Chapter 16: Neuroethics

In this Chapter…

Introduction

Neuroethics: the ethics on diagnoses and treatments of neurological diseases
- Neuroethics links what we can do what we should do

Neuroscience: a discipline that teaches us about the neural basis of human characteristics and the mechanisms of conditions and disorders that impair behavioral control
The brain being the control center raises many questions and challenges the concept of free will as the basis for personal responsibility
Increasing levels of neuroscience knowledge will seriously challenge the fundamental tenets of criminal law

Neuroscience has already given rise to drugs & devices developed for the treatment of illness
- This may permit healthy people to improve their own cognitive performance
- These treatments may be developed to enhance memory or alter social behavior
Issues arise when gaps exist between diagnosis and treatment
These treatments may offer tradeoffs in personality or cognitive changes
- Drugs or devices that can help unwell patients may be able to boost the performance of non-diseased individuals

The major goal of the research is to find treatments for disabling conditions like ALS

Neuroimaging and genetic screening enables us to predict behavior, personality, and disease with greater accuracy than ever
- These are also being researched and marketed for lie detection
Technologies raise more important concerns about privacy and fairness that go beyond those in bioethics
The detection of lying has the potential to have a major impact on society
- It will require careful controls and years of further research

Special care must be taken when human research must be conducted
- Especially when potential research subjects have thinking or emotional impairments
Consent: an ongoing process that should involve education of potential research participants and family members

A major concern is the degree to which the media’s and public’s fascination with neuroscience can lead to overstatements and inaccuracies in media communication
Neurorealism: the idea that anything neuroscientific must be definitive and true
Neuroethics raises more questions than it answers at this stage
One hallmark of neuroscience is that it’s driving toward integrating information from different specializations to increase overall knowledge