Vol. 4 No. 1 | February 2013

Vol. 4 No. 1 | February 2013

ISBN: 2150-7740

target articles

Just How Cognitive Is “Cognitive Enhancement”? On the Significance of Emotions in University Students’ Experiences with Study Drugs

Scott Vrecko

Numerous deliberations on the ethics of cognitive enhancement take as their primary case the nonmedical use of prescription stimulant drugs by university students seeking to improve their performance in relation to academic work. Almost without exception, such discussions suggest that these medications enable academic performance enhancement through effects on cognitive processes. This article rep...

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Open Peer Commentary

“Clock Shock,” Motivational Enhancement, and Performance Maintenance in Adderall Use Robert Ranisch, Duilio Garofoli & Veljko Dubljevic
Feeling Good About the End: Adderall and Moral Enhancement Ryan Tonkens
Dealing with Ennui: To What Extent Is “Cognitive Enhancement” a Form of Self-Medication for Symptoms of Depression? Jayne Lucke, Brad Partridge & Wayne Hall
Just How Cognitive Is Emotion? The Continuing Importance of the Philosophy of Emotion in Enhancement Ethics Rebecca Bamford
The Emotional Impact of ‘Study Drugs’: Unsurprising and Unconvincing Laura Y. Cabrera & Peter B. Reiner
Why Students Bother Taking Adderall: Measurement Validity of Self-Reports Sylvia Terbeck
Enhancement in Children and Adolescents: Scrutinizing Effects Beyond Cognition Saskia K. Nagel & William D. Graf
Cognitive Enhancement with Amphetamine: History Repeats Itself Irena Ilieva & Martha J. Farah
Rethinking “Cognitive” Enhancement: The Ethical Stakes of User Perspectives Fred B. Ketchum

Deep Brain Stimulation and Postoperative Suicidality Among Treatment Resistant Depression Patients: Should Eligibility Protocols Exclude Patients with a History of Suicide Attempts and Anger/Impulsivity?

Frédéric Gilbert

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in using deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression (TRD). While DBS has been regarded as an efficient and safe treatment for many conditions over the last 20 years, and although DBS research trials involving TRD patients show encouraging evidence of remission, recent DBS TRD follow-up studies have repo...

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Open Peer Commentary

Time to Reconsider Deep Brain Stimulation Ron Berghmans
Managing Suicide Risk in Experimental Treatments of Treatment-Resistant Depression Adrian Carter & Wayne Hall
The Complexity of Deep Brain Stimulation and Suicidality in Patients with Treatment Resistant Depression Brian S. Appleby
Deep Brain Stimulation Research Protocols and Depressive Patients with Previous Suicidality: We Can't Afford to Lose Focus Andrew Coulter
The Ethical Import of Patient Selection Samantha Copeland
Rethinking Vulnerability Farah Focquaert

Communicating with the Minimally Conscious: Ethical Implications in End-of-Life Care

Kathrine Bendtsen

Recent research from electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies appears to indicate that some patients diagnosed in a vegetative state may have some level of awareness and should instead be understood to be in a minimally conscious state (MCS). These results further suggest that, with the help of neuroimaging, at least once the technology has been developed furth...

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Open Peer Commentary

A Principled Argument, But Not a Practical One Andrew Peterson, Lorina Naci, Charles Weijer & Adrian M. Owen
Dissenting on the Matter of Assent Kevin M. Dirksen & Katherine Brown-Saltzman
Distinguishing Minimal Consciousness From Decisional Capacity: Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Implications Ben A. Rich
Never Say Never: Limitations of Neuroimaging for Communicating Decisions After Brain Injury Grace Lee & Judy Illes
Fragments of Selves and The Importance of Emotionality: Ethicolegal Challenges in Assessing Capacities, Consent, and Communicating with MCS Patients and the Need for Guidelines Robin Mackenzie
Minimally Conscious Assumptions and Dangerous Decision-Making Inferences Liza-Marie Johnson, Chris Feudtner & Justin N. Baker

editorial.

Neuroethics at 10, and Counting Judy Illes & Paul Root Wolpe
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