Developmental Data for the Porteus Maze Test

Abstract
The Porteus Maze Test (PMT) has remained an underutilized neuropsychological procedure despite its history as a useful nonverbal measure of executive function ability and of general adaptational capacity. In order to provide contemporary performance standards for this instrument, the Vineland Revision form of the mazes was administered to 340 participants including groups of elementary and middle-school children and a university undergraduate sample, ranging in age from 7 to 21 years. There were weak associations between maze performance and IQ and SES, as well as a slight performance advantage for males. Performance increased with chronological age and educational level, and the data suggested plateaus at certain ages. The internal consistency estimate was good (Cronbach's alpha = .81). These data provide contemporary performance standards for this instrument. In addition, they suggest that the ability tapped by the PMT develops in relation to other executive function measures. The weak relationship with IQ corroborates Porteus' original observations regarding the relative independence of planning ability and verbally weighted IQ measures.