Old vs New: The Classic and D-KEFS Trails as Embedded Performance Validity Indicators and Measures of Psychomotor Speed/Executive Function

Abstract

Objective: Provide a direct comparison between old and new versions of the Trail Making Test (TMT).

Method: Eighty-five undergraduate student volunteers were administered the old and new TMT. A third of them were instructed to feign neuropsychiatric deficits. The classification accuracy of the TMTs was evaluated against experimentally induced and psychometrically defined invalid performance.

Results: The old TMT demonstrated superior psychometric properties, both as a measure of cognitive ability and performance validity.

Conclusions: Newer and more sophisticated versions of a test are not necessarily better than older, established instruments. Replications in clinical samples are needed to verify the findings.