Italian normative data for the Battery for Visuospatial Abilities (TERADIC)

Battery for Visuospatial Abilities (BVA, known in Italy as TeRaDiC) has been developed to analyse putative basic skills involved in drawing and to plan and monitor outcomes after rehabilitation of visuoconstructional disorders. It encompasses eight tasks assessing both simple “perceptual” abilities, such as line length and line orientation judgments and complex “representational” abilities, such as mental rotation. The aim of present study was to provide normative values for BVA collected in a wide sample of healthy Italian subjects. Three hundred seventeen healthy Italian subjects (173 women and 144 men) of different age classes (age range, 40–95 years) and education level (from primary to university), with a normal score on Mini Mental State Examination, completed BVA/TeRaDiC. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age and education significantly influenced performance on most tests of the BVA/TeRaDiC; only line length judgment was not affected by educational level. Gender significantly affected line orientation judgment and mental rotation, with an advantage for males in both tests. From the derived linear equations, a correction grid for adjusting BVA/TeRaDiC raw scores was built. Using a non-parametric technique, inferential cut-off scores were determined and equivalent scores computed. The present study provided Italian normative data for the BVA/TeRaDiC useful for both clinical and research purposes.