Tower o London test

The neuropsychologist Tim Shallice designed the task in 1982 tae study plannin [1]. Ilka problem has a smawest nummer o moves, an the task records gin ye reach the goal in that nummer, hou mony extra moves ye need, an hou lang ye think afore yer first move. It looks a wee bit like the Tower o Hanoi, but the rules an problems are different.

The nummer o moves isnae the ae thing that maks a problem hard. Problems whaur the goal leaves the order o the moves open, or whaur ye first hae tae move a ba oot the gate, tak fowk langer tae plan, even wi the same nummer o moves [2][3][4].

• Three pegs haud 3, 2 an 1 ba's. Move ae ba at a time: anely a ba on tap can move, an niver ontae a fu peg.
• Ilka problem shawes the goal an the fewest moves it can be dune in. Copy the goal in that mony moves for a perfect solve.
• 16 problems, fae 2 tae 6 moves, gettin harder. Ilk ane ends efter 60 seconds or 20 moves.
• Tap a ba, then tap the peg tae pit it on, or drag it. On a keyboard, the keys 1, 2 an 3 lift an pit doon.
• A short practice problem comes first (ye can skip it). Ilka run paints the ba's in new colours, sae a second try looks new but is jist as hard.

We made oor ain set o problems. A computer search throu aa 36 positions o the ba's checked that the fewest moves for ilka problem is exact, an fae 3 moves up ilka problem has juist ae shortest solution. The goals mix the three shapes researchers vary: aa ba's on ae peg, twa an yin, an yin on ilka peg [2].

• Solved in the fewest moves: yer main score, the nummer o perfect solves.
• Extra moves: moves abuin the fewest, on the problems ye solved.
• Thinkin afore the first move: hou lang ye leuked afore touchin a ba. Researchers cry this initial plannin time.
• Hou ye solved: the share o yer time spent afore the first move on the langer problems. A bigger share means ye planned mair o the solution in yer heid first.

In ae study o 179 adults, fowk that spent a bigger share o their time plannin afore the first move tended tae solve mair problems in the fewest moves [5]. Tellin fowk tae plan first helped in ae study [6] but no in anither, whaur fowk planned langer athoot movin ony better [7]. Sae tak “hou ye solved” as a description o this run, no as a rule.

Yince eneuch fowk hae played, yer result shaws an aw whaur ye staun amang ither players o this gemme, as a band: ablo typical, typical or abuin typical. A band, no an exact rank, acause ae run o this task says anely roughly hou ye plan (see ablo). The ither players are veesitors tae this site, no a representative sample.

The Tower o London is uised in research on plannin an in clinical assessment, but this page is a gemme, no a clinical test. It disnae measure intelligence, an ae run is a snapshot: bein tired an the device ye uise change hou ye dae.

In a study o 79 young adults that did a computer Tower o London twice, twa weeks apart, their move scores on the twa days agreed but weakly (a correlation o 0.15), while they got faster at solvin [9]. Sae tak ae result as a rough guide, an leuk at several tries on different days insteid o ae nummer.