•  360
    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. To…Read more
  •  316
    Bottom Up Ethics - Neuroenhancement in Education and Employment
    with Imre Bard, George Gaskell, Agnes Allansdottir, Rui Vieira da Cunha, Peter Eduard, Juergen Hampel, Christian Hofmaier, Nicole Kronberger, Sheena Laursen, Anna Meijknecht, Salvör Nordal, Alexandre Quintanilha, Gema Revuelta, Núria Saladié, Judit Sándor, Júlio Borlido Santos, Simone Seyringer, Ilina Singh, Han Somsen, Winnie Toonders, Helge Torgersen, Vincent Torre, Márton Varju, and Hub Zwart
    Neuroethics 11 (3): 309-322. 2018.
    Neuroenhancement involves the use of neurotechnologies to improve cognitive, affective or behavioural functioning, where these are not judged to be clinically impaired. Questions about enhancement have become one of the key topics of neuroethics over the past decade. The current study draws on in-depth public engagement activities in ten European countries giving a bottom-up perspective on the ethics and desirability of enhancement. This informed the design of an online contrastive vignette expe…Read more
  •  232
    Bottom Up Ethics - Neuroenhancement in Education and Employment
    with Hub Zwart, Márton Varju, Vincent Torre, Helge Torgersen, Winnie Toonders, Han Somsen, Ilina Singh, Simone Seyringer, Júlio Santos, Judit Sándor, Núria Saladié, Gema Revuelta, Alexandre Quintanilha, Salvör Nordal, Anna Meijknecht, Sheena Laursen, Nicole Kronberger, Christian Hofmaier, Juergen Hampel, Peter Eduard, Rui Cunha, Agnes Allansdottir, George Gaskell, and Imre Bard
    Neuroethics 11 (3): 309-322. 2018.
    Neuroenhancement involves the use of neurotechnologies to improve cognitive, affective or behavioural functioning, where these are not judged to be clinically impaired. Questions about enhancement have become one of the key topics of neuroethics over the past decade. The current study draws on in-depth public engagement activities in ten European countries giving a bottom-up perspective on the ethics and desirability of enhancement. This informed the design of an online contrastive vignette expe…Read more
  •  124
    Cognitive enhancement
    In Judy Illes & Barbara J. Sahakian (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics, Oxford University Press. 2011.
    Cognitive enhancement aims at optimizing a specific class of information-processing functions: cognitive functions, physically realized by the human brain. This article deals with ethical issues in cognitive enhancement. It discusses some standard conceptual issues related to the notion of “cognitive enhancement” and then continues from a purely descriptive point of view by briefly reviewing some empirical aspects and sketching the current situation. Several enhancement strategies are being test…Read more
  •  95
    The Prospects of Artificial Consciousness: Ethical Dimensions and Concerns
    American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 14 (2): 58-71. 2023.
    Can machines be conscious and what would be the ethical implications? This article gives an overview of current robotics approaches toward machine consciousness and considers factors that hamper an understanding of machine consciousness. After addressing the epistemological question of how we would know whether a machine is conscious and discussing potential advantages of potential future machine consciousness, it outlines the role of consciousness for ascribing moral status. As machine consciou…Read more
  •  71
    Autonomy and freedom of choice in prenatal genetic diagnosis
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5 (1): 65-72. 2002.
    An increase in autonomy and freedom is often considered one ofthe main arguments in favour of a broad use of genetic testing.Starting from Gerald Dworkin's reflections on autonomy and choicethis article examines some of the implications which accompanythe increase in choices offered by prenatal genetic diagnosis.Although personal autonomy and individual choice are importantaspects in the legitimation of prenatal genetic diagnosis, itseems clear that an increase in choice offered by prenatalgenet…Read more
  •  63
    Psychosocial and Ethical Aspects in Non-Invasive EEG-Based BCI Research—A Survey Among BCI Users and BCI Professionals
    with Gerd Grübler, Abdul Al-Khodairy, Robert Leeb, Iolanda Pisotta, Angela Riccio, and Martin Rohm
    Neuroethics 7 (1): 29-41. 2013.
    In this paper, the results of a pilot interview study with 19 subjects participating in an EEG-based non-invasive brain–computer interface (BCI) research study on stroke rehabilitation and assistive technology and of a survey among 17 BCI professionals are presented and discussed in the light of ethical, legal, and social issues in research with human subjects. Most of the users were content with study participation and felt well informed. Negative aspects reported include the long and cumbersom…Read more
  •  48
    Individual autonomy is a concept highly appreciated in modern Western societies. Its significance is reflected by the central importance and broad use of the model of informed consent in all fields of medicine. In predictive genetic testing, individual autonomy gains particular importance, for what is in focus here is not so much a concrete medical treatment but rather options for taking preventive measures and the influence that the test results have on long-term lifestyle and preferences. Base…Read more
  •  44
    This paper discusses current clinical applications and possible future uses of brain-computer interfaces as a means for communication, motor control and entertainment. After giving a brief account of the various approaches to direct brain-computer interaction, the paper will address individual, social and ethical implications of BCI technology to extract signals from the brain. These include reflections on medical and psychosocial benefits and risks, user control, informed consent, autonomy and …Read more
  •  40
    Twenty-Five Years of Ethics Across the Curriculum
    Teaching Ethics 16 (1): 55-74. 2016.
    After twenty-five years of integrating ethics across the curriculum at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions conducted a survey of full-time faculty to investigate: a) what ethical topics faculty thought students from their discipline should be aware of when they graduate, b) how widely ethics is currently being taught at the undergraduate and graduate level, c) what ethical topics are being covered in these courses, and d) what teachin…Read more
  •  39
    Twenty-Five Years of Ethics Across the Curriculum
    Teaching Ethics 16 (1): 55-74. 2016.
    After twenty-five years of integrating ethics across the curriculum at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions conducted a survey of full-time faculty to investigate: a) what ethical topics faculty thought students from their discipline should be aware of when they graduate, b) how widely ethics is currently being taught at the undergraduate and graduate level, c) what ethical topics are being covered in these courses, and d) what teachin…Read more
  •  37
    Academic performance enhancement or cognitive enhancement (CE) via stimulant drug use has received increasing attention. The question remains, however, whether CE solely represents the use of drugs for achieving better academic or workplace results or whether CE also serves various other purposes. The aim of this study was to put the phenomenon of pharmacological academic performance enhancement via prescription and illicit (psycho-) stimulant use (Amphetamines, Methylphenidate) among university…Read more
  •  31
    Living longer: age retardation and autonomy (review)
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 12 (2): 179-185. 2009.
    Research into human ageing is a growing field of research with two central foci: geriatric medicine works to reduce the incidence and severity of age-related diseases and disabilities by devising adequate therapeutic and preventive strategies. A second focus, this time in the emerging field of biogerontology, is to bring about a general retardation of the ageing process and by this increase the average and maximum human lifespan. This contribution looks into the second focus, i.e. the possibilit…Read more
  •  28
    The Human Sciences after the Decade of the Brain (edited book)
    Elsevier Academic Press. 2017.
    The Human Sciences after the Decade of the Brain brings together exciting new works that address today’s key challenges for a mutual interaction between cognitive neuroscience and the social sciences and humanities. Taking up the methodological and conceptual problems of choosing a neuroscience approach to disciplines such as philosophy, history, ethics and education, the book deepens discussions on a range of epistemological, historical, and sociological questions about the "neuro-turn" in the …Read more
  •  28
    Electrodes in the brain: Some anthropological and ethical aspects of deep brain stimulation
    International Review of Information Ethics 5 (9): 33-39. 2006.
    In the following text, medical, anthropological and ethical issues of deep brain stimulation, a medical technology in which electrodes implanted in the human brain electrically influence specified brain regions, will be discussed. After a brief account of the deep brain stimulation procedure and its chances and risks, anthropological and ethical aspects of the approach will be discussed. These relate to the reversibility of the procedure and to the patient’s capacity to control the effects it ex…Read more
  •  22
    Irrgang, B.: 1997, Forschungsethik, Gentechnik und neue Biotechnologie (review)
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 2 (2): 210-211. 1999.
  •  14
    Neuroethics and the Neuroscientific Turn
    In L. Syd M. Johnson & Karen S. Rommelfanger (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics, . pp. 14-32. 2017.
    Stimulated by a general salience of neuroscientific research and the declaration of neuroscience as one of the leading disciplines of the current century, a diversity of disciplines from the social sciences and the humanities have engaged in discussions about the role of the brain in various social and cultural phenomena. The general importance assigned to the brain in so many areas of academic and social life nowadays has been called the ‘neuroscientific turn’. One of the fields that gained par…Read more
  •  11
    Empowering Graduate Students to Address Ethics in Research Environments
    with Kelly Laas, Christine Miller, Stephanie Taylor, and Eric M. Brey
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 28 (3): 542-550. 2019.
    :In this article, we present an educational intervention that embeds ethics education within research laboratories. This structure is designed to assist students in addressing ethical challenges in a more informed way, and to improve the overall ethical culture of research environments. The project seeks to identify factors that students and researchers consider relevant to ethical conduct in science, technology, engineering, and math and to promote the cultivation of an ethical culture in exper…Read more
  •  10
    Cognitive Enhancement: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (edited book)
    with Andreas G. Franke
    Springer. 2013.
    Cognitive enhancement is the use of drugs, biotechnological strategies or other means by healthy individuals aiming at the improvement of cognitive functions such as vigilance, concentration or memory without any medical need. In particular, the use of pharmacological substances has received considerable attention during the last few years. Currently, however, little is known concerning the use of cognitive enhancers, their effects in healthy individuals and the place and function of cognitive e…Read more
  •  10
    Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM (edited book)
    with K. Laas, C. Miller, and E. Brey
    Springer Verlag. 2024.
    This book shares innovative approaches to effectively engage students and faculty working in research labs, lab-based classrooms and courses to build inclusive ethical cultures. The frameworks and approaches presented move beyond traditional research ethics training to strengthen the ethical culture in research labs. The chapters in the book showcase best practices and approaches to embedding educational interventions in courses, research labs and departments. The book is based on the two-day wo…Read more
  •  8
    State Neutrality and Psychopharmacological Enhancement
    American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 1 (2): 51-52. 2010.
  •  6
    Neuroenhancement Bubble?—Neuroenhancement Wave!
    American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 2 (4): 44-45. 2011.
  •  5
    Does Neuroscience Have Normative Implications? (edited book)
    with Geoffrey S. Holtzman
    Springer. 2020.
    This book brings together a number of essays that are optimistic about the ways certain neuroscientific insights might advance philosophical ethics, and other essays that are more circumspect about the relevance of neuroscience to philosophical ethics. As a whole, the essays form a self-reflective body of work that simultaneously seeks to derive normative ethical implications from neuroscience, and to question whether and how that may be possible at all. In doing so, the collection brings togeth…Read more
  •  5
    This volume summarizes the ethical, social and cultural contexts of interfacing brains and computers. It is intended for the interdisciplinary community of BCI stakeholders. Insofar, engineers, neuroscientists, psychologists, physicians, care-givers and also users and their relatives are concerned. For about the last twenty years brain-computer-interfaces (BCIs) have been investigated with increasing intensity and have in principle shown their potential to be useful tools in diagnostics, rehabil…Read more
  •  3
    Investigating user perceptions of commercial virtual assistants: A qualitative study
    with Leilasadat Mirghaderi and Monika Sziron
    Frontiers in Psychology 13. 2022.
    As commercial virtual assistants become an integrated part of almost every smart device that we use on a daily basis, including but not limited to smartphones, speakers, personal computers, watches, TVs, and TV sticks, there are pressing questions that call for the study of how participants perceive commercial virtual assistants and what relational roles they assign to them. Furthermore, it is crucial to study which characteristics of commercial virtual assistants are perceived as important for …Read more
  •  1
    Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM
    with Kelly Laas, Christine Z. Miller, and Eric M. Brey
    In E. Hildt, K. Laas, C. Miller & E. Brey (eds.), Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM, Springer Verlag. pp. 1-13. 2024.
    Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are central to any educational system. The term started with the National Science Foundation as “SMET” and was changed to STEM at a later date due to phonetic reasons. The term was not widely used until Virginia Tech University began offering a “STEM education” degree in 2005 (Friedman 2005). The term STEM covers a broad spectrum of different disciplines. While, in general, STEM is used as an umbrella term for the natural sciences, …Read more