Pragmatic Health Ethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), 110, avenue des Pins Ouest, Montréal, QC, H2W 1R7, Canada.
Department of Medicine and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, 7101, Av du Parc, Montréal, QC, H3N 1X9, Canada.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2021 Mar 23;27(2):19. doi: 10.1007/s11948-021-00294-w.
Stimulant drugs, transcranial magnetic stimulation, brain-computer interfaces, and even genetic modifications are all discussed as forms of potential cognitive enhancement. Cognitive enhancement can be conceived as a benefit-seeking strategy used by healthy individuals to enhance cognitive abilities such as learning, memory, attention, or vigilance. This phenomenon is hotly debated in the public, professional, and scientific literature. Many of the statements favoring cognitive enhancement (e.g., related to greater productivity and autonomy) or opposing it (e.g., related to health-risks and social expectations) rely on claims about human welfare and human flourishing. But with real-world evidence from the social and psychological sciences often missing to support (or invalidate) these claims, the debate about cognitive enhancement is stalled. In this paper, we describe a set of crucial debated questions about psychological and social aspects of cognitive enhancement (e.g., intrinsic motivation, well-being) and explain why they are of fundamental importance to address in the cognitive enhancement debate and in future research. We propose studies targeting social and psychological outcomes associated with cognitive enhancers (e.g., stigmatization, burnout, mental well-being, work motivation). We also voice a call for scientific evidence, inclusive of but not limited to biological health outcomes, to thoroughly assess the impact of enhancement. This evidence is needed to engage in empirically informed policymaking, as well as to promote the mental and physical health of users and non-users of enhancement.
兴奋剂药物、经颅磁刺激、脑机接口，甚至基因修饰，都被讨论为潜在的认知增强形式。认知增强可以被视为健康个体用来增强学习、记忆、注意力或警觉等认知能力的一种获益寻求策略。这种现象在公众、专业人士和科学界的文献中都有激烈的争论。许多支持认知增强的观点（例如与更高的生产力和自主性有关）或反对它的观点（例如与健康风险和社会期望有关）都依赖于关于人类福利和人类繁荣的主张。但是，由于社会和心理科学的现实证据常常缺乏来支持（或否定）这些主张，因此关于认知增强的辩论陷入了僵局。在本文中，我们描述了一组关于认知增强的心理和社会方面的关键争议问题（例如内在动机、幸福感），并解释了为什么这些问题对于解决认知增强辩论和未来研究至关重要。我们建议针对与认知增强剂相关的社会和心理结果进行研究（例如，污名化、倦怠、心理健康、工作动机）。我们也呼吁提供科学证据，包括但不限于生物健康结果，以全面评估增强的影响。需要这种证据来进行基于经验的政策制定，以及促进增强剂使用者和非使用者的身心健康。
