Even though theories and research have pointed out the importance of variables such as age, gender, or education on neuropsychological assessment, much less emphasis has been placed on language and culture. With the increasing population of Spanish speakers in North America and the limited amount of clinical and scholarly information currently available, neuropsychological assessment of this group has similarly become of increasing importance. Though several studies have been published over the last two decades, an assumption exists that all Spanish speakers, holding education and age constant, would perform similarly regardless of their origin. To address this assumption, a sample of 126 participants was tested from four different countries (Chile, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain). Participants were compared on the following commonly used neuropsychological tests: Verbal Serial Learning Curve, Rey– Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test, the Stroop Color and Word Test, and the Trail Making Test. Analyses revealed significant differences across the groups in two of the five tests administered. Significant differences were observed in the delayed recall of the Serial Learning Test and in the Verbal Fluency Test. The findings highlight the importance of within-group differences between Spanish speakers.

Changing demographics indicate a dramatic growth in Spanish speakers in the USA. There is an increasing need to provide valid neuropsychological evaluations to these individuals as well as interest in providing the same in Latin American countries. This is especially the case with symptom validity testing, in general, and those involved with litigation in particular. To address this situation, the Dot Counting Test, the Rey 15-Item Test, and the Test of Memory Malingering were administered to clinical controls as well as individuals involved in litigation-forensic non-capital and forensic capital murder cases. The results represent a first step toward the determination of the utility of those tests to address effort in Spanish speakers in the USA.

Increasingly clinical neuropsychology has been addressing the effects of culture on neuropsychological functioning. However, that focus has been on comparing performance on standardized tests across two or more groups, often Hispanic. In this study, Arabic children were tested in Morocco using a “culture-free test,” Children's Color Trails. Children of different ages and living in rural and urban centers were tested. The results suggest that the Color Trails Test scores from Arab children differed from U.S. norms available. Furthermore, the location of testing and the age of the child were of significance. The role of culture-specific tests was considered.

In 1996 Artiola I Fortuny published a review of our book, Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Spanish Speaker (Ardila, Rosselli, & Puente, 1994), in this journal. We appreciate the time and energy taken to produce such an exhaustive review of our little volume. However, considering the extremely negative and personal nature of the review, we felt obliged to the scientific and professional community to provide reasoned information, which should help clarify the numerous misunderstandings in the review.