2.6 issues and debates

Question 1

what are the ethical issues in cognitive psychology

Answer 1

1. HM and other amnesiac case studies faced issues of informed consent. Their conditions meant participants involved in experiments for cognitive psychology may not remember giving informed consent and thus a study could be deemed unethical
2. Dr Scoville, the surgeon responsible for HM’s surgery, was vilified for his reckless approach. However, the case of HM was fundamental to our understanding that memory is a distinct cognitive process, independent of language and thought. Damage to his hippocampus and temporal lobes enable neuroscience to establish a location for memory in the brain. This is arguably the most important advance in our understanding and memory functioning and HM was the most research to individual in the field of neuroscience
3. Clive wearing, who was in the public eye, was not anonymized which could lead to issues of privacy being violated as the research concerning the case is available within the scientific community and public arena
4. Experimental research: although the full nature of experimental aims maybe with help from participants to avoid the possibility of demand characteristics, most research gains participant consent and really involve deliberately violating the protection of participants by causing distress or anxiety. Some research may use deception by misguiding participants as to the true nature of the experiment, bubble of a participant the right to withdraw from the research at any stage