Process Analysis of Adult Age Effects on a Computer-Administered Trail Making Test

Two studies were conducted in which healthy adults of different ages performed computer-administered tests resembling the R. M. Reitan (1992) Trail Making Test. In both studies, increased age was associated with slower performance, but there were no age differences in the efficiency of the path used to connect the targets. Analyses of independent age-related influences revealed that most of the age differences in trail-making performance were attributable to a slower speed of executing relevant operations.