An External Validity Study of the Visual Memory Subtest of the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Third Edition

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare scores on the Visual Memory subtest of the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Third Edition, with those on a Draw-from-Memory task. Method: The external validity of the Visual Memory subtest was measured by comparing the subtest scores with performance on a Draw-from-Memory activity. Participants were 80 primary school age children, including 28 identified as learning disabled. Results: A moderate correlation (r = 0.411) was found, supporting the hypothesis that the two measures are related. However, the learning disabled children accounted for much of the covariance found, possibly due to the mix of verbal and non-verbal disabilities. Conclusion: The validity of the standardised test based on its correlation with a related activity was only weakly supported.