Thermographic test method for the locally resolving detection and identification of defects near the surface in a test object, comprising the following steps: heating up a portion of the test object by means of induction or ultrasound, in such a way that a thermal disequilibrium occurs between defective regions, affected by defects, and material of the test object that is free from defects, a defect-free surrounding area of a defective region being heated up less intensely than the defective region; recording a series of thermographic images following one after the other at a time interval within a heat propagation phase, each thermographic image representing a local temperature distribution in a surface region of the test object that is recorded by the thermographic image; determining positionally correctly assigned temperature profiles from the thermographic images, a temperature profile being a locally resolving profile, wherein different locations within the temperature profile are respectively assigned values of a measured variable that represents the temperature at the respective location, and each positionally correctly assigned temperature profile being assigned to the same measuring region of the surface of the test object; determining variations over time of temperature values from the temperature profiles for a large number of measuring positions of the measuring region that are recorded by the temperature profiles; and evaluating the variations over time on the basis of at least one evaluation criterion characterizing the heat flow in the measuring region, wherein in the evaluation at least one local maximum of the temperature values within the temperature profiles is sought, a heat concentration value in the region of the local maximum of the temperature values within the temperature profiles is determined and a variation over time of the heat concentration value is evaluated for assessing the lateral heat flow, wherein the heat concentration value is a measure of the ratio of the volume of heat directly at the local temperature maximum in comparison with the nearby surrounding area, in such a way that the heat concentration value falls over time if heat flows away laterally into the surrounding area. heating up a portion of the test object by means of induction or ultrasound, in such a way that a thermal disequilibrium occurs between defective regions, affected by defects, and material of the test object that is free from defects, a defect-free surrounding area of a defective region being heated up less intensely than the defective region; recording a series of thermographic images following one after the other at a time interval within a heat propagation phase, each thermographic image representing a local temperature distribution in a surface region of the test object that is recorded by the thermographic image; determining positionally correctly assigned temperature profiles from the thermographic images, a temperature profile being a locally resolving profile, wherein different locations within the temperature profile are respectively assigned values of a measured variable that represents the temperature at the respective location, and each positionally correctly assigned temperature profile being assigned to the same measuring region of the surface of the test object; determining variations over time of temperature values from the temperature profiles for a large number of measuring positions of the measuring region that are recorded by the temperature profiles; and evaluating the variations over time on the basis of at least one evaluation criterion characterizing the heat flow in the measuring region, wherein in the evaluation at least one local maximum of the temperature values within the temperature profiles is sought, a heat concentration value in the region of the local maximum of the temperature values within the temperature profiles is determined and a variation over time of the heat concentration value is evaluated for assessing the lateral heat flow, wherein the heat concentration value is a measure of the ratio of the volume of heat directly at the local temperature maximum in comparison with the nearby surrounding area, in such a way that the heat concentration value falls over time if heat flows away laterally into the surrounding area.