28 research outputs found
Proactive Ethical Design for Neuroengineering, Assistive and Rehabilitation Technologies: the Cybathlon Lesson
The effects of closed-loop medical devices on the autonomy and accountability of persons and systems
Closed-loop medical devices such as brain-computer interfaces are an emerging and rapidly advancing neurotechnology. The target patients for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are often severely paralyzed, and thus particularly vulnerable in terms of personal autonomy, decisionmaking capacity, and agency. Here we analyze the effects of closed-loop medical devices on the autonomy and accountability of both persons (as patients or research participants) and neurotechnological closed-loop medical systems. We show that although BCIs can strengthen patient autonomy by preserving or restoring communicative abilities and/or motor control, closed-loop devices may also create challenges for moral and legal accountability. We advocate the development of a comprehensive ethical and legal framework to address the challenges of emerging closed-loop neurotechnologies like BCIs and stress the centrality of informed consent and refusal as a means to foster accountability. We propose the creation of an international neuroethics task force with members from medical neuroscience, neuroengineering, computer science, medical law, and medical ethics, as well as representatives of patient advocacy groups and the public
The Effects of Closed-Loop Medical Devices on the Autonomy and Accountability of Persons and Systems-CORRIGENDUM
The Effects of Closed-Loop Medical Devices on the Autonomy and Accountability of Persons and Systems-CORRIGENDUM
The Effects of Closed-Loop Medical Devices on the Autonomy and Accountability of Persons and SystemsâCORRIGENDUM
The Effects of Closed-Loop Medical Devices on the Autonomy and Accountability of Persons and Systems
Damage to ventral and dorsal language pathways in acute aphasia
Converging evidence from neuroimaging studies and computational modelling suggests an organization of language in a dual dorsalâventral brain network: a dorsal stream connects temporoparietal with frontal premotor regions through the superior longitudinal and arcuate fasciculus and integrates sensorimotor processing, e.g. in repetition of speech. A ventral stream connects temporal and prefrontal regions via the extreme capsule and mediates meaning, e.g. in auditory comprehension. The aim of our study was to test, in a large sample of 100 aphasic stroke patients, how well acute impairments of repetition and comprehension correlate with lesions of either the dorsal or ventral stream. We combined voxelwise lesion-behaviour mapping with the dorsal and ventral white matter fibre tracts determined by probabilistic fibre tracking in our previous study in healthy subjects. We found that repetition impairments were mainly associated with lesions located in the posterior temporoparietal region with a statistical lesion maximum in the periventricular white matter in projection of the dorsal superior longitudinal and arcuate fasciculus. In contrast, lesions associated with comprehension deficits were found more ventral-anterior in the temporoprefrontal region with a statistical lesion maximum between the insular cortex and the putamen in projection of the ventral extreme capsule. Individual lesion overlap with the dorsal fibre tract showed a significant negative correlation with repetition performance, whereas lesion overlap with the ventral fibre tract revealed a significant negative correlation with comprehension performance. To summarize, our results from patients with acute stroke lesions support the claim that language is organized along two segregated dorsalâventral streams. Particularly, this is the first lesion study demonstrating that task performance on auditory comprehension measures requires an interaction between temporal and prefrontal brain regions via the ventral extreme capsule pathway
Electrophysiological correlates of neurodegeneration in motor and non-motor brain regions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosisâimplications for brainâcomputer interfacing
Multimodal exploration of non-motor neural functions in ALS patients using simultaneous EEG-fNIRS recording
Towards a Governance Framework for Brain Data
The increasing availability of brain data within and outside the biomedical
field, combined with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to brain
data analysis, poses a challenge for ethics and governance. We identify
distinctive ethical implications of brain data acquisition and processing, and
outline a multi-level governance framework. This framework is aimed at
maximizing the benefits of facilitated brain data collection and further
processing for science and medicine whilst minimizing risks and preventing
harmful use. The framework consists of four primary areas of regulatory
intervention: binding regulation, ethics and soft law, responsible innovation,
and human rights