The Top 5 Visual Scanning Activities to Boost Cognitive Skills

Visual scanning is something most of us do constantly without thinking about it. We scan a grocery shelf to find a familiar product, look across a restaurant menu for a favorite meal, search for a calendar for an upcoming appointment, or scan a crowded room to find someone we know.

But after a stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), or other neurological condition, visual scanning can become surprisingly difficult. A person may overlook information on one side of a page, lose their place while reading, have difficulty finding objects in a cluttered environment, or take much longer than expected to locate a specific item.

The good news is that visual scanning can be practiced. Structured visual scanning activities can help people develop more systematic search strategies while incorporating attention, visual processing, and other cognitive skills.

Below are visual scanning activities that can be adapted for adults and different ability levels.

What is Visual Scanning?

Visual scanning is the process of systematically searching the visual environment to find relevant information. It involves shifting attention and gaze from one location to another while identifying and processing visual information.

Visual scanning is closely related to, but different from, visual tracking.

• Visual scanning involves moving attention and gaze from one visual location to another to find information.
• Visual tracking involves maintaining visual attention on a moving object as it travels through space.
• Visual search involves actively looking for a particular target among competing visual information.

These skills overlap, but they are not interchangeable. Someone may be able to smoothly track a moving object while still having difficulty systematically scanning a busy page.

Visual scanning is particularly important for everyday activities such as reading, locating items, navigating environments, reviewing schedules, finding information on a form, and identifying hazards.

For people with neurological impairments, scanning may also be affected by visual-field deficits, unilateral spatial neglect, impaired attention, or other cognitive-visual difficulties. Consequently, persistent scanning problems should be evaluated by an appropriate healthcare professional rather than assumed to be a simple “vision problem.”

Why Is Visual Scanning Important for Cognitive Skills?

Visual scanning is more than an eye-movement skill. Effective scanning requires a person to determine what information is relevant, maintain attention, shift attention between locations, ignore distractions, and remember what they are looking for.

Research in stroke rehabilitation has specifically examined visual scanning training for people with unilateral spatial neglect. Studies have found that structured scanning interventions can improve performance on measures of neglect and, in some cases, functional activities. However, the research also suggests that scanning is only one component of a broader rehabilitation approach, and outcomes can vary depending on the individual’s underlying impairment.

That makes the best visual scanning exercises more than repetitive “find the letter” worksheets. Ideally, practice should progress from simple visual searches toward increasingly complex and functional tasks.

Visual Tracking Exercises

Visual tracking exercises are often discussed alongside visual scanning activities, although the two skills are different.

Target Cancellation

Target cancellation is one of the simplest ways to practice visual scanning.The person is presented with a page containing multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other visual stimuli and asked to locate every occurrence of a specific target.

For example: “Find and cross out every letter “A.”

The person must visually search the page, identify each A, and mark it while continuing to scan for additional targets.

How to make it easier

Start with:

• Fewer items on the page
• Larger targets
• More space between targets
• Fewer distractors
• A single target

Encourage the person to use a consistent search strategy, such as scanning from left to right and then moving down to the next row.

How to make it more challenging

As accuracy improves, introduce:

• More visual distractors
• Smaller targets
• Multiple target types
• Similar-looking distractors
• Larger search areas

The goal isn’t simply to complete the task faster. Accuracy, consistency, and the ability to use an organized search strategy are important measures of performance.

Alternating Visual Search

Once basic target identification becomes easier, visual scanning can be combined with additional cognitive demands.

Alternating visual search requires the person to locate different types of targets according to a specified sequence.

For example: “1 → A → 2 → B → 3 → C”

The person must scan the page, locate the correct target, remember what comes next, and continue searching.

This type of activity can incorporate visual scanning, selective attention, alternating attention, working memory, and visual discrimination.

How to implement the exercise

Begin with a simple alternating sequence and gradually increase the demands.

For example:

Level 1: Find all numbers

Level 2: Find all numbers and letters separately

Level 3: Alternate between a number and a letter

Level 4: Alternate through a longer sequence

Level 5: Complete the sequence using a more visually complex display

This provides a way to increase cognitive demands without simply making the print smaller or adding more clutter.

Functional Document Search

One of the best ways to make visual scanning practice meaningful for adults is to use information they might encounter in everyday life.

Instead of a page filled exclusively with letters or symbols, use a:

• Calendar
• Appointment schedule
• Restaurant menu
• Shopping list
• Newspaper
• Bus or train schedule
• Event flyer
• Medication list
• Form

Give the person a specific target or question. For example: “What time is your appointment on Thursday?” or “Find the price of the chicken sandwich.” The person must scan the document, identify relevant information, and use it to answer the question.

Why functional materials matter

Everyday visual scanning rarely involves searching for an isolated letter on a blank worksheet. People typically scan to accomplish a purpose.

Using functional materials therefore adds an important layer of relevance to visual scanning practice.

It also allows clinicians to determine whether a person can carry a scanning strategy from structured exercises into more realistic situations.

Visual Search in Cluttered Environments

Visual scanning becomes more challenging when the environment contains a large amount of competing information.

Think about searching for your keys on a crowded kitchen counter or finding a particular item on a grocery shelf.

These situations require the person to locate a target while filtering out irrelevant visual information.

Try a cluttered-environment search

Place several objects on a table or other similar surface.

Ask the person to find a particular item: “Find the blue pen.”

Once they locate it, increase the challenge: “Find the blue pen, the television remote, and the keys.”

You can further increase difficulty by:

• Adding more objects
• Using objects with similar colors or shapes
• Increasing the search area
• Moving targets to different locations
• Providing several targets simultaneously

The clinician can also observe how the person searches. Does the person systematically scan the environment, or do they repeatedly return to the same area? Do they consistently miss information in a particular region? Do they require cues to continue searching after finding one target?

These observations can be just as informative as the final accuracy score.

Functional Scanning Challenges

The ultimate goal of visual scanning practice is not necessarily to become better at worksheets. It is to help a person effectively locate and use information in everyday life.

For that reason, the final step is to incorporate scanning into meaningful activities.

Try these activities

Grocery shopping

Give the person a short shopping list and ask them to locate each item on a shelf or within a simulated grocery display.

Calendar search

Ask the person to locate appointments, dates, or events.

Medication search

Ask the person to locate a particular medication or piece of information on a medication list. This should be used as a structured cognitive task rather than as a substitute for medication management instruction from an appropriate healthcare professional.

Menu search

Ask the person to find a particular food, identify the least expensive entree, or locate items within a particular category.

Community navigation

Ask the person to locate signs, addresses, storefronts, or other relevant information in a simulated or real-world environment when appropriate and safe.

Combining scanning with other cognitive skills

Functional activities often require several cognitive abilities simultaneously.

For example, finding an item in a grocery store may involve visual scanning, attention, memory, problem solving, and navigation. Reading a schedule may involve visual scanning, reading, working memory, and comprehension. This is why functional practice can be a valuable progression after a person has developed a basic scanning strategy.

How to Progress Visual Scanning Activities

Visual scanning exercises should be matched to the individual’s current abilities and rehabilitation goals.

Make the activity easier by:

• Reducing visual clutter
• Increasing spacing
• Enlarging targets
• Limiting the number of targets
• Providing a clear search strategy
• Using visual anchors
• Providing verbal or visual cues

Make the activity more challenging by:

• Increasing the number of distractors
• Increasing the search area
• Introducing similar-looking targets
• Adding multiple targets
• Requiring alternating sequences
• Adding a reasonable time component
• Moving from structured worksheets to functional materials

Progression should be based on performance rather than difficulty for its own sake. Someone who completes a task more quickly but misses several targets may not have demonstrated meaningful improvement.

Monitoring Progress

When using visual scanning activities, consider tracking several aspects of performance, including:

• Accuracy
• Number of omissions
• False positives
• Time to completion
• Cueing required
• Consistency of search strategy
• Ability to apply the strategy to functional tasks

For example, a person who initially required frequent reminders to scan from left to right may eventually use that strategy independently. That change can be clinically meaningful even if their completion time changes very little.

The Bottom Line

Visual scanning is an essential part of many everyday activities, from reading and finding information to locating objects and navigating environments.

Effective visual scanning activities can progress from simple target cancellation to increasingly complex and functional visual search tasks:

1. Target cancellation builds a foundation for systematic visual search.
2. Alternating visual search adds attention and working memory demands.
3. Functional document search connects scanning to everyday written information.
4. Cluttered-environment search introduces competing visual information.
5. Functional scanning challenges help translate scanning strategies into meaningful activities.

Visual tracking and visual scanning are related by distinct skills. Tracking primarily involves following a moving target, while scanning requires actively searching across a visual environment for relevant information. Keeping that distinction clear helps ensure that rehabilitation activities are matched to the skill being targeted.

For people recovering from stroke, TBI, or other neurological conditions, visual scanning difficulties can affect independence, safety, and participation. Structured practice may be one component of rehabilitation, but intervention should be individualized based on the person’s underlying impairments and functional goals.

The ultimate goal isn’t simply to find more targets on a worksheet. It is to help people efficiently find and use the visual information they need to participate in everyday life.

Medically reviewed by Zachary M. Smith, MS, CCC-SLP

References

Luukkainen-Markkula, R., Tarkka, I.M., Pitkanen, K., Sivenius, J., & Hamalainen, H. (2009). Rehabilitation of hemispatial neglect: A randomized study using either arm activation or visual scanning training. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 27(6), 663-672.

Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., & Robertson, K. (2014). Recovery of visual search following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 37(2), 162-177.

Van Wyk, A., Eksteen, C.A., & Rheeder, P (2014). The effect of visual scanning exercises integrated into physiotherapy in patients with unilateral spatial neglect poststroke: A matched-pair randomized control trial. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 28(8).