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In current Finite Element (FE) head models, brain tissue is commonly assumed to display linear viscoelastic material behaviour. However, brain tissue behaves like a non-linear viscoelastic solid for shear strains above 1%. The main objective of this study was to study the effect of non-linear material behaviour on the predicted brain response. We used a nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive model, developed on the basis of experimental shear data presented elsewere. First we tested the numerical implementation of the constitutive model by simulating the response of a silicone gel (Sylgard 572 A&B) filled cylindrical cup, subjected to a transient rotational acceleration. The experimental results could be reproduced within 9%. Subsequently, the effect of non-linear material modelling on computed brain response was investigated in an existing three-dimensional head model subjected to an eccentric rotation.