{"id":766,"date":"2014-10-03T18:28:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T18:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brl.ee.washington.edu\/?page_id=766"},"modified":"2014-10-03T18:28:24","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T18:28:24","slug":"neuroethics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/neural-engineering\/neuroethics\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuroethics of DBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Problem<\/h3>\n

\"ScreenshotImplantable neurostimulators\u2014in particular, Deep Brain Stimulators (DBS)\u2014are becoming a more common means of treating a variety of motor and mental disorders. DBS systems, however, may come with\u00a0a number of potential ethically-salient outcomes\u2014including (but not limited to) changes to the user’s personal identity<\/em>, changes to the user’s sense of\u00a0autonomy<\/em>, the vulnerability of these\u00a0systems to tampering<\/em> or hacking<\/em>, and the possibility for enhancement<\/em> applications. Some users even report feelings of self-estrangement, alienation, or. A new\u00a0generation of DBS systems are slated to\u00a0give users direct neural\u00a0control over\u00a0when and how much the system stimulates\u2014Brain Computer Interface-triggered DBS (BCI-DBS). There are, however, potential problems with BCI-control. It isn’t clear\u00a0if (and how) BCI control will exacerbate or alleviate\u00a0the aforementioned ethical outcomes. It also isn’t clear what\u00a0the user’s\u00a0concerns are about\u00a0having control of their neurostimulator.<\/p>\n

Our Solution<\/h3>\n

We are conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with Essential Tremor (ET) patients who are\u00a0testing out an experimental\u00a0BCI-triggered DBS system. These interviews: how they’ve been effected by ET, how DBS treatment has changed their life with ET, how BCI control would change their experience, and so on.\u00a0We’ve also chosen to administer these\u00a0interviews\u00a0in-situ<\/em>:\u00a0the patient is able to give us feedback about the system\u00a0while<\/em> they use it.<\/p>\n

Impact<\/h3>\n

Our\u00a0work should\u00a0have at least two positive outcomes. First, patient\u00a0feedback on\u00a0BCI-triggered DBS should give us a better idea of what patients’ want out of their treatment, what they would change about how the system works, and how these systems fit into their (sometimes complicated) lives. With their feedback in tow, BRL engineers should be able to devise control algorithms, security precautions, and failsafes that better accomodate\u00a0the end-user.\u00a0Second, these interviews should give us insights about which theories of autonomy (decisional, relational, or otherwise) best\u00a0capture how DBS changes the lives of patients who use it.<\/p>\n

Affiliated Students and Faculty<\/em>: \u00a0Tim Brown<\/a>, Jeffrey Herron<\/a>, Maggie Thompson<\/a>, Katherine Pratt<\/a>,\u00a0Howard Chizeck<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Publications:<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Timothy Brown. \u201cA Relational Take on Advisory Brain Implant Systems.\u201d AJOB Neuroscience<\/i> 6, no. 4 (November 30, 2015): 46\u201347.<\/p>\n

Eran Klein, Timothy Brown, Matthew Sample, Anjali R Truitt, and Sara Goering. \u201cEngineering the Brain: Ethical Issues and the Introduction of Neural Devices.\u201d Hastings Center Report<\/i> 45, no. 6 (November 1, 2015): 26\u201335.<\/p>\n

Funding Sources:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"nsf1\"\"\"<\/p>\n

 \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Problem Implantable neurostimulators\u2014in particular, Deep Brain Stimulators (DBS)\u2014are becoming a more common means of treating a variety of motor and mental disorders. DBS systems, however, may come with\u00a0a number of potential ethically-salient outcomes\u2014including (but not limited to) changes to the user’s personal identity, changes to the user’s sense of\u00a0autonomy, the vulnerability of these\u00a0systems to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"parent":24,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-766","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/766\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ece.uw.edu\/brl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}