AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-10-19DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2736005
Zoë J Hale, Abril Beretta, Betty Cohn, Katherine E MacDuffie
{"title":"What Does a Donor Need to Know? Content Analysis of Informed Consent Documents Used for Brain Organoid Research.","authors":"Zoë J Hale, Abril Beretta, Betty Cohn, Katherine E MacDuffie","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2736005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2026.2736005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Donors of cells used to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and brain organoids may not understand what brain organoids are, how they will be used, or the long-term implications of the research. Informed consent documents (ICDs) often contain highly technical language and are written at reading grade levels higher than those attained by the target population. Our goal was to evaluate informed consent documents used for brain organoid research. We compared 20 currently active, IRB-approved consent documents to published templates/guidelines for iPSC research consent. Analyzed ICDs adhered to guidelines in explaining risks and benefits, de-identification, commercial potential, storage, and results sharing. However, descriptions of current and future use were lacking in detail, and the average reading level of ICDs far exceeded that of the general population. Our findings suggest additional transparency in ICDs would assist participants in making an informed choice about participation in iPSC and brain organoid research.</p>","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149220858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-09-21DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2729993
Andrew Joshua Parra
{"title":"The Modern Lobotomy: Closed-Loop Neuromodulation, Normalization by Algorithm, and the Disappearance of the Deviant Mind.","authors":"Andrew Joshua Parra","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2729993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2026.2729993","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Closed-loop neuromodulation systems, particularly adaptive deep brain stimulation, mark a new phase in psychiatric intervention, extending from psychosurgery through pharmacological stabilization to automated algorithmic regulation. Drawing on Foucauldian genealogy and research on adaptive deep brain stimulation, this article develops the concept of \"normalization by algorithm\" to describe how algorithmic systems embed normative judgments about desirable cognition and affect within automated architectures operating below awareness. Their therapeutic potential for severe conditions like treatment-resistant depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder is assessed in full, while questioning whether the neural patterns these devices target are always separable symptoms rather than constitutive aspects of identity. Continuous modulation deepens this problem by eroding the evaluative standpoint consent requires, making withdrawal formally possible but substantively elusive as the device shapes the preferences through which it would be chosen. Institutional incentives then threaten diffusion beyond therapeutic settings, pressing the question of who defines neural norms and what becomes of agency when correction is continuous.</p>","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149013096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-08-31DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2716034
Samuel Murray
{"title":"Self-Trust as a Unifying Principle for the Dimensions of Agency in Neurotechnology.","authors":"Samuel Murray","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2716034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2026.2716034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neurotechnologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and deep brain stimulation (DBS) raise distinctive concerns about human agency. A recent proposal by Schönau et al. identifies four dimensions along which neurotechnologies may threaten agency: responsibility, privacy, authenticity, and trust. The Schönau et al. framework valuably maps how neurotechnologies affect users and has inspired qualitative assessment tools. Yet although it acknowledges interconnections among the four dimensions, it does not explain what structurally unifies them. This represents a key gap in the view. Assessment instruments modeled on the framework, such as their Qualitative Agentive Competency Tool (Q-ACT), evaluate each dimension independently, risking fragmented assessments that miss the integrated nature of agential harm. I argue that agential self-trust unifies these four dimensions. Each tracks a distinct way that neurotechnologies can erode the self-trust constitutive of planning agency: confidence in one's control over action (responsibility), in the boundaries of one's deliberative life (privacy), in one's psychological continuity (authenticity), and in one's sensory and evaluative capacities (trust). This carries concrete policy implications. Current informed consent procedures for neurotechnology trials enumerate risks along separate dimensions without flagging the cumulative threat to a user's capacity for agential self-trust. Likewise, assessment instruments should include integrative measures that track agential self-trust across domains. As neurotechnology governance develops at the international level, a unified account of agential harm within this dimensional framework can guide both consent design and longitudinal monitoring.</p>","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148867251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-14DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2699705
Byron Hyde, Negar Noveiri Delshad, Georgina Smith
{"title":"Ethics and Biopower in Neuromarketing: A Framework for an Ethical Approach to Marketing.","authors":"Byron Hyde, Negar Noveiri Delshad, Georgina Smith","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2699705","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2026.2699705","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148449918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-13DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2699704
Christopher Bobier, Daniel J Hurst
{"title":"Implanted Pediatric Brain-Computer Interface Research: Recommendations for the Ethical Design of Clinical Trials.","authors":"Christopher Bobier, Daniel J Hurst","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2699704","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2026.2699704","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities (e.g. iatrogenic neurologic injury, congenital myelopathy, or quadriplegic cerebral palsy), there are limited therapeutic options. Scientific and clinical developments in implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) technology are in clinical trials in adults. The ethical issues around implantable BCI research in adults have recently been examined, but to date, only limited literature is available on the ethical issues that are attendant with implantable pediatric BCI research. Here, we summarize the ethical issues, focusing on (1) whether invasive BCI research should proceed in children, (2) regulatory considerations, (3) study design considerations, (4) pediatric recipient selection for invasive BCI trials, (5) special problems regarding informed consent in this context, and (6) related psychosocial and public perception considerations. We conclude with specific recommendations regarding ethically informed design of invasive pediatric BCI trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148438436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-10DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2689620
J Lomax Boyd
{"title":"The Logic of <i>Basho</i> Among the Western Public's Views of Consciousness and Bioethical Decision-Making.","authors":"J Lomax Boyd","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2689620","DOIUrl":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2689620","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":"17 3","pages":"232-236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148425149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-10DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2686617
Masaki Iwasaki
{"title":"Digital Resurrection, Neurotechnology, and the Boundaries of Neurorights.","authors":"Masaki Iwasaki","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2686617","DOIUrl":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2686617","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":"17 3","pages":"260-262"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148424994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2026-07-10DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2026.2690116
Alexandre Erler
{"title":"Neural Fidelity or Psychological Solace? The Bereaved and the Regulation of Digital Resurrection.","authors":"Alexandre Erler","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2690116","DOIUrl":"10.1080/21507740.2026.2690116","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":"17 3","pages":"270-273"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148425047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AJOB NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-07-01Epub Date: 2025-06-24DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2025.2519440
Y Tony Yang
{"title":"Digital Resurrection and Posthumous Identity: Toward a Cross-Cultural Neurorights Framework.","authors":"Y Tony Yang","doi":"10.1080/21507740.2025.2519440","DOIUrl":"10.1080/21507740.2025.2519440","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Digital resurrection technologies use artificial intelligence to recreate the voices, images, and personalities of deceased individuals, raising ethical concerns about memory, identity, and respect for the dignity of the deceased. This paper examines key neuroethical challenges, including mental privacy, cognitive liberty, and the authenticity of AI-generated representations. Rather than framing East-West differences as opposing cultural values, the paper identifies shared ethical concerns expressed through diverse practices. It proposes a cross-cultural governance framework based on universal principles: protecting mental privacy, ensuring faithful representations of identity, and preventing exploitation. Practical mechanisms include digital neural wills, tiered regulation based on technology capabilities, and structured family decision-making. By integrating evidence from neuroscience, law, and cultural studies, this framework aims to ensure that digital resurrection technologies support ethical remembrance rather than commodifying identity. Without proactive governance, these technologies risk distorting how societies remember and honor the deceased.</p>","PeriodicalId":39022,"journal":{"name":"AJOB Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"242-257"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144486401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}