directing a pen through a maze printed on paper—or guiding a steerable object - through a maze - requires the ability to project onto the steered object [22] In evaluating OZNAKI [23]- an Australian educational robotics project inspired by Seymour Papert's Logo programming language - students were tested on Porteus maze inspired tests, and on Piaget Mountains Puzzle [24] Statistically significant enhancement was measured with senior primary and junior secondary students over just 8 sessions with OZNAKI in lieu of other maths lessons. compared to control groups (who had "normal" maths lessons. Cohen and Green's findings indicate that the capability measured by the tests is NOT intrinsic—should not be seen as a measure of intrinsic intelligence.

Use

Maze tests were designed particularly for behavior science but are used more recently in many areas of the sciences. This maze test is used significantly as it provides a measure of ability to groups that such intelligence test as Binet or Wechsler scale do not examine. Measuring such qualities like self-control, tact, prudence, and planning. Performance on this test is used to measure effects of chlorpromazine, a "tranquilizing", and to find whether such effect was permanent or temporary. To determine the effects of this particular drug scientist statistically compared the two groups looking for significant differences. It was concluded that chlorpromazine had no significant effect on the performance of subject during the maze test as well as clinical behavior. In a neuropharmacology study the Porteus maze along with the Tower of London test was used with long lasting survivors of severe head trauma. The results of this study concluded that individuals with frontal lobe lesions solved the Porteus maze slower than non-frontal and demographically matched individuals. There has been a reemergence of concentration on this particular test as a measure of social adjustment.[25] It was recognized that the Maze is useful as a socio-industrial index and as a measure of social inadequacy. The Maze has also demonstrated sensitivity to loss of social function and planning capacity following psychosurgery. The later applications of the test have shown the deficit regained most likely due to practice-learning.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Porteus maze test and intelligence, Stanley Porteus, Pacific Books, Palo Alto, Calif., 1950, OCLC: 1901115
  2. ↑ Neuropsychological characteristics of adolescents with conduct disorder: association with attention-deficit-hyperactivity and aggression, Michele Dery, Jean Toupin, Robert Pauze, Henri Mercier, Laurier Fortin, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, June, 1999
  3. ↑ Clinical Psychology: The Study of Personality and Behavior, Sol L. Garfield, Aldine Transaction, Piscataway, New Jersey, 2007
  4. ↑ The Maze Test and Mental Differences, Stanley D.Porteus,Vineland, New Jersey: Training School at Vineland, Smith Printing and Publishing House, 1933.
  5. ↑ McCallum, Steve R. Handbook of Nonverbal Assessment. Springer, 2003.
  6. ↑ Butcher,James N., Spielberge, John Charles D. . A Theory of Justice.Advances in Personality Assessment. Lawrence Erlbaum. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  7. ↑ Gibbens, T. C. N. The Porteus Maze Test and Delinquency. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1958, p. 1.
  8. ↑ Ayer, Susan. Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health, and Medicine. Cambridge University Press; 2 edition,2007.
  9. ↑ Mental Deficiency: The Changing Outlook, Clarke, Ann Margaret, Alan Douglas Benson Clarke, Garland Science; 4th Revised edition, 1985
  10. ↑ Riddle, Mary; Roberts, Alan H. Delinquency, delay of gratification, recidivism, and the Porteus Maze Tests. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 84(3), 1977
  11. ↑ Berry, John Widdup; Ype H. Poortinga, Janak, Pandey. Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology: Theory and Method . Pllyn & Bacon; 2 Sub edition, 1996, p. 264-268
  12. ↑ O'Keefe, Edward J. Porteus Maze Q Score as a Measure of Impulsivity Perceptual and Motor Skills: Volume 41, Issue , pp. 675-678 Harvard University Press, 1971, p. 1.
  13. ↑ Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Impulsive Children, Second Edition, Kendall, Phillip C., Braswell Lauren, The Guilford Press; Second Edition,1993
  14. ↑ Porteus, Stanley D., The Maze Test: Recent Advances, Oxford, England: Pacific Books, 1955, p. 71
  15. ↑ Porteus Maze Tests: Applications in Medical and Allied Fields, Stanley Porteus, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 1943
  16. ↑ Goldstein, Gerald; Nussbaum, Paul D. Neuropsychology. Springer; 1998 edition, 1998
  17. ↑ Goldstein, Gerald; Nussbaum, Paul D. Neuropsychology. Springer; 1998 edition, 1998
  18. ↑ Kugler,Lisa M.,"Methadone Maintenance Therapy and Its Effects on Executive Functioning. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2007
  19. ↑ "Recent Maze Test Studies", Stanley Porteus, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 1959
  20. ↑ Berg, Richard A.; Franzen, Michael D. Screening Children for Brain Impairment. Springer; 1989, p. 128
  21. ↑ Neuropsychological Assessment, Lezak, Muriel Deutsch, Oxford University Press, 1995
  22. ↑ H.A. Cohen and D.G. Green, "Evaluation of the Cognitive Goals of OZNAKI: Enhancement of Spatial Projective Abilities": http://harveycohen.net/papers/78-EvaluationOznaki-CohenGreen.pdf
  23. ↑ http://harveycohen.net/oznaki/
  24. ↑ J. Piaget and B. Inhelder, The Child's Concept of Space, London:Routledge, 1956
  25. ↑ Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Impulsive Children, Second Edition, Kendall, Phillip C., Braswell Lauren, The Guilford Press; Second Edition, 1993

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