Walsh & Hoyt: Tests of Higher Visual Function

Standard vision and screening tools generally do not provide a measure of higher-order visual functions, nor are they meant to do so. Tranel and Anderson and Rizzo reviewed the assessment of high-order visual functions, including the proper selection and interpretation of tests and the categories of available tests. Basic categories of higher visual function tests included tests of (a) reading (e.g., the reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test, the Chapman-Cook Speed of Reading Test); (b) visual recognition (the recognition of famous faces, Boston Naming Test, Visual Naming Test from the Multilingual Aphasia Examination); (c) mental imagery (the Hooper Visual Organization Test); (d) visual perception (Facial Recognition Test and Judgment of Line Orientation); (e) visual attention (Cookie Theft Picture, line bisection task); (f) visuoconstruction (drawing to dictation and copy, writing to dictation copy and spontaneously, 3-D Block Construction Test); and (g) visual memory (the Benton Visual Retention Test). Some of these tests are described.