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The Porteus Maze test (PMT) is a psychological test, designed to measure psychological planning capacity and foresight in children, adolescents, and adults. This nonverbal test of intelligence was developed by University of Hawaii psychology Professor Stanley Porteus (April 24, 1883 - October 21, 1972). Maze test consists of a set of paper forms in which the subject is required to trace a path through a drawn maze of varying complexity with a limit of 15-60 minutes to perform this test. The subject must avoid blind alleys and dead ends; no back-tracking is allowed. A maze procedure is also involved as a supplementary subtest of the Weschler Intelligence scale as it allows for a wide range of application.

Background
The original Porteus Maze Test was developed by Porteus as a young man when he was head teacher of the Victorian Education Department's first special school in Melbourne, Australia as an appendage to earlier intelligence tests. Much of these early intelligence tests were created to have sections that call for maze solutions a factor that Porteus didn’t believe was necessary and which he did not include in his later adaptation.

Test description
In his experiment, Porteus asks that participants trace his or her way through a complex network of passages to which the participant must find a route that will bring them to an exit point. Participants are cautioned to not cross through solid lines with their pen. Participants are expected implicitly to scan the maze viewing the pattern and determining a successful way to maneuver through the passages to the exit point. Entering a “blind alley” is a terminal error that results in the termination of the trial. Participants are then allowed to repeat the same maze with deduction to their scoring. The particular level of difficulty of the test determines the typical number of failed attempts that will end a subject’s trial. The number of trials required to complete a given maze proves a measure of the skill to be beneficial based on the feedback and what has been learned from previous errors. The number of seconds to finish each maze can be seen as an indicator of cognitive efficiency as well as a marker of random acts, since time is spent on fast but incorrect decisions.

Outcomes
Completion of the maze is marked by the subject’s arrival to the ending point. The participants score is calculated by summing errors that included bumping of lines within the maze, cutting the corners of the maze pathway, and lifting of the pen during the trial. Individual who oversee this test are to note also the time it took the subject to finish the test, as it is also a measure of criterion. Results of this test are determined with qualitative scoring, or Q scores. Subjects who scored high showed qualities related to intellectual dullness. High Q scores also relates to differences in verbal and performance intelligence. In social context individuals who received high Q scores on the Porteus Maze test are associated with truancy as well as delinquency as the test demonstrates sensitivity to the recognition of non-self controlled activity seen in both these areas.

Validity and Reliability
To determine the validity of the Q scores Edward J. O' Keefe, professor at Marist college, compares performance of high impulse and low impulse groups. Through this investigation it was determined that there was no differentiation in Q scores based on ratings in institutionalized, delinquent from non- delinquent, and extreme groups; resulting in discrepancy of the initial claim that qualitative scoring measures impulsivity Noted psychologists Marry Riddle and Alan H. Roberts argue that the Porteus maze test is considered a reliable and valid measure of the concepts of foresight, impulsivity, judgment, planning ability, and ability to delay gratification. Riddle and Roberts also reported that the maze test showed acceptable psychometric properties and interrupter reliability The Q score also discriminated between recidivist and norecidivist delinquent grouse and is considered the score most sensitive to differences in social adjustment. Poretus himself states that the reliability of this test is .96.

Revisions
The original Porteus Maze test was introduced by Porteus in August 1914 during a session held by the Education Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science while holding a meeting in Melbourne, Australia. The original test lacked explanation for practice effects in retesting. In the revised version each year the test is harder than the previous; the latter tests are more challenging than the earlier test. A well known version is called the "Vineland Series", after the Vineland Training School in New Jersey where Porteus first worked when he arrived in the US from his native Australia. Additional mazes were provided in the Extension to the Porteus Maze Test, and the Supplement to the Porteus Maze Test.

The Vineland Revision
The revised test is comprised of 12 mazes for subjects 3 through 12, 14, and Adult.

The Porteus Maze Extension
This particular series was published by the Centre de Psycholgie Appliquée in 1958. Porteus maze extension contains eight mazes created as a measure for 7-12 years old, 14 years of age, and Adults.

The Porteus Maze Supplement
This revised test has eight mazes testing individuals 7 -12, 14, and Adult. More difficult than it's corresponding test in the extension

Use
Maze tests were designed particularly for behavior science but are used more recently in many areas of the sciences. This maze test is used significantly as it provides a measure of ability to groups that such intelligence test as Binet or Weschelser scale do not examine. Measuring such qualities like self-control, tact, prudence, and planning. Performance on this test is used to measure effects of chlorpromazine, a "tranquilizing", and to find whether such effect was permanent or temporary. To determine the effects of this particular drug scientist statistically compared the two groups looking for significant differences. It was concluded that chlorpromazine had no significant effect on the performance of subject during the maze test as well as clinical behavior. In a neuropharmacology study the Porteus maze along with the Tower of London test was used with long lasting survivors of severe head trauma. The results of this study concluded that individuals with frontal lobe lesions solved the Porteus maze slower than non-frontal and demographically matched individuals. There has been a reemergence in concentration in this a particular test as a measure of social adjustment.