title: Rethinking the thinking cap: ethics of neural enhancement using noninvasive brain stimulation.
abstract: Although a growing body of evidence suggests that noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation have the capacity to enhance neural function in both brain-injured and neurally intact individuals, the implications of their potential use for cosmetic self-enhancement have not been fully explored. We review 3 areas in which noninvasive brain stimulation has the potential to enhance neurologic function: cognitive skills, mood, and social cognition. We then characterize the ethical problems that affect the practice of cosmetic neurology, including safety, character, justice, and autonomy, and discuss how these problems may apply to the use of noninvasive brain stimulation for self-enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. royhhamilton@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Messing
authors.forename: Anjan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D024803:Biomedical Enhancement / Q000941:ethics* / Q000379:methods; D003071:Cognition; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D012919:Social Behavior; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000941:ethics*