Is the use of the wooden and computerized versions of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle equivalent?
The purpose of this study was to examine whether a computerized administration of the Tower of Hanoi (TH) puzzle is equivalent to the classic wooden version of this test. Two groups of healthy volunteers were administered the 2 versions of the TH in a randomized counterbalanced design. The results showed no differences between the 2 versions of the TH on any dependent variable, indicating that their use is equivalent. Men performed better than women in this test, although this finding was independent of the TH version administered. It remains to be tested whether age and computer experience affect performance differentially on the computerized and the wooden versions of the TH puzzle and whether these results are replicated in brain-damaged patients.
Mataix-Cols
David
D
Department of Psychiatry, Imperial College School of Medicine, London, England. D.Mataix@ic.ac.uk
Bartrés-Faz
David
D
D000328:Adult; D003201:Computers; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011897:Random Allocation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis