The cognitive determinants of performance on the Austin Maze

This study aimed to investigate which abilities are measured by the Austin Maze. One hundred and eight university students were administered a battery of eight neuropsychological tests including, the Austin Maze, the Tower of London, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test, Block Design, the Visual Spatial Lea rning Test, Digit Span Backwards, the Brown-Peterson Task and the Wide Rang e Achievement Test of Reading. Results indicated that visuospatial ability and memory both significantly contributed to performance on the Austin Maze , but differed in the degree to which they explained the performance depend ing on which measure of maze performance was employed. It appears that visu ospatial ability is measured in early trials of the Austin Maze when indivi duals are orienting themselves to the path. In later trials individuals mus t call upon visuospatial memory to consolidate the details of the path. Exe cutive function and working memory were not found to be significantly impli cated in performance on the Austin Maze.