[Guidelines for the scientific and professional development of forensic neuropsychology].

AIMS

The principal aims of this review are: (a) to offer a perspective of the principal challenges that forensic neuropsychology handles in its scientific and professional development, and the empirical advances that have been developed to deal with these challenges; and (b) analyze the potential effects of these advances on the application of the discipline in the Spanish legal system.

DEVELOPMENT

With the purpose of reaching these challenges, a series of methodological strategies and instruments, along with specific recommendations about the use of currently available procedures and the development of new procedures, have been generated within the context of forensic neuropsychology. In this paper, we will review: the advances carried out in the different issues of interest that currently handles the development of the discipline, including: the estimation of premorbid functioning, the development of base rates and norms for forensic populations, the detection of malingerers, the ecological validity of instruments, and the creation of professional practices; we will analyze the potential application of these advances to the assessment of the Spanish forensic population; and we will study the principal application areas of forensic neuropsychology within the Spanish legal context.

CONCLUSIONS

Forensic neuropsychology is an emergent discipline that is placed in a key moment of its scientific and professional development. This development should be anchored in the application of specific scientific, professional, and academic strategies.