Rethinking cognitive enhancement

There has been much recent excitement amongst neuroscientists and ethicists about the possibility of using drugs, as well as other technologies, to enhance cognition in healthy individuals. This excitement has arisen from recent advances in neuroscientific technologies such as drugs that increase alertness and wakefulness in healthy individuals or technologies that can stimulate activity in different parts of the brain - either via the scalp or via electrodes - raising the possibility of producing cognitive and affective improvements in otherwise healthy individuals. Despite this growing interest, there are conflicting views on the ethics of cognitive enhancement. Some argue that enhancement is not only an ethical pursuit but one that we have a moral obligation to pursue. Others are more skeptical about the ethical implications and long term effects of cognitive enhancement. Some neuroscientists argue that use of stimulants as putative enhancers will lead to misuse, abuse and addiction in some users, and might have undesirable long-term consequences.

Part I Introduction; 1 Introduction; 2 The ethical debate on human enhancement and cognitive enhancement by way of biotechnologies; Part II Risk and benefits of the use of neuropharmacological drugs for cognitive enhancement; 3 Overclocking the brain? The potential and limitations of cognition-enhancing drugs; 4 Neuroenhancement: a call for better evidence on safety and efficacy; 5 Exaggerating the benefits and downplaying the risks in the bioethical debate on cognitive neuroenhancement

Continued contents note: 6 The effects of modafinil on creativity: results from a randomized controlled trial7 Does modafinil improve cognitive functioning in healthy individuals?; 8 Cognitive enhancement using noninvasive brain stimulation: weighing opportunity, feasibility, and risk; 9 The use of brain stimulation technology for cognitive enhancement and the potential for addiction; 10 Debunking the ethical neuroenhancement debate; Part III Ethical, philosophical, legal, and policy issues of cognitive enhancement; 11 The evolutionary limits to neuroenhancement

Continued contents note: 12 Enhancement and therapy: is it possible to draw a line?13 On the argument that enhancement is "cheating"; 14…