Visual Spatial Learning Test

The Visual Spatial Learning Test (VSLT) is a visuospatial memory measure requiring little fine motor dexterity. A series of studies assessed the validity of the VSLT. The VSLT correlated moderately with other memory measures but was not correlated with verbal intelligence. Both exploratory and cross-validation factor analyses that included the VSLT identified 3 factors: (a) Visuospatial Memory loaded by VSLT measures, (b) General Intelligence/Attention, (c) Verbal Memory. Analysis of VSLT and Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) data of temporal lobectomy patients found that right and left groups differed significantly for VSLT relative to AVLT performances in a manner consistent with the side of the temporal resection. VSLT performances showed expected decrements across the age span from 55 to 92 years in a group of neurologically and psychiatrically normal elderly adults. Results support the concurrent, construct, and discriminatory validity of the VSLT but also challenge distinctions between verbal and visuospatial memory.