Admissibility of Neuroscientific Expert Testimony

Abstract

This Chapter sets forth the basic framework that applies to the courtroom use of scientific evidence generally, and neuroscientific evidence in particular. Neuroscience expert testimony is treated like all expert testimony, so that the basic rules of admissibility apply. Although courts typically use some combination of two tests – the Frye general acceptance test or the Daubert validity test – these approaches basically revolve around two basic issues. The first concerns how high the bar is, should be, for proffered expert testimony and the second concerns what criteria courts use, or should use, to measure this bar. With particular emphasis on the Daubert test, which partly incorporates the general acceptance criterion of Frye, this Chapter provides a detailed description of admissibility standards in the context of neuroscience expert evidence.