Neuroethics & Law Blog

"The Pace of Modern Life" (xkcd comic)

You don't have to read every word of this xkcd comic to be reminded that new technologies tend to be perceived as dangerous threats to familiar ways of life:

"The Impact of Neuroimages in the Sentencing Phase of Capital Trials"

 Recently posted to SSRN (and forthcoming in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies):

"The Impact of Neuroimages in the Sentencing Phase of Capital Trials"

Michael J. Saks

, Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law; N. J. Schweitzer, Arizona State University; Eyal Aharoni, University of California, Santa Barbara - Department of Psychology; and Kent Kiehl, University of New Mexico

Although recent research has found that neurological expert testimony is more persuasive than other kinds of expert and non-expert evidence, no impact has been found for neuroimages beyond that of neurological evidence sans images. Those findings hold true in the context of a mens rea defense and various forms of insanity defenses. The present studies test whether neuroimages afford heightened impact in the penalty phase of capital murder trials.

Two mock jury experiments (n=825 and n=882) were conducted online using nationally representative samples of persons who were jury-eligible and death-qualified. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions varying the defendant’s diagnosis (psychopathy, schizophrenia, normal), type of expert evidence supporting the diagnosis (clinical, genetic, neurological sans images, neurological with images), evidence of future dangerousness (high, low), and whether the proponent of the expert evidence was the prosecution (arguing aggravation) or the defense (arguing mitigation).

For defendants diagnosed as psychopathic, neuroimages reduced judgments of responsibility and sentences of death. For defendants diagnosed as schizophrenic, neuroimages increased judgments of responsibility; non-image neurological evidence decreased death sentences and judgments of responsibility and dangerousness. All else equal, psychopaths were more likely to be sentenced to death than schizophrenics. When experts opined that defendant was dangerous, sentences of death increased. A backfire effect was found such that the offering party produced the opposite result than that being argued for when the expert evidence was clinical, genetic, or non-image neurological. But when the expert evidence included neuroimages, jurors moved in the direction argued by counsel.

"The Future of the Law of Armed Conflict: Ostriches, Butterflies, and Nanobots"

On Wednesday, the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute is hosting an online lecture that may interest some readers. The lecture will be based on this paper by Eric Jensen. See here for details.

Farah and Loftus Profiles

CNN profiles Martha Farah here and Elizabeth Loftus here.

PEBS Neuroethics Roundup (JHU)

Last Edition's Most Popular Article: This Is Your Brain on Coffee, New York Times Well Blog In The Popular Press Heartbeat used to generate out-of-body experience, NewScientist Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing, New York Times Sunday Review How the brain controls a 'mind machine', BBC News How do neuroscientists integrate their knowledge of the brain with their religious and spiritual beliefs?, The Neuroethics Blog The Neurobiology behind a Sense of Place, Brain Blogger What gives the human mind its edge?, New Scientist  Fish on Prozac Prove Anxious, Antisocial, Aggressive, Scientific American Brain scan predicts best therapy for depression, Nature News Dad's Life Stress Exposure Leaves Mark On Sperm, Can Affect Offspring Brain Development, Science Daily Your Hidden Censor: What Your Mind Will Not Let You See, Scientific American A Sense of Adventure May Distinguish Identical Twins From Each Other, Time Health & Family When Cleaning fMRI Data is a Nuisance, Neuroskeptic  Infants Are Born to Talk, Scientific American China's Alzheimer's time bomb revealed, New Scientist  Even A Small Change In Habits Helps Fend Off Stroke, National Public Radio Shots Blog Hands-Free Gadgets Don't Mean Risk-Free Driving, National Public Radio Shots Blog Really good baseball players don’t just “keep their eye on the ball”, Discover Magazine Blogs: Seriously, Science? Brain's 'Dark Side' as Key to Cocaine Addiction, Science Daily Video Gamers Really Do See More: Gamers Capture More Information Faster for Visual Decision-Making, Science Daily Extreme therapy: Inside a hospital for dangerous minds, New Scientist  When giving reasons leads to worse decisions, Mind Hacks Hey kid, what do you know?, Johns Hopkins Magazine What happened to U.S. mental health care after deinstitutionalization?, Washington Post Why Wanting Expensive Things Makes Us So Much Happier Than Buying Them, The Atlantic  Layered Floating Paintings Inspired by CT Scans, My Modern Met From the Academic Literature: Optogenetic Stimulation of Lateral Orbitofronto-Striatal Pathway Suppresses Compulsive Behaviors, Science  Scientific faith: Belief in science increases in the face of stress and existential anxiety, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Pallidal Deep Brain Stimulation Modulates Afferent Fibers, Efferent Fibers, and Glia, The Journal of Neuroscience Mirror or Megaphone?: How relationships between narcissism and social networking site use differ on Facebook and Twitter, Computers in Human Behavior Soccer Heading Is Associated with White Matter Microstructural and Cognitive Abnormalities, Radiology Double deletion of melanocortin 4 receptors and SAPAP3 corrects compulsive behavior and obesity in mice, PNAS fMRI responses to Jung's Word Association Test: implications for theory, treatment and research, Journal of Analytical Psychology A Behavioral Demonstration of Overconfidence in Judgment, Psychological Science Chronic Antidepressant Treatment Impairs the Acquisition of Fear Extinction, Biological Psychiatry  Dynamics of Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Adult Humans, Cell Sociodemographic, psychiatric and somatic risk factors for suicide: a Swedish national cohort study, Psychological Medicine

Subscribe to our mailing list The Program in Ethics and Brain Sciences (PEBS) is a collaborative effort of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the  Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute . The goal of PEBS is to ensure that research in brain science proceeds with an informed understanding of ethical issues, and that philosophical and empirical analyses of the advances in brain research proceed with an informed understanding of the science.

PEBS Neuroethics Roundup (JHU)

Last Edition's Most Popular Article: Unexcited? There May Be a Pill for That, New York Times In The Popular Press Oxytocin, the Love Hormone, Also Keeps People Apart, Scientific American WWII Drug: The German Granddaddy of Crystal Meth, Spiegel Online The Cyborg Era Begins, Science Compulsive Behavior Triggered and Treated, Nature News DARPA's Crazy Mind-Controlled Prosthetics Have Gotten Even Better, Gizmodo Software that knows you're suffering: How SentiMetrix sees PTSD with artificial intelligence, Huffington Post Why Is Angry Birds So Addictive?, Scientific American Mind-controlled exoskeleton lets paralysed people walk, New Scientist  Mapping the mind with nanotechnology, The Guardian When Trick Questions Become False Memories, Discover Magazine Neuroskeptic The World Outside: Experiencing the world through the eyes of autism, Wellcome Trust Blog How to make a digital human brain, Fox News Kids experience schadenfreude by age four, maybe earlier, Research Digest Gene switches make prairie voles fall in love, Nature News Baby boomers are killing themselves at an alarming rate, raising question: Why?, Washington Post A Life With Others…In Your Head?, The Neuroethics Blog This Is Your Brain on Coffee, New York Times Well Blog Toy helicopter guided by power of thought, Nature News On Being an Octopus, Boston Review This Man Is Not a Cyborg. Yet., New York Times If Our Gadgets Could Measure Our Emotions, New York Times From the Academic Literature: The challenge of crafting policy for do-it-yourself brain stimulation, Journal of Medical Ethics Bilateral stereotactic anterior capsulotomy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: long-term follow-up, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry  Feeling Better But Doing Worse: Effects of Facebook Self-Presentation on Implicit Self-Esteem and Cognitive Task Performance, Media Psychology Developing a Comprehensive and Comparative Questionnaire for Measuring Personality in Chimpanzees Using a Simultaneous Top-Down/Bottom-Up Design, American Journal of Primatology  Neuroethics in Spain: Neurological Determinism or Moral Freedom?, Neuroethics Altered Insula Response to Sweet Taste Processing After Recovery From Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa, American Journal of Psychiatry Females Scan More Than Males: A Potential Mechanism for Sex Differences in Recognition Memory, Psychological Science Brain structural abnormalities in Doberman pinschers with canine compulsive disorder, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry  Impairing existing declarative memory in humans by disrupting reconsolidation, PNAS Neural correlates of mindfulness meditation-related anxiety relief, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Subscribe to our mailing list The Program in Ethics and Brain Sciences (PEBS) is a collaborative effort of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the  Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute . The goal of PEBS is to ensure that research in brain science proceeds with an informed understanding of ethical issues, and that philosophical and empirical analyses of the advances in brain research proceed with an informed understanding of the science.

Neuroenhancement Program in Tubingen

This program may interest some readers:

TÜBINGEN INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL (TISS) 2013

================================================

Neuroenhancement — What could we do and what ought we to do?

------------------------------------------------------------

-   September 29th to October 2nd, 2013

-   Cloister Heiligkreuztal

Topic

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This year’s summer school will focus on the possibilities and perils of

neuroenhancement from the perspectives of neurosciences, medicine and

philosophy. We want to explore what could be achieved through

neuroenhancements in theory, what can be done already, and where to draw

the line.

Reminder: INS Annual Meeting

A reminder from the International Neuroethics Society:

The International Neuroethics Society announces its 5^th Annual Meeting (a satellite of the Society for Neuroscience Meeting) November 7 & 8 San Diego.  

More information at: http://www.neuroethicssociety.org/2013-annual-meeting.

Listen to INS Member Molly Crockett cordially invite you https://ns.memberclicks.net/assets/molly%20crocket%20recording.wav.

Bring your friends and family to the open-to-the-public program November 7 on Neurogaming: What’s Neuroscience and Ethics Got to Do with It?  

Register for the meeting on November 8 at http://www.neuroethicssociety.org/2013-annual-meeting-registration The speaker lineup includes Barbara Sahakian & John Pickard, University of Cambridge, Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford, Patricia Churchland, University of California-San Diego, Molly Crockett, University of Zurich, Jens Clausen, University of Tubingen, Lisa Claydon, Bristol Law School, University of the West England, Joe Fins & Niko Schiff, Weill Cornell Medical College, Holly Moore, Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Mauricio Delgado, Rutgers University, Catherine Sebastian, Royal Holloway, University of London, J. David Jentsch, University of California – Los Angeles, and Honorable Robert Trentacosta, Presiding Judge of San Diego Superior Court.

See you in San Diego!

"Neuroethics in Spain: Neurological Determinism or Moral Freedom?"

Neuroethics in Spain: Neurological Determinism or Moral Freedom? by Enrique Bonete has been published in the most recent issue of Neuroethics:

Abstract

Spanish culture has recently shown interest about Neuroethics, a new line of research and reflection. It can be said that two general, and somewhat opposing, perspectives are currently being developed in Spain about neuroethics-related topics. One originates from the neuroscientific field and the other from the philosophical field. We will see, throughout this article, that the Spanish authors, who I am going to select here, deal with very diverse neuroethical topics and that they analyse them from different intellectual assumptions. However, I consider that there is one constant concern, which emerges extensively or briefly in each one of the books that I am going to present. I am referring to the problem of freedom. Spanish neuroscientists, in general, stress and accept the new determinism that emanates from recent research about the brain, whilst those who engage in the study of philosophy usually point in their texts to the limitations of empirical research that purport to "demonstrate" the new neurological determinism. I will dedicate the last section, which is more extensive in length, to the work that I consider the most valuable, at least until the present day, and whose title is Neuroética y Neuropolítica (Tecnos, Madrid, 2011). Professor Adela Cortina (chair of Moral Philosophy at Valencia University and member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Moral and Political Science) is its author. But, firstly, I am going to refer to the works written by neuroscientists, and then to those written by philosophers. This will enable us to obtain a global view of the neuroethics models that are being constructed in Spain.

PEBS Neuroethics Roundup (JHU)

Last Edition's Most Popular Article: A Brief History of Mental Illness in Art, Scientific American In The Popular Press Unexcited? There May Be a Pill for That, New York Times Avatars ease voices for schizophrenia patients, BBC News Let's put our heads together and think about this one: A primer on ethical issues surrounding brain-to-brain interfacing, The Neuroethics Blog The man who needs to paralyze himself, NewScientist Brain cells give insight into Down's syndrome, BBC News Health Anorexics Move as Though They Are Larger, Scientific American Neuroscience: Method man, Nature News The Key to a High IQ? Not Getting Distracted, Time Health & Family The Cognitive Science of Star Trek, Scientific American Amazing Photographs of a Giant, Forgotten Collection of Human Brains, Scientific American UCLA Live-Tweets Brain Surgery, Posts Vine Videos (VIDEO), Huffington Post How Head Injuries Damage the Brain, Scientific American More 'legal highs' available in EU, says drug agency, BBC News  Ape tantrums: Chimps and bonobos emotional about choice, BBC News Why you might prefer more pain, Mind Hacks Each Family May Have Schizophrenia In Its Own Way, National Public Radio Shots Blog Scientists Found the Itch Molecule—and They Know How to Turn it Off, Gizmodo Cognitive neuroscience: Time, space and memory, Nature News & Views Looking Askance At Cognitive Neuroscience, Discover Magazine Autistic Children’s Brain Responses To Words Predict Their Developmental Outcomes, Time Health & Family UN mulls ethics of 'killer robots', BBC News Photographing hallucinations, Mind Hacks ADHD Medication in Childhood Does Not Increase Addiction Risk, Time Health & Family Where Does Identity Come From?, Scientific American From the Academic Literature: Embodied Tools, Cognitive Tools and Brain-Computer Interfaces, Neuroethics Executive functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients and their unaffected siblings: A ten-year follow-up study, Schizophrenia Research The artful mind meets art history: Toward a psycho-historical framework for the science of art appreciation, Behavioral and Brain Sciences Intentional retrieval suppression can conceal guilty knowledge in ERP memory detection tests, Biological Psychology The Brain's Silent Messenger: Using Selective Attention to Decode Human Thought for Brain-Based Communication, The Journal of Neuroscience

Subscribe to our mailing list The Program in Ethics and Brain Sciences (PEBS) is a collaborative effort of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the  Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute . The goal of PEBS is to ensure that research in brain science proceeds with an informed understanding of ethical issues, and that philosophical and empirical analyses of the advances in brain research proceed with an informed understanding of the science.

"Review of Daniel Kelly: Yuck! The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust"

Review of Daniel Kelly: Yuck! The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust by Marta Gil has been published in the most recent issue of Nueroethics:

Abstract

Perhaps the most remarkable feature about this book is the effort made by its author in order to shed light on the most intriguing question that surrounds disgust: how is it possible for disgust to be so flexible with its objects? This book is highly recommended for those readers interested in the latest and most exciting aspects of current scholarship on the study of the emotions. Readers too who are interested on evolutionary psychology, moral psychology or neuroethics will find this book stimulating. However, it should be noted that perhaps it may not be liked for readers allergic to evolutionary approaches and the vocabulary of cognitive science.

"Embodied Tools, Cognitive Tools and Brain-Computer Interfaces"

Embodied Tools, Cognitive Tools and Brain-Computer Interfaces by Richard Heersmink has been published in the most recent issue of Nueroethics:

Abstract

In this paper I explore systematically the relationship between Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and their human users from a phenomenological and cognitive perspective. First, I functionally decompose BCI systems and develop a typology in which I categorize BCI applications with similar functional properties into three categories, those with (1) motor, (2) virtual, and (3) linguistic applications. Second, developing and building on the notions of an embodied tool and cognitive tool, I analyze whether these distinct BCI applications can be seen as bodily or cognitive extensions. Contrary to some recent philosophical claims, I will argue that, although BCI technology may have the potential to become bodily and cognitive extensions for skilled users, at this stage they are not. And while the electrodes may to a variable degree be transparent and incorporated in the body schema, the BCI system as a whole is not. Moreover, BCIs do not have a functional role characteristic for cognition and are therefore not cognitive extensions. Third, based on concepts from the distributed cognition framework, I give a number of suggestions to improve the interface design of linguistic applications, i.e. BCIs that allow its user to spell words by selecting letters on a screen. These suggestions may result in cognitive extension and would enhance the autonomy and quality of life of its users. In sum, in this paper I develop a typology, analysis and critique on the current philosophical debate on BCIs, thereby providing a richer conceptual understanding of BCI systems which allows me to offer some suggestions for improving the interface design of linguistic applications.

A Tetrachromat Has Been Found

She can see colors that you can't. Philosophers, start your engines.

PEBS Neuroethics Roundup (JHU)

Last Edition's Most Popular Article: Dancing with the Devil, The Neuroethics Blog In The Popular Press Consciousness: The what, why and how, New Scientist  Is it okay to use smart drugs?, Wellcome Trust Is Ketamine the Next Big Depression Drug?, Scientific American A Brief History of Mental Illness in Art, Scientific American Why Your Brain Thinks These Dots Are a Dog, Gizmodo Dreaming of animals and other warning signs of neurodegeneration, The Guardian The identification of risk for serious mental illnesses: Clinical and ethical challenges, The Neuroethics Blog Fantastic Distortions of Perception, Discover Magazine Understanding How Color Is Perceived in the Brain, Brain Blogger My dad, dementia and me, The Guardian Watch: Learning To Read Someone Else's Mind, Huffington Post Scientists unite to solve mystery of mental illness and neurological conditions, Wellcome Trust Shocks to the brain improve mathematical abilities, Nature News Why Is Psychiatry's New Manual So Much Like The Old One?, National Public Radio Are mental illnesses such as PMS and depression culturally determined?, The Guardian Ketamine Shows Significant Therapeutic Benefit in People With Treatment-Resistant Depression, Science Daily Drawing Closer to Alzheimer’s Magic Bullet? Drugs Found to Both Prevent and Treat Alzheimer's Disease in Mice, Science Daily Genetic Predictors of Postpartum Depression Uncovered, Science Daily Hacked Brainwave Headset Lets You Control Architecture by Thinking, Gizmodo Women 40% more likely than men to develop mental illness, study finds, The Guardian Deprivation: A wake-up call, Nature Outlook Scanning a brain that believes it is dead, Research Digest Neuroscience: Off to night school, Nature Outlook From the Academic Literature: ADHD and stimulant drug treatment: what can the children teach us?, Journal of Medical Ethics Might stimulant drugs support moral agency in ADHD children?, Journal of Medical Ethics The Neuroscience of Decision Making and Our Standards for Assessing Competence to Consent, Neuroethics Treating Yourself as an Object: Self-Objectification and the Ethical Dimensions of Antidepressant Use, Neuroethics Identification of the lateral position of a virtual object based on echoes by humans, Hearing Research Amphetamine Mechanisms and Actions at the Dopamine Terminal Revisited, The Journal of Neuroscience Long-Term Enhancement of Brain Function and Cognition Using Cognitive Training and Brain Stimulation, Current Biology Low Levels of Empathic Concern Predict Utilitarian Moral Judgment, PLoS One Ethicists’ and Nonethicists’ Responsiveness to Student E-mails: Relationships Among Expressed Normative Attitude, Self-Described Behavior, and Empirically Observed Behavior, Metaphilosophy The importance of mixed selectivity in complex cognitive tasks, Nature

Subscribe to our mailing list The Program in Ethics and Brain Sciences (PEBS) is a collaborative effort of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the  Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute . The goal of PEBS is to ensure that research in brain science proceeds with an informed understanding of ethical issues, and that philosophical and empirical analyses of the advances in brain research proceed with an informed understanding of the science.

"Australian University Students’ Attitudes Towards the Acceptability and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals to Improve Academic Performance"

Australian University Students’ Attitudes Towards the Acceptability and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals to Improve Academic Performance by Stephanie Bell, Brad Partridge, Jayne Lucke and Wayne Hall has been published in the most recent issue of Neuroethics:

Abstract

There is currently little empirical information about attitudes towards cognitive enhancement - the use of pharmaceutical drugs to enhance normal brain functioning. It is claimed this behaviour most commonly occurs in students to aid studying. We undertook a qualitative assessment of attitudes towards cognitive enhancement by conducting 19 semi-structured interviews with Australian university students. Most students considered cognitive enhancement to be unacceptable, in part because they believed it to be unethical but there was a lack of consensus on whether it was similar or different to steroid use in sport. There was support for awareness campaigns and monitoring of cognitive enhancement use of pharmaceutical drugs. An understanding of student attitudes towards cognitive enhancement is important in formulating future policy.