Visuospatial cognition refers to visuoperceptual, visuospatial, and visuoconstruction abilities involving conscious and non-conscious visually guided competencies. These abilities are defined operationally in terms of performance on specific tests. Visuoperceptual skills are reflected in the ability to identify stimuli such as objects, faces, and patterns. Visuospatial skills involve the localization of objects in space, navigation, and conceptualization of distances, areas, and volumes. Visuoconstructive abilities involve organizing elements into correct spatial relationships such as when drawing a house or doing a jigsaw puzzle. Alcoholism-related impairments in visuospatial cognition are among the most frequently reported.
