PEBL Hub — IRB Fact Sheet — 2026-08-23

Traveling Salesman Problem Task

Visuospatial Planning Problem Solving

Category:Visuospatial

Duration:~10 minutes

Ages:12+

Populations:adults, research, clinical

Parameters:10 configurable parameters including trial selection method (file-based vs. random), number of trials per size, target size, input mode (click/touch), visual feedback options (flash, beep), backup/undo capability, random start position, and introductory example

Version:1.0

Description

A visual-spatial planning task where participants find the shortest path through a set of points, returning to the starting point, to assess route optimization and spatial reasoning.

Participants view a set of points on the screen and must click through each point exactly once, finding the shortest possible route and returning to the starting grey circle. The task begins with a practice phase (6-point problems) followed by test trials with varying difficulty (10, 20, or 30 points). After completing each route, participants receive feedback showing their path efficiency compared to the optimal solution. Performance is measured by both path efficiency and solution time.

Measures: Spatial planning and reasoning, route optimization ability, visual-spatial problem solving, heuristic decision-making, and the balance between speed and solution quality in complex spatial tasks.

Notes

Migrated to PEBL 2.3 with HTML-lite markup on February 1, 2026
Supports 10 language translations: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Greek, Turkish
Default uses subset.csv with pre-selected 15 problems for ~10 minute session
Includes reliability and normative data (Mueller et al., in submission)
Tour files can be generated from Concorde TSP solver output using tours/processTSPFile.R
Additional tour problems available in tours/tours2.zip and tours/TSP.zip
Supports both click and touch input modes with optional visual/audio feedback
Backup feature allows participants to undo mistakes (can be disabled)
Provides immediate efficiency feedback with optimal path visualization

Scoring & Interpretation

Validation	in-progress
Psychometric data	Available
Normative data	Available

References

Mueller, S. T., Perelman, B. S., Tan, Y. Y., & Thanasuan, K. (2015). Development of the PEBL Traveling Salesman Problem Computerized Testbed. The Journal of Problem Solving, 8(1), 4.

MacGregor, J. N., & Ormerod, T. (1996). Human performance on the traveling salesman problem. Perception & Psychophysics, 58(4), 527-539.

Vickers, D., Bovet, P., Lee, M. D., & Hughes, P. (2003). The perception of minimal structures: Performance on open and closed versions of visually presented Euclidean travelling salesperson problems. Perception, 32(7), 871-886.