Measurement of Action Planning in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: A Comparison Between 3 Tasks.

Purpose: To compare age-related action planning performance on 3 different tasks, focusing on differences in task complexity. Methods: A total of 119 participants were divided across 6 age groups (4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12,14-16, and 20-22 years). Participants performed 3 action planning tasks: the overturned cup task, the bar transport task, and the sword task. Anticipatory planning was assessed via the proportion of comfortable end postures. Results: The increase in proportion of comfortable end postures developed more gradually for the overturned cup task with earlier ceiling effect (6 years) than for the other 2 tasks (10 years and no ceiling). The overturned cup task correlated fairly with the other tasks; the bar transport task and sword task correlated moderately. Conclusions: All 3 tasks can be used to measure aspects of action planning but outcomes vary. Therefore, we recommend combining these tasks in assessments of individual children to obtain a good indication of action planning development.