I need a visual memory test without a motor component, and a visual perception measure without a naming component, preferably matching of visual stimuli.
Thanks.
Probably you've already seen it, but the chapter by Y.V.Jiang; T.Makovsky; W.M.Shim (2009) Visual memory for features, conjunctions, objects and locations. In J.R.Brockmole (ed.) The Visual World in Memory. Hove and New York: Psychology Press, pp. 33-65, can have some hints of what you are looking for ?
http://jianglab.psych.umn.edu/Welcome.html
Can you be more specific about what you're looking for? "Visual perception" encompasses a lot of things! Do you just want acuity, or a measure of adequately identifying objects, or color or contrast perception? Who's your population under study? (These all apply to the memory task as well, of course...)
Agree w/ Agigail. "Visual memory" is itself quite complex, involving potentially memory for any features, with any range of meaning and familiarity and discriminability...but at least there is a literature on this. Depending on your population you can find tests of memory for configurations that are relatively expertise-limited, for Western adolescents and adults. Still you will need to be specific -- e.g., 'short-term memory for block configurations measured by picture recognition' or something. But visual perception is enormous. Think about it, even when you go for an eye exam, they are testing a number of sensitivities -- and only scratching the surface (hopefully not literally scratching!) And I promise, there are important aspects of visual perception for which no agreed-upon test for humans yet exists. Also, 'visual' itself is an ambiguous term because some visual functions take retinal information and use it only in conjunction with other modalities (e.g., vestibular). So my advice is: try to pin down what it is you really want to know. What are the alternative hypotheses that are most important to rule out? What are the possible confounds for your study? Perhaps you just want to verify that all your subjects have normal/corrected binocular acuity for high-contrast details; well then you could administer a standard vision test like in the doctor's office (although nurses don't always do it carefully I've noticed -- you still have to mind the details of a fairly easy test!). Or perhaps you need to rule out color blindness (we've done that before); there's a fairly simple and inexpensive commercial instrument for that which is quick to administer and works with neurologically intact adults and children roughly 6 and up. But the critical thing is to do a task analysis of your measures and think through EVERY POSSIBLE factor in memory, vision, AND motor skills, social response, etc., that could affect performance. When you've done the task analysis, go factor by factor and look for the most precise, well-controlled test for each one. Sounds simple? A minority of the studies I read, even by experienced, successful researchers, show evidence of having gone through that process. (Of course, sometimes the ideal test doesn't exist...then you have a tougher problem.) Anyway, good luck!
Thank you all for your responses! Yes, I should have been more specific...basically I want to make sure that any difficulties in object recognition are not due to visual acuity loss or agnosia...I was looking into the Visual Object and Space Perception Battery, but I´m not familiar with it and don´t know if it would be useful for this purpose....
There are standardized tests for vision scientists out there that are quick and easy to use, though they're not free. I used to use those provided by CRS (http://www.crsltd.com/tools-for-vision-science/measuring-visual-functions/metropsis/) and currently using ones from Applied Vision Research Group at City Uni (http://www.city-occupational.co.uk/acuity-plus/). That might be a good place to start; unfortunately I don't know of any free alternatives, as I'm lucky to collaborate with people who have them already. But it might be a good place to start - maybe you could even email some people from this group, they might point you to some resources.
(conflict of interest: I'm currently at City, but do not belong to that group, so I don't get anything from recommending their tests - it's just the ones I happen to use, and it sounds like it might be something you're looking for)
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