Chan Edgar, MacPherson Sarah E, Robinson Gail, Turner Martha, Lecce Francesca, Shallice Tim, Cipolotti Lisa
1National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery,London,United Kingdom.
4Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience,University College,London,United Kingdom.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2015 Feb;21(2):169-74. doi: 10.1017/S135561771500003X. Epub 2015 Feb 20.
Part B of the Trail Making Test (TMT-B) is one of the most widely used neuropsychological tests of "executive" function. A commonly held assumption is that the TMT-B can be used to detect frontal executive dysfunction. However, so far, research evidence has been limited and somewhat inconclusive. In this retrospective study, performance on the TMT-B of 55 patients with known focal frontal lesions, 27 patients with focal non-frontal lesions and 70 healthy controls was compared. Completion time and the number of errors made were examined. Patients with frontal and non-frontal lesions performed significantly worse than healthy controls for both completion time and the number of errors. However, there was no significant difference for both completion time and the number of errors when patients with frontal and non-frontal lesions were compared. Performance was also not significantly different between patients with focal lesions within different regions of the frontal lobe (orbital, left lateral, right lateral, medial). Our findings suggest that the TMT-B is a robust test for detection of brain dysfunction. However, its capacity for detecting frontal executive dysfunction appears rather limited. Clinicians should be cautious when drawing conclusions from performance on the TMT-B alone.
连线测验B部分（TMT - B）是“执行”功能最广泛使用的神经心理学测试之一。一个普遍的假设是TMT - B可用于检测额叶执行功能障碍。然而，到目前为止，研究证据有限且有些不确定。在这项回顾性研究中，比较了55例已知局灶性额叶病变患者、27例局灶性非额叶病变患者和70例健康对照者在TMT - B上的表现。检查了完成时间和错误数量。额叶和非额叶病变患者在完成时间和错误数量方面均显著差于健康对照者。然而，比较额叶和非额叶病变患者时，完成时间和错误数量均无显著差异。额叶不同区域（眶部、左侧、右侧、内侧）的局灶性病变患者之间的表现也无显著差异。我们的研究结果表明，TMT - B是检测脑功能障碍的一项可靠测试。然而，其检测额叶执行功能障碍的能力似乎相当有限。临床医生仅根据TMT - B的表现得出结论时应谨慎。
