Abstract
Recent neuroscience studies have reported that neurofeedback training with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging enables the regulation of an individual’s cognitive, emotion-related, and behavioral states through a real-time representation of her brain activities. Since this technique has been applied not only to clinical research to, for example, mitigate mental or psychiatric symptoms but also to non-clinical research to, for example, change the cognition or preferences of a so-called healthy participant, neurofeedback-based cognitive and/or moral enhancements may be realized in the future. However, neurofeedback-based human enhancement is not the only issue that requires neuroethical consideration. I examine why and to what extent the dual application of neurofeedback technique will blur the lines between the mental, the social, and the moral, threatening some social norms, such as individual freedom and diversity. First, I consider the link between the mental and the social in psychiatry. Examining the definition of “mental disorder” provided by the American Psychiatric Association, I show that the mental is partly defined through social performance. Second, I make explicit the link between the social and the moral and argue that moral evaluation of an activity is gently but positively correlated with its social evaluation. Third, I demonstrate the links between the mental, the social, and the moral. In spite of a great deal of effort to distinguish these notions, the possibility of the dual application of this technique blurs the lines between them. Fourth, I examine whether such blurred lines signal sociocultural evolution or dystopia and argue that it can be understood as a beginning of the second advent of ethical virtue. I conclude that further cautious consideration of neuroethics is required because the establishment of this technique may have unique influences on our society.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association (Ed.). (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition, DSM-5. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958). Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy, 33(124), 1–19.
Aristotle. (1998). Nicomachean ethics. Translated by W. D. Ross, revised by J. L. Ackrill, and J. O. Urmson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Blumenthal-Barby, J. S. (2014). Psychiatry’s new manual (DSM-5): ethical and conceptual dimensions. Journal of Medical Ethics, 40(8), 531–536.
Chan, S., & Harris, J. (2011). Moral enhancement and pro-social behaviour. Journal of Medical Ethics, 37(3), 130–131.
Chappell, T. (2013). Virtue ethics in the twentieth century. In D. C. Russell (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to virtue ethics (pp. 149–171). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Foucault, M. (1961). Histoire de la folie à l’âge classique. Paris: Plon.
Jaeger, W. (1957). Aristotle's use of medicine as model of method in his ethics. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 77(1), 54–61.
Jotterand, F., & Giordano, J. (2015). Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging-brain-computer interfacing in the assessment and treatment of psychopathy: potential and challenges. In J. Clausen & N. Levy (Eds.), Handbook of Neuroethics (pp. 763–781). New York: Springer.
Kaufmann, A. (1997). Rechtsphilosophie. 2. Auflage. München: C. H. Beck.
Kelsen, H. (1973). Essays in legal and moral philosophy. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Lee, S. (1986). Law and morals: Warnock, Gillick, and beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacIntyre, A. (1984). After virtue: a study in moral theory (2nd ed.). Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Martin, M. (2006). From morality to mental health: virtue and vice in a therapeutic culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moore, G. E. (1903). Principia ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Owen, G. E. L. (1961). Tithenai ta phainomena. In S. Mansion (Ed.), Aristote et les problèmes de méthode (pp. 83–103). Louvain: Publications Universitaires de Louvain.
Scharnowski, F., & Weiskopf, N. (2015). Cognitive enhancement through real-time fMRI neurofeedback. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 4, 122–127.
Shklar, J. N. (1986). Legalism: an essay on law, morals and political trials. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Sparrow, R. (2014). Egalitarianism and moral bioenhancement. American Journal of Bioethics, 14(4), 20–28.
Szasz, T. (2010). The myth of mental illness: foundations of a theory of personal conduct. New York: Harper Perennial.
Tachibana, K. (2008). An inquiry into the relationship between public participation and moral education in contemporary Japan: who decides your way of life? In K. Ishihara & S. Majima (Eds.), Applied ethics: perspectives from Asia and beyond (pp. 26–39). Hokkaido: Hokkaido University.
Tachibana, K. (2017a). Neurofeedback-based moral enhancement and the notion of morality. Annals of the University of Bucharest: Philosophy Series, 66(2), 25–41.
Tachibana, K. (2017b). Neurofeedback-based moral enhancement and traditional moral education. Humana Mente: Journal of Philosophical Studies, 11(33), 19–42.
Watanabe, T., Sasaki, Y., Shibata, K., & Kawato, M. (2017). Advances in fMRI Real-Time Neurofeedback. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(12), 997–1010.
Wiseman, H. (2014). Moral enhancement—“hard” or “soft” forms. American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, 14(4), 48–49.
Acknowledgments
This paper is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Overseas Research Fellowships and the JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number 17K13318).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tachibana, K. The Dual Application of Neurofeedback Technique and the Blurred Lines Between the Mental, the Social, and the Moral. J Cogn Enhanc 2, 397–403 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-018-0112-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-018-0112-1