Increasingly, national governments across the globe are prioritizing investments in neuroscience. Currently, seven active or in-development national-level brain research initiatives exist, spanning ...four continents. Engaging with the underlying values and ethical concerns that drive brain research across cultural and continental divides is critical to future research. Culture influences what kinds of science are supported and where science can be conducted through ethical frameworks and evaluations of risk. Neuroscientists and philosophers alike have found themselves together encountering perennial questions; these questions are engaged by the field of neuroethics, related to understanding of the nature of the self and identity, the existence and meaning of free will, defining the role of reason in human behavior, and more. With this Perspective article, we aim to prioritize and advance to the foreground a list of neuroethics questions for neuroscientists operating in the context of these international brain initiatives.
Neuroscience is a national priority across the globe necessitating engagement with the underlying cultural and ethical values that drive brain research. We offer a list of neuroethics questions for neuroscientists to advance and accelerate an ethically tenable globalized neuroscience.
In bioethics, the first decade of the twenty-first century was characterized by the emergence of interest in the ethical, legal, and social aspects of neuroscience research. At the same time an ...ongoing extension of the topics and phenomena addressed by neuroscientists was observed alongside its rise as one of the leading disciplines in the biomedical science. One of these phenomena addressed by neuroscientists and moral psychologists was the neural processes involved in moral decision-making. Today both strands of research are often addressed under the label of neuroethics. To understand this development we recalled literature from 1995 to 2012 stored in the Mainz Neuroethics Database (i) to investigate the quantitative development of scientific publications in neuroethics; (ii) to explore changes in the topics of neuroethics research within the defined time interval; (iii) to illustrate the interdependence of different research topics within the neuroethics literature; (iv) to show the development of the distribution of neuroethics research on peer-reviewed journals; and (v) to display the academic background and affiliations of neuroethics researchers. Our analysis exposes that there has been a demonstrative increase of neuroethics research while the issues addressed under this label had mostly been present before the establishment of the field. We show that the research on the ethical, legal and social aspects of neuroscience research is hardly related to neuroscience research on moral decision-making and that the academic backgrounds and affiliations of many neuroethics researchers speak for a very close entanglement of neuroscience and neuroethics. As our article suggests that after more than one decade there still is no dominant agenda for the future of neuroethics research, it calls for more reflection about the theoretical underpinnings and prospects to establish neuroethics as a marked-off research field distinct from neuroscience and the diverse branches of bioethics.
Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between religion, spirituality and neuroscience, with a focus on understanding the biological bases of religious experiences. ...The study aims to analyze how different spiritual practices affect the human brain, identify the brain regions involved, and examine the impact of these practices on mental health and emotional well-being. Furthermore, we seek to discuss the ethical implications of including religious themes in medical and psychological practice. Method: The study uses a qualitative literature review approach in English and Portuguese, based on national and international sources. Scientific articles, case studies and research related to the neuroscience of religion and spirituality were analyzed. The data was collected and organized to identify the biological foundations of spiritual experiences, the social and psychological implications, as well as the ethical issues associated with this theme. Results and conclusion: The results indicate that different spiritual practices activate several brain areas, including the frontal cortex, prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and striatum, associated with rewards, emotions, moral reasoning and concentration. The mystical mind is considered an innate capacity of the human brain, enabling transcendental experiences in all cultures. Furthermore, the frequent practice of spirituality can lead to profound brain changes, favoring discernment, empathy and better decisions. Religiosity and spirituality have a positive impact on mental health, helping to cope with anxiety, fears and promoting emotional well-being. Research implications: This study has significant implications in the area of mental health and clinical practice, highlighting the importance of considering patients' spirituality and religiosity as an integral part of their emotional health. Furthermore, the research paves the way for a greater understanding of the biological bases of religious and spiritual experiences, which may have applications in clinical treatments and the promotion of psychological well-being. The ethical implications raised are also relevant for healthcare professionals, who must approach these issues with sensitivity and respect, avoiding the imposition of personal values. On a broader scale, research contributes to intercultural understanding and peaceful coexistence between different religious groups, promoting tolerance and mutual respect.
Le progrès des biotechnologies conduit au développement d’entités de laboratoire qui sont des formes de vie nouvelles et de plus en plus complexes. C’est le cas notamment des organoïdes cérébraux ...développés à partir de cellules souches. L’article présente le débat bioéthique autour de la possibilité de l’apparition d’une forme de conscience ou de sensibilité dans ces organoïdes. Ce débat repose sur une question épistémique qu’il est non seulement très difficile de résoudre mais dont la résolution suppose de prendre le risque de poursuivre la recherche.
The present work has a twofold objective: firstly, to critically trace the concept of reciprocity used in neuroscientific studies, particularly from the domain of neuroeconomics; and secondly, to ...specify the normative frame from which human reciprocity can be defined, from which philosophical neuroethics can develop, and to identify plausible ways to promote it through brain stimulation in order to impact the epigenetic footprint by reinforcing cordial reciprocity.
Neuroethical questions raised by recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of consciousness are rapidly expanding, increasingly relevant and yet underexplored. The aim of this ...thematic review is to provide a clinically applicable framework for understanding the current taxonomy of disorders of consciousness and to propose an approach to identifying and critically evaluating actionable neuroethical issues that are frequently encountered in research and clinical care for this vulnerable population. Increased awareness of these issues and clarity about opportunities for optimizing ethically responsible care in this domain are especially timely given recent surges in critically ill patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness associated with coronavirus disease 2019 around the world. We begin with an overview of the field of neuroethics: what it is, its history and evolution in the context of biomedical ethics at large. We then explore nomenclature used in disorders of consciousness, covering categories proposed by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, including definitions of terms such as coma, the vegetative state, unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, minimally conscious state, covert consciousness and the confusional state. We discuss why these definitions matter, and why there has been such evolution in this nosology over the years, from Jennett and Plum in 1972 to the Multi-Society Task Force in 1994, the Aspen Working Group in 2002 and the 2018 American and 2020 European Disorders of Consciousness guidelines. We then move to a discussion of clinical aspects of disorders of consciousness, the natural history of recovery and ethical issues that arise within the context of caring for people with disorders of consciousness. We conclude with a discussion of key challenges associated with assessing residual consciousness in disorders of consciousness, potential solutions and future directions, including integration of crucial disability rights perspectives.
In 2008, researchers created human three-dimensional neural tissue - known as the pioneering work of "brain organoids." In recent years, some researchers have transplanted human brain organoids into ...animal brains for applicational purposes. With these experiments have come many ethical concerns. It is thus an urgent task to clarify what is ethically permissible and impermissible in brain organoid research. This paper seeks (1) to sort out the ethical issues related to brain organoid research and application and (2) to propose future directions for additional ethical consideration and policy debates in the field. Toward (1), this paper first outlines the current state of brain organoid research, and then briefly responds to previously raised related ethical concerns. Looking next at anticipated scientific developments in brain organoid research, we will discuss (i) ethical issues related to in vitro brain organoids, (ii) ethical issues raised when brain organoids form complexes or have relationships with other entities, and (iii) ethical issues of research ethics and governance. Finally, in pursuit of (2), we propose research policies that are mindful of the ethics of brain organoid research and application and also suggest the need for an international framework for research and application of brain organoids.
After participating in this activity, learners should be better able to:• Assess the neuropsychological literature on decision making and the medical and legal assessment of capacity in patients with ...dementia• Identify the limitations of integrating findings from decision-making research into capacity assessments for patients with dementia ABSTRACT: Medical and legal professionals face the challenge of assessing capacity and competency to make medical, legal, and financial decisions in dementia patients with impaired decision making. While such assessments have classically focused on the capacity for complex reasoning and executive functions, research in decision making has revealed that motivational and metacognitive processes are also important. We first briefly review the neuropsychological literature on decision making and on the medical and legal assessment of capacity. Next, we discuss the limitations of integrating findings from decision-making research into capacity assessments, including the group-to-individual inference problem, the unclear role of neuroimaging in capacity assessments, and the lack of capacity measures that integrate important facets of decision making. Finally, we present several case examples where we attempt to demonstrate the potential benefits and important limitations of using decision-making research to aid in capacity determinations.
In this analysis the author sets out to examine the concept of freedom of speech on the internet, drawing upon the development of the World Wide Web, the Big-Data-Trade-Off-Dilemma and the ...nothing-to-hide argument fallacy. A key finding is the observation of a multitude of emerging challenges in the field of ethics, privacy, law and security. Furthermore the most recent exertion of influence on the freedom of speech, that is to say astroturfing should adduce as an instance to demonstrate the possibilities of manipulating public opinion. Further on, the analysis of governmental military enhancement programmes and the example of a recent entertainment programme production shall serve as a visualisation that the research on unprecedented signal resolution and datatransfer bandwidth between the brain and electronics might be far more close to reality than one might be expecting. The results suggest that the freedom of speech is preceded by the freedom of thinking. Its manipulation on a bigger scale (e.g. national elections) could serve as a new way of psychological warfare and therefore the freedom of thinking, or the right to a free mind should remain unviolated.
PDF
