News
by Syd M. Johnson
At a neuroethics conference in Nova Scotia, panelists advised taking claims about neurotherapy and brain imaging with a grain of salt.
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New site
The university has launched the Penn Center for Neuroscience and Society, a cross-discipline center aiming to increase understanding of the impact of neuroscience on society through research and teaching, and to encourage the responsible use of neuroscience for the benefit of humanity. [off-site link]
by Russell A. Poldrack, Ph.D.
Researchers and news reports sometimes exaggerate findings from brain imaging, and we should regard “breakthroughs" with caution, writes an experienced interpreter of brain scans.
News
by David H. Freedman
Newsweek
Medicine may allow us to challenge our genetic inheritance and repair insults to the brain, whether as Alzheimer's sufferers or moody, forgetful people and hazy thinkers. For many people, the temptation to "neuroenhance" may be hard to resist, despite the potential ethical dilemmas it poses. [off-site link]
Paper
Moving beyond proof of principle
by Nicolas D. Schiff, M.D.; Joseph T. Giacino, Ph.D.; Joseph J. Fins, M.D.
Three researchers review a case of using deep brain stimulation in a minimally conscious patient, describing the case and the questions raised by single-subject studies, studies in people who cannot give informed consent, and other ethical issues in this article from the Archives of Neurology. [off-site link, registration may be required]
Commentary
Jerome Kagan Gives Six Good Reasons for Advocating the Importance of Arts in School
“It is not possible to live by rationality alone," said cognitive-research pioneer Jerome Kagan during the Learning, Arts, and the Brain conference in Baltimore.
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News
by Aalok Mehta
New insights into the death process do not invalidate the commonly used neurological standard, according to a new white paper being discussed March 12 and 13 at a
meeting of the President’s Council on Bioethics. But not everyone agrees with the paper’s conclusions.
Podcast
The field of neuroethics treats an array of issues, including asking where do we draw the line on manipulating brain function? In this podcast, Judy Illes, Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics and Professor of Neurology at the University of British Columbia, offers some background on the neural maze of science and ethics. Part of our
Gray Matters series.
News
by Aalok Mehta
Neuroscience-based methods of lie detection already may have passed the test of public acceptance, but whether they work is still an open question in the scientific community. The growing disparity between public and scientific understanding of “forensic neuroscience” was one of several pressing issues that brought nearly 200 people to Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of the Neuroethics Society.
by Malcolm Ritter
Associated Press
An opinion piece in the journal Nature has caused quite a stir by arguing in favor of legalizing cognition-enhancing drugs for healthy brains. [off-site link]
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by Richard J. Bonnie, J.D., Donna T. Chen, M.D., M.P.H., and Charles P. O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D.
With neuroscience on the threshold of major advances in the pharmacological management of addiction, Richard J. Bonnie, Donna T. Chen and Charles P. O’Brien consider the ethical and legal implications of different methods for administering one successful drug, injectable naltrexone, to convicted drug offenders.
Webcast
Neurologists exploring deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment face serious ethical challenges because the invasive technique is still in very early testing yet many in the public think it's ready for prime time, experts said during a public forum at the Dana Center in Washington, DC. Panelists included Philip Campbell, Ph.D., Nature and Nature Publications; Jonathan Moreno, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Helen Mayberg, M.D., Emory University; and Joseph Fins, M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College; the even was moderated by Judy Illes, Ph.D., Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics.
Interview
Q&A with Martha Farah
by Aalok Mehta
Some companies are rushing to cash in on promising but unproved neuroscience developments, including offering truth detection, reading tutors and brain exercisers. Martha Farah, director for the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, describes how that might not be good news for consumers. Part of a series featuring speakers at the Neuroethics Society annual meeting, Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C.
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News
by Aalok Mehta
Sophisticated neuroimaging techniques allow scientists to delve into how the brain makes mystical experience possible and what happens to the brain during a religious episode.
Classic Webcast
Library of Congress
What are the rights and wrongs of using or not using new brain therapies and enhancements? In May 2005, the Library of Congress, the Dana Foundation, Columbia University and the National Institute of Mental Health gathered leaders in neuroscience and ethics to discuss these questions. Speakers during this Webcast: Gerald Fischbach, Andres Lozano, John Donoghue, Mahlon DeLong, Robert Goodman, Dennis Spencer, William Heetderks, Mary Faith Marshall, Paul Root Wolpe
News
In this story in the August issue of
Scientific American, neuroethicists Henry Greely and Judy Illes call for a ban on nonresearch uses of fMRI brain-scanning technology, responding to its attempted use in court cases and daily life as a sort of lie detector. [registration may be required to access story.]
Web Resource
The independent study Web course "Advances in Neuroscience and their Ethical Implications" includes sections on neuroimaging, neurogenetics, neuropharmacology and neurotechnology, with background information, case studies and a resource list with links.
Donald Pfaff, Ph.D., head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University, gives us a science-based hypothesis of why humans across time and geography have such similar notions of right and wrong.
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News
by Jim Schnabel
Neuromarketers claim that by using high-tech imaging to study the brain’s reactions directly, they can get information that's more detailed and reliable than traditional surveys and focus groups—and so sell more to more consumers. The Nielsen Company, which provides the famous “Nielsen ratings,” has just bought in. Should the rest of us?
PODCAST
Scientific American
Scientific American's new podcast features an interview with Michael Gazzaniga on the legal aspects of neuroscience, including lie detection, verbal vs. nonverbal incrimination, the nature of pain and The Law and Neuroscience Project, the new MacArthur Foundation effort that he directs. [25 min Web stream]
Column
by Guy McKhann, M.D
Brain researchers must be cognizant not just of the neuroethical implications of their work, but also of the ethical issues in their own professional behavior.
More evidence suggests that brain dysfunction can compromise free will
by Tom Valeo
Researchers at University College London have detected an impulse control area of the frontal lobes by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Their work adds to the debate over how much "free will" is a matter of brain matter and how much is a matter of self-control.
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by Ben Mauk
Neuroethicist Michael Gazzaniga shows a D.C. audience the links between brain and courtroom, including the validity of pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, the difficulties of diagnosing minimally conscious states and the neuroscience behind behavioral biases that can affect evidence in a trial.
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Podcast
Nature NeuroPod, the first neurocience podcast coproduced by
Nature and the Dana Foundation, includes segments on what brain imaging really tells us, anaesthetics that don't cause paralysis, learning under stress and how brain research is changing the face of warfare—featuring the Dana Foundation’s
trans-Atlantic Mind Wars discussion. (On the Nature site linked from the headline, look for the podcast under “October 2007.”)
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Webcast
Panelists discuss the latest research and give perspectives about the legal and neuroethical issues emerging from psychopharmacology of therapy and enhancement.
Essay
Progress Report 2007
Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman,M.D., discusses ethics and policy issues raised by advances in brain science.
From Dana Press Books
Essential Readings in Neuroethics
by Walter Glannon, Ph. D., editor
Contributors include Adina Roskies on neuroethics for the New millennium, Martha J. Farah and Paul Root Wolpe on monitoring and manipulating brain function, Antonio Damasio on the neural basis of social behavior, and Alan Leshner on ethical issues in taking neuroscience research from bench to bedside.
See also