Neuroethics

Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

This paper includes the "Possibility Implications" of the Kantian, Machiavellian, and Nietzschean Ethical Standards.

It's All About Love (Synopsis)

by Mark Singer

More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

These implications are: moral, epistemology, love, happiness, time and space, psychological, art, education, medical, economic, war, capital punishment, and abortion.

"Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" includes additional categories.

Kant Concept Art

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "More Seminal Ethics Implications," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

The artist is P. Patten (USA).

Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

This paper includes the "Possibility Implications" of the Kantian, Machiavellian, and Nietzschean Ethical Standards.

The Ethics of Cognitive Extension

by Joe Dewhurst

First published in Aporia (Issue 9, May 2012: 22-28). Draft version attached. The author can be contacted at 0819473.sms.ed.ac.uk

This paper explores some of the ethical implications of hypothesis of extended cognition. It discusses the possibility... more This paper explores some of the ethical implications of hypothesis of extended cognition. It discusses the possibility of the manipulation of external memory stores qualifying as literally tampering with somebody's memories, as well as the implications of social extension for moral responsibility and agency. It concludes that if the hypothesis of extended cognition gains widespread public acceptance, it will change the shape and texture of moral discourse.

More Seminal Ethics Implications

by Mark Singer

Tandem works include: "Seminal Ethics," "Kant Concept Art," "Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" - also on this site.

These implications are: moral, epistemology, love, happiness, time and space, psychological, art, education, medical, economic, war, capital punishment, and abortion.

"Addendum - More Seminal Ethics Implications" includes additional categories.

Long-Term Effects of Nucleus Accumbens Deep Brain Stimulation in Treatment-Resistant Depression: Evidence for Sustained Efficacy

by Thomas E. Schlaepfer

A 111 Bewernick B, Kayser S, Sturm V, Schlaepfer TE (2012): Long-Term Effects of Nucleus Accumbens Deep Brain Stimulation in Treatment-Resistant Depression: Evidence for Sustained Efficacy. Neuropschopharmacology doi:10.1038/npp.2012.44.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc-DBS) was associated with antidepressant, anxiolytic, and... more Deep brain stimulation (DBS) to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc-DBS) was associated with antidepressant, anxiolytic, and precognitive effects in a small sample of patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression (TRD), followed over 1 year. Results of long-term follow-up of up to 4 years of NAcc-DBS are described in a group of 11 patients. Clinical effects, quality of life (QoL), cognition, and safety are reported. Eleven patients were stimulated with DBS bilateral to the NAcc. Main outcome measures were clinical effect (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Montgomery-Asperg Rating Scale of Depression, and Hamilton Anxiety Scale) QoL (SF-36), cognition and safety at baseline, 12 months (n=11), 24 months (n¼10), and last follow-up (maximum 4 years, n=5). Analyses were performed in an intent-to-treat method with last observation carried forward, thus 11 patients contributed to each point in time. In all, 5 of 11 patients (45%) were classified as responders after 12 months and remained sustained responders without worsening of symptoms until last follow-up after 4 years. Both ratings of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced in the sample as a whole from first month of NAcc-DBS on. All patients improved in QoL measures. One non-responder committed suicide. No severe adverse events related to parameter change were reported. First-time, preliminary long-term data on NAcc-DBS have demonstrated a stable antidepressant and anxiolytic effect and an amelioration of QoL in this small sample of patients suffering from TRD. None of the responders of first year relapsed during the observational period (up to 4 years).

Cross-Cultural Variation and fMRI Lie-Detection

by Tommaso Bruni

Neurobiological narratives: Experiences of mood disorder through the lens of neuroimaging

by Daniel Z. Buchman

Co-authored with Emily Borgelt, Louise Whiteley, and Judy Illes. Sociology of Health and Illness, in press.

Many scientists, healthcare providers, policymakers and patients are awaiting in anticipation the application of... more Many scientists, healthcare providers, policymakers and patients are awaiting in anticipation the application of biomedical technologies such as functional neuroimaging for the prediction, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. The potential efficacy of such applications is controversial, and functional neuroimaging is not yet routinely used in psychiatric clinics. However, commercial ventures and enthusiastic reporting indicate a pressing need to engage with the social and ethical issues raised by clinical translation. There has been little investigation of how individuals living with mental illness view functional neuroimaging, or of the potential psychological impacts of its clinical use. We conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with adults diagnosed with major depression or bipolar disorder, probing their experiences with mental health care and their perspectives on the prospect of receiving neuroimaging for prediction, diagnosis and planning treatment. The participants discussed the potential role of neuroimages in (i) mitigating stigma; (ii) supporting morally loaded explanations of mental illness due to an imbalance of brain chemistry; (iii) legitimising psychiatric symptoms, which may have previously been de-legitimised since they lacked objective representation, through objective representations of disorder; and (iv) reifying DSM-IV-TR disorder categories and links to identity. We discuss these anticipated outcomes in the context of participant lived experience and attitudes to biologisation of mental illness, and argue for bringing these voices into upstream ethics discussion.

Automaticity, consciousness and moral responsibility

by Simon Wigley

Cognitive scientists have long noted that automated behavior is the rule, while conscious acts of self-regulation are... more Cognitive scientists have long noted that automated behavior is the rule, while conscious acts of self-regulation are the exception to the rule. On the face of it, automated actions
appear to be immune to moral appraisal because they are not subject to conscious control. Conventional wisdom suggests that sleepwalking exculpates, while the mere fact that a person is performing a well-versed task unthinkingly does not. However, our apparent lack of conscious control while we are undergoing automaticity challenges the idea that there is a relevant moral difference between these two forms of unconscious behavior. In both cases the agent lacks access to information that might help them guide their actions so as to avoid harms. In response, it is argued that the crucial distinction between the automatic agent and the agent undergoing an automatism, such as somnambulism or petit mal epilepsy, lies in the fact that the former can preprogram the activation and interruption of automatic behavior. Given that, it is argued that there is elbowroom for attributing responsibility to automated agents based on the quality of their will.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Neuroscience, and the Law

by Tommaso Bruni

International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (2012), doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2011.12.001
Co-authored with Barbara Bottalico, joint first authors

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex sychiatric condition, the effects of which can be seriously... more Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex sychiatric condition, the effects of which can be seriously debilitating. As it originates from a specific traumatic event, it often impacts soldiers and victims of violent crime. It is currently one of the most frequently litigated mental diseases. Neuroscience is slowly discovering the neural bases of PTSD and other psychiatric ailments and is building tests to distinguish actual patients from non-suffering individuals. We examine the current state of neuroscientific research on PTSD and its biomarkers, focusing on a recent experiment by Apostolos Georgopoulos and coworkers. Then we analyze the legal consequences of these scientific advances, both in civil and criminal law, from a comparative perspective. Neuro-technology is likely to provide courts with a new kind of evidence, which will not replace but add to older behavioral evidence. Furthermore, it will weaken the so far standing distinction between physical and emotional harm. However, even extremely sensitive tests (>95%) can have insufficient accuracy if the prevalence of a condition in the tested population is low. Therefore, the law ought to take into account the prevalence of PTSD and other psychiatric conditions when the decision whether to admit neuroevidence in courts or not is made.

Why We Should Strive Toward Reflexive Scientific Practices in Neuroscience

by Kalina Kamenova

Published in AJOB Neuroscience, 2010, 1(4), 59-60.

Addiction and Actants: the Autonomy Possible in Assemblages

by Paul Boshears

American Journal of Bioethics–Neuroscience. Vol. 3(2): 59–61

What would an assemblage theory of addiction tell us about the process of becoming an addict and in what ways would it... more What would an assemblage theory of addiction tell us about the process of becoming an addict and in what ways would it inform our understanding of recovering from addiction? That process through which one develops problematic use of methamphetamine may also be that which leads to the cessation of methamphetamine use. Based on an ethnographic study of methamphetamine use in suburban Atlanta, I suggest that the interdependencies which form as methamphetamine users pursue opportunities: to practice their methamphetamine use, to disclose the consequences of their practices, and to display recovering identities, illustrate a fundamentally relational character to methamphetamine use. In this paper I explore what Jane Bennett's concept of thing-power, an effervescence of capacity realized across a range of human and non-human actors, can do for developing responses to the myriad effects associated with sustained problematic use and manufacturing of methamphetamine.

*The project described was funded by NIDA Award Number 1R15DA021164-01A1 and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health, Kennesaw State University nor the European Graduate School.

Stimulating personality: ethical criteria for deep brain stimulation in psychiatric patients and for enhancement purposes

by Thomas E. Schlaepfer

A 086 Synofzik M, Schlaepfer TE (2008): Stimulating personality: ethical criteria for deep brain stimulation in psychiatric patients and for enhancement purposes. Biotechnol J 3:1511-20.

Separating Hope from Hype: Some Ethical Implications of the Development of Deep Brain Stimulation in Psychiatric Research and Treatment

by Thomas E. Schlaepfer

A 088 Schlaepfer TE, Lisanby HS, Pallanti S (2010): Separating Hope from Hype: Some Ethical Implications of the Development of Deep Brain Stimulation in Psychiatric Research and Treatment. CNS Spectrums 15:285-287.

Consent and Coercion in Addiction Treatment

by Elaine Hyshka

Wild, T.C., Wolfe, J. & Hyshka, E. (2012). “Consent and Coercion in Addiction Treatment” In Carter, A., Hall, W., & Illes, J. Addiction Neuroethics. London: Elsevier.

WFSBP Guidelines on Brain Stimulation Treatments in Psychiatry

by Thomas E. Schlaepfer

A 83 Schlaepfer TE, George MS, Mayberg H (2010): WFSBP Guidelines on Brain Stimulation Treatments in Psychiatry. World J Biol Psychiatry 11:2-18.

The Impact of Neuroscience and Genetics on the Law: A Recent Italian Case

by michele farisco

Co-authored with Carlo Petrini

The use of genetic testing and neuroscientific evidence in legal trials raises several issues. Often their... more The use of genetic testing and neuroscientific evidence in legal trials raises several issues. Often their interpretation is controversial: the same evidence can be used to sustain both the prosecution’s and defense’s argument. A recent Italian case confirms such concerns and stresses other relevant related questions.

Frontiers: Modulating Affect, Cognition, and Behavior–Prospects of Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Psychiatric Disorders

by Thomas E. Schlaepfer

A 105

Most patients suffering from psychiatric disorders respond to combinations of psycho- and psychopharmacotherapy;... more Most patients suffering from psychiatric disorders respond to combinations of psycho- and psychopharmacotherapy; however there are patients who profit little if anything even after many years of treatment. Since about a decade different modalities of targeted neuromod- ulation – among them most prominently – deep brain stimulation (DBS) – are being actively researched as putative approaches to very treatment-resistant forms of those disorders. Recently, promising pilot data have been reported both for major depression (MD) and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Given the fact that patients included in DBS stud- ies had been treated unsuccessfully for many years with conventional treatment methods, renders these findings remarkable. Remarkable is the fact, that in case of the long-term studies underway for MD, patients show a stable response. This gives hope to a substan- tial percentage of therapy–resistant psychiatric patients requiring new therapy approaches. There are no fundamental ethic objections to its use in psychiatric disorders, but until sub- stantial clinical data is available, mandatory standards are needed. DBS is a unique and very promising method for the treatment of therapy–resistant psychiatric patients. The method allows manipulating pathological neuronal networks in a very precise way.