Visual Form Discrimination Test Research Articles

The Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test as a Predictor of Neurocognitive Disorder in Older Veterans.

The Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT) is a commonly used measure of visual discrimination and visual recognition memory and has shown promise in distinguishing between different levels of cognitive impairment. We assess the predictive diagnostic utility of the VFDT in a sample of older Veterans with cognitive concerns. Subjects included a total of 172 mostly male Veterans over the age of 64 (mean = 76.0; SD = 7.6) recruited from a VA clinic specializing in neuropsychological assessment of older Veterans. The clinical sample included 56 subjects diagnosed with Major Neurocognitive Disorder, 74 diagnosed with Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, and 42 with No Neurocognitive Impairment. Impairment categories were modeled in separate multinomial logistic regressions with two versions of the VFDT as predictors: the Visual Form Discrimination Test-Recognition Subtest (VFDT-Rec) test (visual recognition memory) and the Visual Form Discrimination Test-Matching Subtest VFDT-Mat test (visual form discrimination). Years of education were included as a covariate. After adjusting for education, higher VFDT-Rec total scores were associated with lower odds of being categorized with a greater degree of cognitive/functional impairment (OR 0.66-0.83, p < .001). VFDT-Mat scores showed a similar pattern, but only reached statistical significance for the Major versus No Neurocognitive Impairment (OR = 0.77, p = .0010) and Major versus Mild comparisons (OR = 0.89, p = .0233). The VFDT may enhance the confidence of differential diagnosis of dementia in older adult Veterans. Formal education-adjusted norms need to be established for clinical use.

Cortical gray matter progression in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder and its relation to cognitive decline

BackgroundIdiopathic Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (IRBD) is recognized as the prodromal stage of the alpha-Synucleinopathies. Although some studies have addressed the characterization of brain structure in IRBD, little is known about its progression. ObjectiveThe present work aims at further characterizing gray matter progression throughout IRBD relative to normal aging and investigating how these changes are associated with cognitive decline. MethodsFourteen patients with polysomnography-confirmed IRBD and 18 age-matched healthy controls (HC) underwent neuropsychological, olfactory, motor, and T1-weighted MRI evaluation at baseline and follow-up. We compared the evolution of cortical thickness (CTh), subcortical volumes, smell, motor and cognitive performance in IRBD and HC after a mean of 1.6 years. FreeSurfer was used for CTh and volumetry preprocessing and analyses. The symmetrized percent of change (SPC) of the CTh was correlated with the SPC of motor and neuropsychological performance. ResultsIRBD and HC differed significantly in the cortical thinning progression in regions encompassing bilateral superior parietal and precuneus, the right cuneus, the left occipital pole and lateral orbitofrontal gyri (FWE corrected, p < 0.05). The Visual form discrimination test showed worse progression in the IRBD relative to HC, that was associated with gray matter loss in the right superior parietal and the left precuneus. Increasing motor signs in IRBD were related to cortical thinning mainly involving frontal regions, and late-onset IRBD was associated with cortical thinning involving posterior areas (FWE corrected, p < 0.05). Despite finding olfactory identification deficits in IRBD, results did not show decline over the disease course. ConclusionProgression in IRBD patients is characterized by parieto-occipital and orbitofrontal thinning and visuospatial loss. The cognitive decline in IRBD is associated with degeneration in parietal regions.

Benton visual form discrimination test in healthy children: normative data and qualitative analysis.

The attention evaluation may be considered a crucial phase in neuropsychological assessment. It must take into account the systemic nature of the attentional functions and must use different reliable tests in relation to the neurological and attentional problems to be addressed. The aim of the study was to offer the clinician an effective tool for attention assessment and provide the normative data and performance analysis on the Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test on an Italian sample (number 323) of healthy school children, from ages 5 to 11. Performance on Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT) significantly increased with growing age. Performances were significantly different when the test was divided into four sets. All groups, especially the younger ones, showed some difficulty in maintenance and sustained attention. The correct answers were significantly more numerous when they were placed at the top quadrants. This effect was more marked in the younger groups. Sex was never a significantly influencing performance. Our data seem to indicate that the higher attentional frontoparietal network becomes more functionally organized around 9-10years. VFDT appears as a discriminative task. In clinical practice, our normative data can be used both on complex visual attention skill evaluation in children and on the ability to maintain visual attention in time.

Structural Brain Correlations of Visuospatial and Visuoperceptual Tests in Parkinson's Disease.

Diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is relevant because it is a marker for evolution to dementia. However, the selection of suitable tests to evaluate separate cognitive domains in mild cognitive impairment related to PD remains an open question. The current work aims to investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of several visuospatial/visuoperceptual tests using the same sample and a multimodal MRI approach. The study included 36 PD patients and 20 healthy subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The visuospatial/visuoperceptual tests selected were: Pentagon Copying Test (PCT), Judgment of Line Orientation Test (JLOT), Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT), Facial Recognition Test (FRT), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SMDT), and clock copying task (CLOX2). FreeSurfer was used to assess cortical thickness, and tract-based spatial statistics was used for fractional anisotropy analysis. Lower performance in the PCT, JLOT, and SDMT was associated with extensive cortical thickness reductions in lateral parietal and temporal regions. VFDT and CLOX2 did not show this common pattern and correlated with more limited medial occipito-temporal and occipito-parietal regions. Performance in all visuospatial/visuoperceptual tests correlated with fractional anisotropy in the corpus callosum. Our findings show that JLOT, SDMT, and PCT, in addition to differentiating patients from controls, are suitable visuospatial/visuoperceptual tests to reflect cortical thinning in lateral temporo-parietal regions in PD patients. We did not observe the dissociation between dorsal and ventral streams that was expected according to the neuropsychological classification of visuospatial and visuoperceptual tests. (JINS, 2018, 24, 33-44).

C-56Analysis of Pattern Performance on Items of the Visual Form Discrimination Test and Benton Visual Retention Test

C-56Analysis of Pattern Performance on Items of the Visual Form Discrimination Test and Benton Visual Retention Test

Factor Structure of the Benton Visual Retention Tests: Dimensionalization of the Benton Visual Retention Test, Benton Visual Retention Test–Multiple Choice, and the Visual Form Discrimination Test

Six sequential experiments were conducted on archival data of 610 U.S. Veterans seen at the Palo Alto Veteran's Affairs Hospital, to understand the dimensionalization of the Benton Visual retention test in both the recall (BVRT) and multiple-choice (BVRT-MC) format as well as the Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT). These tests were dimensionalized by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Revised (WAIS-R) revealing a four-component model that explains 81.04% of the shared variance: the moderately difficult items (BVRT-MC and VFDT items 13–16) loaded with the WAIS-R Perceptual Organization, the easiest items (VFDT items 1–12, BVRT-MC items 1–12, and BVRT items 1–4) loaded separately with both WAIS-R Verbal Comprehension and Freedom from Distractibility, and the most difficult items (BVRT items 3–10) loaded weakly with WAIS-R Perceptual Organization.

Normative data on Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test for older adults and impaired scores in Clinical Dementia Rating 0.5 participants: Community‐based study. The Osaki–Tajiri Project

The Benton Visual Form Discrimination test (VFD) is one of the non-verbal tests to assess the capacity for complex visual form discrimination. The purposes of the present study were to investigate the effects of age and education level of the VFD in healthy elderly subjects, rigorously excluding participants with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) 0.5, and the characteristics of VFD patterns in CDR 0.5 participants. The 597 participants included CDR 0 (healthy elderly, n = 405), CDR 0.5 (mild cognitive impairment, n = 161), and CDR 1 and 2 (dementia, n = 31). The VFD, Digit Forwards, Digit Backwards and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) copying were used for neuropsychological assessment. There were significant effects of age and education level on the VFD in healthy participants, and the CDR 0.5 group had a lower score on the VFD than the healthy group. Low performance on the VFD was associated with Digit Backward and RCFT copying in both healthy and CDR 0.5 participants. CDR 0.5 participants exhibit deficits of visual form discrimination related to attention, visual construction and organization.

Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies: Visual Form Discrimination and copy trial of the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure

Age-adjusted normative data are presented for persons age 70–89 years for the Visual Form Discrimination Test and Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure (copy trial only). Adjustment for the effect of education on test performance is also provided. These data were collected as part of Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS). The normative information provided here should prove useful for characterizing performance on these measures as well as comparing the person's performance against his or her functioning on any other test with MOANS norms. Limitations and unique features of the MOANS normative data are also discussed.

The Validity of the Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Status in Acute Stroke

The construct validity of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) was investigated in a sample of 210 acute ischemic stroke patients seen on an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Intercorrelations between the six index scores were found to be relatively consistent with previously published work. A principal components analysis yielded a two-factor (Language/Verbal Memory and Visuospatial/Visual Memory) solution that accounted for 61% of the variance. Correlations generated between the resulting factor scores, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWA), the Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFD), Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) Complex Ideational Material Test (CIM), the presence of neglect as determined by Line Bisection Test performance, and the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) supported the validity of these factors. A comparison of the obtained factor scores in a subgroup of 111 left and right hemispheric stroke patients showed that the left hemispheric stroke patients performed more poorly on the Language/Verbal Memory factor score than did right hemispheric stroke patients while the converse was true for the Visuospatial/Visual Memory factor score. Implications for the construct validity of the RBANS and its use and interpretation in clinical assessment are discussed.

Psychometric Properties of the Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test

Coefficient alpha and an item analysis were calculated for the 16-item Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT) using a heterogeneous sample (N = 293) of mostly elderly medical patients who were suspected of having cognitive impairment. The total score reliability was .74. An item analysis found that 15 of the items were within established criteria for item difficulty, however, 5 items were found to be poor discriminators. Through the use of confidence intervals around observed scores, it was shown that the current classification criterion for the VFDT demands a higher reliability coefficient than what was found. Also, evidence for the test's insufficient level of difficulty is presented. It is difficult to recommend this test for clinical use.

Reliability and Normative Data for the Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test

Visuoperceptual disorders are a common consequence of brain disease. The Visual Form Discrimination Test is a task designed to assess the ability to make fine visual discriminations. Although its validity to assess the visuoperceptual impairments in patients with different neurological conditions has been well established, the normative data base for the test has remained small. The clinical use of the test has been limited by the scanty normative data available. Thus, with the aim of assisting the clinicians in interpreting more accurately the performances of their patients we investigated the test-retest reliability of the Benton’s VFDT and also provide normative data obtained on a sample of 397 healthy individuals.

Psychometric analysis of the Visual Form Discrimination Test.

The Visual Form Discrimination Test is a matching-to-sample test involving visual discrimination. Although normative information has been presented, limited psychometric data have been available. The current study estimated the internal consistency and additional psychometric properties of the test in a sample of 66 persons with acute traumatic brain injury. Internal consistency as measured by alpha was .66. A homogeneous sample and a restricted range of scores likely attenuated this estimate. Using the standard cutoff score, only 32% of the sample showed impaired performance. Visual form discrimination as measured by this test may be affected less by traumatic brain injury than other cognitive processes such as attention and memory.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Block Design Broken Configuration Errors in Nonpenetrating Traumatic Brain Injury

Final broken configuration errors on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; Wechsler, 1981) Block Design subtest were examined in 50 moderate and severe nonpenetrating traumatically brain injured adults. Patients were divided into left (n = 15) and right hemisphere (n = 19) groups based on a history of unilateral craniotomy for treatment of an intracranial lesion and were compared to a group with diffuse or negative brain CT scan findings and no history of neurosurgery (n = 16). The percentage of final broken configuration errors was related to injury severity, Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFD; Benton, Hamsher, Varney, & Spreen, 1983) total score and the number of VFD rotation and peripheral errors. The percentage of final broken configuration errors was higher in the patients with right craniotomies than in the left or no craniotomy groups, which did not differ. Broken configuration errors did not occur more frequently on designs without an embedded grid pattern. Right craniotomy patients did not show a greater percentage of broken configuration errors on nongrid designs as compared to grid designs.

Internal Consistency and Concurrent Validity of Two Short Forms of the Visual Form Discrimination Test

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and concurrent validity of 2 short forms of the Visual Form Discrimination Test, referred to as first half (FH) and front-back (FB). Participants were a mixed sample of 225 patients seen for neuropsychological evaluations. The mean difference score between both short forms and the full form was less than 1 point. The short-total correlations were .85 and .86 for the FH and FB forms, respectively. A binary clinical decision rule, used to classify patients as normal or impaired, resulted in a 93.3% correct and a 94.7% correct classification rate for the FH and FB forms, respectively. It is concluded that the short form of the test, used in conjunction with a clinical decision rule, results in a very minor loss of accuracy.

The early detection of alzheimer's disease by the benton visual form discrimination test

The early detection of alzheimer's disease by the benton visual form discrimination test

An interpretive table for the Visual Form Discrimination Test.

The capacity to analyze complex visual stimuli is susceptible to several forms of brain dysfunction. The Visual Form Discrimination test is a 16-item multiple-choice measure requiring visual discrimination and matching. Published normative observations provide frequency counts of various raw scores but lack certain critical information, e.g., standard deviations, needed for clinical interpretation of performance in individual cases. The purpose of this study was to improve the clinical utility of the test by (1) reporting the standard deviation of the normative sample and (2) using this index to create a table to foster interpretation in single cases. We provide T scores, percentile equivalents, and clinical descriptors for various raw scores, permitting clinicians to make more precise use of the Visual Form Discrimination.

Screening for visual perceptual deficits following closed head injury a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concurrent validity and clinical utility of a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test in persons with closed head injuries n 62 Given the homo geneity of the items and patients apparent consistency in responding we hypothesized that scores from an eight item short form would be highly similar to the scores derived from the full version of the test i e 16 items The mean difference between the short form and full version was less than one point and the correlation between the two forms was 0 86 Applying a clinical decision rule resulted in a normal impaired overall correct classification rate of 98 4 The short form shows considerable promise as a brief test of visual discrimination in persons with closed head injuries

Development of a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test for assessing cognitive decline associated with dementia

Development of a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test for assessing cognitive decline associated with dementia

Development of a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test for assessing cognitive decline associated with dementia : Sherman, E., Iverson, G. L., & Smith-Seemiller, L.

Development of a short form of the Visual Form Discrimination Test for assessing cognitive decline associated with dementia : Sherman, E., Iverson, G. L., & Smith-Seemiller, L.

Visual Form Discrimination Test with Elderly Medical Inpatients

Two studies are reported on Benton's Visual Form Discrimination Test. In study 1, 92 cognitively intact urban geriatric medical patients were examined for normative data. VFD scores were significantly related to education (r = .34,p < .01), race (r = -.16,p < .05), and age (r = -.20, p < .01) in the total sample (92 cognitively intact and 92 cognitively impaired patients), contrary to previous studies. Compared to Benton's original normative sample (M= 30), mean scores were lower for the current cognitively intact sample (M = 25, SD = 4.4). In study 2, the clinical utility of the VFD was examined by comparing the cognitively intact group with the cognitively impaired sample. Mean scores were significantly lower in the cognitively impaired group (M = 19.8, SD = 5.3, t163 = 6.67, p < .01). Logistic regression analysis correctly classified 73% of cases overall with 75% specificity and 72% sensitivity. The correct classification rate for the VFD is relatively low, but consistent with Benton's findings.