Reduced perceptual span has been suggested to be a cognitive marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia. However, the specificity of this impairment in visual information processing to schizophrenia is not well established. This preliminary study examined perceptual span in schizophrenic and manic patients divided into subgroups with and without active symptomatology. Symptomatic patients had reduced span in comparison with less symptomatic groups, but there were no differences between schizophrenic and manic patients.