False symptom claims and distorted symptom presentations are not at all rare in civil and criminal forensic cases where secondary gain is immanent. They reach from reported nonspecific memory and attention problems to intellectual disability, full-blown autobiographical memory loss, or crime-related amnesia. Symptom validity assessment has, to a large extent, been developed by clinical neuropsychologists to distinguish between authentic and nonauthentic symptom presentations. Malingering is only one of several manifestations of uncooperativeness. Today, most forensic neuropsychology experts would agree that neuropsychological testing is incomplete if not adequately checked for possible negative distortions. This chapter reviews modern methods of symptom validation, with emphasis on forced-choice response formats.
