Processing Speed
Trail Making Test A
Capture visual scanning and sequencing speed with a remote-friendly browser version of TMT-A.
2-3 minTimed: desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Try it here first, with no account.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 3,944
- Evidence grade
- A
- Registered clinical studies
- 2,293
What it measures
Measures processing speed and visual scanning by asking participants to connect numbered circles in ascending order as quickly as possible.
Constructs
- Visual scanning
- Processing speed
- Number sequencing
- Psychomotor coordination
Research uses
- Neuropsychological screening
- Traumatic brain injury assessment
- Dementia screening (part of standard battery)
- Psychomotor speed evaluation
- Pre-surgical cognitive baseline
How the paradigm works
Trail Making Test Part A measures visual scanning and processing speed. Participants must connect 25 numbered circles in ascending order (1-2-3-...25) as quickly as possible by clicking each circle in sequence. The circles are randomly positioned on a canvas.
More about the paradigm
The task was originally developed for the Army Individual Test Battery (1944) and later incorporated into the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery. Part A primarily measures psychomotor speed and visual search efficiency with minimal cognitive demand beyond number sequencing.
Completion time is the primary outcome. Errors are tracked but in the computerized version, incorrect clicks are simply rejected (the circle doesn't connect), so errors primarily reflect misclicks rather than sequencing failures. TMT-A serves as the motor-speed baseline against which TMT-B performance is compared to isolate executive function.
Scores
- Completion Timems
- Total time from first click to connecting the final circle. Primary speed measure.
- Lower is better
- Completion Time (sec)seconds
- Same as completion time, converted to seconds with one decimal place.
- Lower is better
- Errorscount
- Number of incorrect clicks (wrong circle selected).
- Lower is better
- Total Circlescount
- Number of circles in the trail (25 for TMT-A).
- Informational
Use and evidence
3,944 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 22% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 5 of 582 test families in our census. The counts cover every version of the task, so the Trail Making Test B page shows the same figures. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 944 |
| 2024 | 803 |
| 2023 | 841 |
| 2022 | 648 |
| 2021 | 708 |
| 2020 | 720 |
| 2019 | 667 |
| 2018 | 646 |
| 2017 | 627 |
| 2016 | 576 |
| 2015 | 595 |
| 2014 | 496 |
| 2013 | 449 |
| 2012 | 421 |
| 2011 | 389 |
| 2010 | 330 |
| 2009 | 273 |
| 2008 | 274 |
| 2007 | 199 |
| 2006 | 208 |
| 2005 | 138 |
| 2004 | 98 |
| 2003 | 102 |
| 2002 | 90 |
| 2001 | 85 |
| 2000 | 92 |
Use grade A
1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade A
At least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 161
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 1,323
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 2,293
Measured on ConductCognition
Pooled across the studies that feed our platform norms, by device group. A figure needs 50 or more people.
No pooled figure yet.
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored row: trailmaking_test. A completion time has no chance level. A trail not finished within 5 minutes is flagged. On a screen shorter than 800 px the percentile is withheld, because the 700 px test area, its instruction line and the progress bar need about 790 px.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. An unfinished trail is the clinical discontinue result at 300 s, so it is flagged, not invalid. Completion time includes mouse travel; if part of the trail is below the screen edge the participant must scroll during the timed test, which adds time that is not processing speed.
Running this test
Settings you can change
This test runs with fixed settings.
Need a different version of this test?
Devices and languages
- Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Included in these batteries
Each battery runs this test with others in a fixed order, with standard settings.
- Language-Minimized Screening Battery8 tests, 30 minutes per participant
- Older Adult Executive Speed Battery4 tests, 20 minutes per participant
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Trail Making Test A in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Reitan, 1958; Army Individual Test Battery, 1944). The main score was completion time (total time from first click to connecting the final circle).
Paradigm source: Reitan (1958); Army Individual Test Battery (1944).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
Source papers
- Tombaugh TN (2004). Trail Making Test A and B: Normative data stratified by age and education. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19(2):203-214.Paradigm source
Questions
How long does the Trail Making Test A take?
About 2 to 3 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Completion Time, Completion Time (sec), Errors and Total Circles. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Trail Making Test A used in research?
3,944 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 22% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 5 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade A). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Trail Making Test A have?
In the published research, 161 papers report its test-retest reliability and 2,293 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade A in the ConductCognition test census).
Which languages can participants use?
Participants can take this test in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
Every test: the full test list.
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