Disturbances of visual memory are a permanent finding in schizophrenia. Several devices are used to assess the subcomponents of this cognitive domain. One of the first tests to examine visual memory in general was Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) which is simple, short and can be easily administered in routine clinical conditions. In this preliminary study we examined BVRT in the light of recently used tests whether it is a reliable method to monitor visual memory in schizophrenic patients.

Twenty patients with ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls were examined using BVRT, Digit Symbol Task (DST) and the following subtests of Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery: Spatial Recognition Memory (SRM), Spatial Working Memory (SWM) and Rapid Visual Processing (RVP).

Correlations of these were analyzed with Pearson's correlation test; differences compared to controls were examined by independent sample T test.

Compared to controls, schizophrenic patients performed poorly on DST (p< 0.001), BVRT (p=0.01), SRM (p=0.016), RVP (p=0.001). There were no differences in SWM1 (p=0.74), SWM2 (p=0.862). In the patient group BVRT correlated with SRM (p=0.015), RVP (p=0.01), DST (p=0.007) In the control group we found a correlation with RVP (p=0.05) and DST (p=0.005).

Our results suggest that Benton Visual Retention Test shows a strong correlation with different aspects of characteristic visual memory disturbances in schizophrenia. Since it is in good correlation with clinical improvement on PANSS scores also and it is very easy to administer, it can be an optimal choice to monitor visual memory in daily clinical routine.