Bio - Comp Debate Flashcards
Give an introduction to Neuroscience
Neuroscience is a rapidly growing area of research due to improvements to technology and a desire to know about the brain and how it influences our personality.
However there is an issue about whether the information gained from neuroscience is acceptable in terms of ethical implications, meaning that due to the condition of the people involved in research and also because of how this new evidence is being used there is debate about whether there could be potentially harmful repercussions of neuroscience.
Describe the issue of consent surrounding neuroscience
Capacity for consent is an issue in neuroscience because the participants that are involved in neurological research have an impaired capacity to give fully informed consent.
For example, there is an issue of changing capacity to consent, this because neurological diseases such as dementia can rapidly deteriorate, this potentially means that it is impossible to gain full valid consent because a person’s desire to be involved in the research may change at some point during the study, but once they are already involved in the research, they may feel they cannot withdraw from the study.
However on the other hand. there are 850,000 people living in the UK with dementia, meaning that it could be considered to be unethical to not conduct this research as there is a real need for a cure to be found due to the mass amount of people it effecta.
Aditionally, It would be economically beneficial for a cure to be found as it costs the government £26 billion eacb year to fund the treatment for neulogical diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
There are already ethical guidelines in place by the charity Alzheimer UK to ensure that as little harm as possible comes to the participants.
Describe the ethics of neuroscience is court
There could be ethical implications of using neuroscience as evidence in court for explanations of criminals behaviour, such as using PET scans as justification for why criminals may have committed murder (Raine et al)
There has been a rise in the number of cases using this evidence to potentially gain reduced sentences, such as in the Peter Jordan Chiesa case where he was convicted for the lesser offence of second degree murder for killing 2 of his neighbours, as he had evidence showing damage to his prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes and cerebellum.
There is worry that juries are being swayed by this evidence because it is scientific making them believe that it is credible even though this evidence does not fully establish cause and effect as there is no way to know whether these changes occurred before, during or after the crime was committed.
However, the authors of the bioethics report concluded that the gradual introduction of neuro-scientific evidence and concepts after they are validated, well understood and interpreted accurately could potentially be highly valuable.
Describe the ethics of cognitive enhancers in neuroscience
There is concern that the increased research into neuroscience has promoted a rise in neural modification and cognitive enhancers.
This could be unethical as research into the long term side effects of these drugs is limited, for example, Ritalin has been associated with mental health problems. There is a worry that people are disturbing the system of their brains in ways that has never been done before which could possibly lead to extremely negative consequences.
However there is is research showing the positive aspects of cognitive enhancers, for instance Battleday (2015) who has reviewed the evidence into modafinil concluded that it could improve decision making and problem solving as well. Aditionally they found there were few side effects and no addictive qualities to it.
Overall strict regulations and vast quantities of research needs to take place to ensure that people’s safety is maintained and if the side effects are so great then the drugs need to stop being so readily available especially to students whose brains are still developing.
Conclude an essay on the ethics of neuroscience
Overall it could be aruged that the benefits of neuroscience research outweigh the ethical
implications because the research increases the possibility of a cure for neurological disease, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s being discovered.
Ethical implications of neuroscience evidence being used in the legal system and the development of neural modifiers are worrying, meaning that until the correct procedures are in place to control these areas, these domains need to be effectively restricted.
not a question - mark sceme on neuroscience
Description of neuroscience.
History of neuroscience (in relation to psychology).
Work of Raine (1997).
Work of Libet (1985).
Work of Fuchs (2006)
Uses of neuroscience e.g. neuromarketing, prediction of mental illness,
psychopharmacology, mood and attention enhancement, further education on
the brain etc.
