The Tower of London test was originally developed by Shallice (1982) to investigate problem solving in subjects with damage to the frontal lobes. A trial from a version of this test is shown in the icon above. Briefly, subjects are required to move the colored beads in the window on the left (working area) until they achieve the arrangement in the window on the right (goal position). Subjects are instructed to try to achieve the goal arrangement in as few moves as possible. Your software contains a Tower of London test. The test contains trials with 3 beads and 3 pegs, 4 beads and 4 pegs, and 5 beads and 5 pegs. You can use the Setup screen to create a test using your design. A test can contain 3, 4, and 5 bead problems with varying number of moves required for the optimal solution.
In Shallice's initial investigation using the Tower of London, patients with damage to the left anterior frontal lobe demonstrated impaired planning (i.e., greater number of moves required for solution). Patients with damage to the right anterior, and left or right posterior areas of the frontal lobes were not impaired. Thus, results from this initial study provided support for the view that the left anterior frontal lobe area is involved in the planning required for solving the Tower of London test. Recent studies using neuroimaging techniques support this notion.
Morris and colleagues investigated regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in normal subjects during performance on a computerized version of the Tower of London test (Morris, Ahmed, Syed, & Toone, 1993). Measures of rCBF were taken in pre-frontal, superior frontal, central, parietal, superior temporal, inferior parietal/occipital, and head of caudate brain regions during performance on the Tower of London task. For the number of moves, a significant negative correlation was observed for the left prefrontal area. That is, subjects making fewer errors and taking less moves to solve the task showed greater activation of the left pre-frontal lobe. Similarly, a significant positive correlation was found for planning time and activation of the left pre-frontal lobe area. That is, higher activation of the left pre-frontal area was detected in subjects that spent more time planning their solution route prior to their initial move. Andreasen et al. (1992) investigated rCBF in normal controls and schizophrenic patients while solving the Tower of London test. The Tower of London task was observed to be a relatively specific stimulant for activation of the left mesial frontal lobe. Relatedly, Morris et al. (1988) did not detect an increase in errors on the Tower of London test in medicated Parkinson's disease patients where it would be expected that the most extensively compromised cortical area would be basal ganglia structures.
While the above described studies provide support for the view that the left frontal cortex is involved in the planning required for successful performance on the Tower of London test, results from other studies indicate less structure-function specificity. Owen, Downes, Sahakian, Polkey, and Robbins (1990) used a modified version of the Tower of London test to examine planning and problem solving in a group of subjects with damage to the frontal lobes. Patients with damage to the frontal lobes required more moves to solve the problems and required more "thinking" time after their initial move. However, no significant effects were detected for laterality of lesion, size of lesion, or site of lesion within the frontal lobe. Further, Shallice (1988) reported a failure to replicate his earlier finding that impaired performance on the Tower of London task was associated with left pre-frontal damage.
Studies using rCBF imaging indicate an involvement of the left frontal lobes in the planning required for successfully completing the Tower of London puzzle. Studies of patients with damage to the frontal lobes indicate less cortical specificity, but are consistent with the view that the frontal lobes are involved in the planning required for solving this puzzle.
The CATs Tower of London Test comes with one preprogramed test along with extensive normative data for that test.
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CATs SOPT Tower of London Visual Span Card Sort Reaction Time n-Back Repeat Symptom Validity
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