Norms and standardization of the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS)

According to the recommendations of the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Neurocognition Committee, one of the desired characteristics of a cognitive battery for assessing cognition in schizophrenia studies and clinical trials is the availability of normative data. This report describes normative data collected on the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) from 404 healthy controls with demographic characteristics matching the 2005 United States Census of English-speakers. The six test measures demonstrated the expected pattern of correlations with age, gender, and education. Individual test scores were converted into standardized (T and z) scores and composite scores that were corrected for age and gender. An education-correction factor was calculated and recommended only for non-schizophrenia patients. Eight different verbal memory tests were found to have equivalent levels of difficulty.