[2] The test was created by Ralph Reitan, an American neuropsychologist considered one of the fathers of clinical neuropsychology.

[3] In the 1950s[4][5] researchers began using the test to assess cognitive dysfunction stemming from brain damage, and it has since been incorporated into the Halstead–Reitan battery.

[3] The Trail Making Test is now commonly used as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings.

The task requires the subject to connect 25 consecutive targets on a sheet of paper or a computer screen, in a manner to like that employed in connect-the-dots exercises.

[3] The second part of the test, in which the subject alternates between numbers and letters, is used to examine executive functioning.