Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement: Ethics

Four cardinal concerns are commonly raised in neuroethical discourse when experts weigh in upon the uneasiness that the public might have about pharmacological cognitive enhancement, namely safety, distributive justice, coercion, and authenticity. Much ink has been spilled in discussing these issues, but at the present time there is much more information available regarding expert opinions on the topic than public opinion. The mission statement of the National Core for Neuroethics states that our objective is, in part, 'to align innovations in the brain sciences with societal, cultural and individual human values'. In order to align innovations with these values, it is imperative that we ascertain what those values are. We suggest that probing public attitudes regarding cognitive enhancement is a critical tool for determining what the public's concerns, enthusiasms, fears and hopes are regarding technologies that affect their brains. Moreover, given the hypercognitive society in which many modern humans live, cognitive prowess is amongst the most prized of human traits. The experiments outlined in this proposal represent our efforts at systematically probing public sentiment towards cognitive enhancement.