Tower Of Hanoi Test: What Is It And What Does It Measure?
Psychological tests to measure all types of constructs are many and very varied. Most of them use questionnaires or interviews that the person evaluated must complete or fill out following a series of guidelines; while others, of a much more practical nature, urge the person to carry out a series of practical exercises which reflect a whole range of cognitive skills and abilities.
One of these tests is the Tower of Hanoi test an activity that was originally conceived as a mathematical problem but that over time was introduced into the field of psychological evaluation to measure mental processes typical of executive functions.
There are a large number of tests designed to evaluate skills such as planning ability and executive functioning. One of them is the Tower of Hanoi Test. The test measures some aspects of executive functions since, To complete it, the person needs to foresee and solve the unknown cognitively before making any movement.
This test was created in 1883 by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas. Lucas was inspired by a Hindu temple, as well as the story of its creation, to develop the characteristics of the test, as well as the three towers that make up the test. These characteristics have remained practically intact since the moment of its creation. However, it was not until 1975 when it began to be used with the aim of understanding people’s behavior and evaluating the different skills and strategies during problem solving.
The characteristics that we talked about previously, and that have given this test a certain fame, are both the speed and ease of application, as well as the simplicity of the evaluation, the analysis of the results and their interpretation.
The person who performs the Towers of Hanoi test You must solve a transformation problem for which you will need some mental effort, which will help you reach the answer through a series of movements. To solve the enigma, the use of complex reasoning in problem solving and learning mechanisms is required.
What does the test consist of?
The end of the Towers of Hanoi Test is move the tower of discs along three rods that are in front of the person, from the initial configuration to a final configuration indicated by the evaluator. This tower is divided into blocks or discs, which the patient must move to restore the tower to its final position.
The second rod consists of a “support” tower that will allow the person to temporarily place the discs. However, one of the requirements of the test is that the person must perform the fewest number of movements possible and with the fewest errors.
In addition, the test was developed with three conditions that restrict the movements that the person can or cannot make. These restrictions are:
Any movement or attempt that involves having to skip either of these two conditions will be counted as an error and communicated to the person. In the digital variant of the test, the program directly prevents you from performing any of these movements and is also notified by an auditory signal.
Like all tests used in psychological evaluation, the Towers of Hanoi Test has a series of technical characteristics both at the level of test administration, population, material, etc.
1. Target population
The Towers of Hanoi test It can be administered to children, adolescents and adults alike adapting the difficulty levels of the test in each case.
2. Material
The material consists of three small towers composed of one stake each and three tokens of different dimensions
3. Administration
The development of the test consists of the person having to change the arrangement of the discs from the initial configuration to the final one, carrying out the fewest number of movements and with the least number of errors.
The difficulty of the test can vary and increase using from 3 to 9 different discs.
4. Score
The evaluator must record the number of movements that the person makes until the final configuration is achieved. In the same way, you must count the number of errors and the amount of time the person needs To solve the problem.
The scores are commuted and transformed into a final total score that reflects the person’s ability to solve the problem. Finally, a low number of movements and errors is interpreted as a reflection of good execution.
In what contexts is it administered?
Although not particularly well known, the Towers of Hanoi test It is a basic and practical evaluation instrument, so its administration can be useful in a large number of fields. However, the contexts in which it is most used are:
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the objective of the Towers of Hanoi test is to evaluate the person’s executive functions. Specifically, the ability to plan and solve problems.
executive functions They refer to all the complex mental tasks that the person needs to perform to plan, organize, direct, verify and evaluate the behaviors or behaviors necessary for adaptation to the environment and resolution of problems.
The mental processes typical of executive functions are:
However, in the Towers of Hanoi test aims to emphasize the evaluation of planning and problem-solving skills
