Planning times during traveling salesman's problem: differences between closed head injury and normal subjects.

We studied planning behavior in a group of normal subjects and a group of closed head injury patients (CHI). A computerized version of the traveling salesman's problem was used as a visuospatial planning ability task. The program collected measurements of partial times, number of moves, and number of skipped subgoals. These measures allow us to calculate a "planning index" of subjects' planning ability. Results show that CHI patients present limitations in the planning process due to the lack of ongoing planning.