Revision of the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test: Studies of normal performance, reliability, and validity.

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for alternate-form neuropsychological tests that can be used in clinical trials with little risk of direct practice effect. Although the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT) includes six equivalent alternate forms, its administration is limited to an immediate and 25-min delayed free-recall trial. We now present a revised version of the BVMT called the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) that includes three learning trials, a 25-min delayed recall trial, and a delayed yes/no recognition task. A new scoring system, which accounts for the location of test stimuli as well as the accuracy of recall, is also introduced. Using these new administration and scoring procedures, we administered the BVMT-R to 261 neuropsychiatric patients and 456 normal healthy adults. The results indicated that the test has excellent interform reliability, and the construct and criterion-related validity of the test were supported in studies using clinical samples. Although the BVMT-R is not without its limitations, the test's brevity and alternate-form capacity make it a valuable instrument for serial neuropsychological assessments.We recently presented a newly developed, multiple-form test of Visuospatial memory called the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT;. Modeled after the Visual Reproduction subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scales (Russell, 1975;1988;Wechsler 1945Wechsler , 1987, the test was created to provide a quick means of assessing visual memory, using multiple test forms. In its original version, the BVMT required patients to reproduce as many figures as possible from an array of six figures, which was presented for 10 s. A delayed recall trial was administered 25 min after the immediate recall trial. Our results demonstrated that the six BVMT forms are equivalent in difficulty and that the recall scores discriminate brain-injured patients from normal controls.

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“…Visuospatial memory was assessed using the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) (Benedict et al, 1996), a figural learning task. For this task, subjects view a stimulus page with six geometric figures on it.…”

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“…These data were collected by two psychometrists trained by a board-certified neuropsychologist and certified by the NNAB Neuropsychology Quality Assurance Committee. (Brandt, 1991), Brief Visuospatial Memory TestRevised (Benedict, Schretlen, Groninger, Dobraski, & Shpritz, 1996), Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-Trial 1 (Gronwall, 1977), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64 Card Version (Kongs, Thompson, Iverson, & Heaton, 2000), Grooved Pegboard (Klove, 1963), Controlled Oral Word Association Test (Benton & Hamsher, 1989), and three subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 3rd Edition (Wechsler, 1997)-Digit Symbol Test, Symbol Search, and Letter Number Sequencing. Raw scores were transformed into T-scores using normative data contained with the test manuals for the Wechsler subtests, Hopkins Verbal Learning TestRevised, and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised.…”

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“…A brief cognitive assessment was made at baseline and treatment end using the following tests (alterative versions used for repeat testing): the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (Arnold et al, 1995), Controlled Oral Word Association Test (Benton, 1996), Digit Span (forwards and backwards) (Wechsler, 1997), and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (Benedict et al, 1996). Ratings were conducted by clinical-trained raters who were required to maintain adequate inter-rater reliability (r 2 40.9).…”