Overview | Research directions | Members | Publications 

Overview

The recent advances in neuroscientific research raise a number of important ethical issues. Our research aims to explore some of these issues, from the more general ethical considerations related to participants’ wellbeing protection (both human and animal), to a more specific focus on the potential impact of neuroscientific research on both the individual and society.

Research directions

  • Neurotechnology and the individual: this line of research explores the impact of neurotechnological devices on individual users. The focus will mainly be on electronic implants used in the clinical domain, such as cochlear implants and deep-brain stimulation (DBS) systems.
  • Cognitive enhancement in the healthy population: our research explores public attitude towards cognitive enhancement (i.e., the usage of prescription drugs by healthy individuals with the aim of improving cognitive skills such as memory or attention), and how such attitude is influenced by contextual factors, e.g. social pressure or the competitiveness of the environment.
  • Ethics of research involving human participants: how can Ethical Committees operate to improve awareness of ethically critical aspects of human research? 
  • Animal research: what is the degree of knowledge that the general public shares on the issue, and how is it described in the media?

Members

Publications

For a complete list see Claudia Bonfiglioli personal page