Which statement best describes the typical procedure used to test the Visuospatial Sketchpad?

• A. Verbal serial recall.
• B. Corsi block-tapping tasks and visual pattern recall.
• C. Visual pattern recall, Corsi block-tapping tasks, and sometimes mental rotation tasks.
• D. Auditory digit span tasks.

Answer: (C)

Visuospatial Sketchpad tests focus on how well someone holds and manipulates visual and spatial information in short-term memory. The standard tasks are Corsi block-tapping, which requires reproducing a sequence of tapped locations (testing spatial sequence memory), and visual pattern recall, which assesses memory for visual designs. Together, these tap both storing visual patterns and the spatial relationships between them. Sometimes researchers also include mental rotation tasks to gauge the ability to manipulate those visual-spatial representations in the mind, making the test even more comprehensive. In contrast, verbal serial recall and auditory digit span rely on the verbal loop rather than the Visuospatial Sketchpad, so they don’t target this component. That combination—Corsi block-tapping plus visual pattern recall, with sometimes added mental rotation—best describes the typical approach to assessing the Visuospatial Sketchpad.