Seite - 113 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

Cyberneuroethics • 113 Changing Cognition The term ‘cognition’ originates from the Latin verb ‘to learn’ and reflects a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and under- standing language, learning, reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making. This means that in examining the concept of cognition, it is usually necessary to have an interdisciplinary perspective, including aspects of psychology, cog- nitive science, neuroscience and sometimes also computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, computer vision and other areas. In other words, the cognitive components of systems, such as neuronal interface systems, cannot be designed and studied in isolation; they have to be examined in the light of their potential association to sensorimotor sys- tems and by the adaptation of cognitive systems to particular physical and task environments.51 In this respect, artificial cognitive systems are usually considered to achieve human-like cognitive competences, such as making sense of the world through perception, organising thought and acting in the world in meaningful ways.52 Moreover, what is often examined are the possible positive changes to the cog- nitive faculties of an individual. These are generally termed cognitive enhance- ments and can be defined as ‘any augmentation of core information processing systems in the brain, including the mechanism underlying perception, atten- tion, conceptualization, memory, reasoning and motor performance’.53 Of course, such enhancements include some of the oldest forms of human improvement and are generally seen as attractive. But while chemical cogni- tive enhancers such as caffeine are already being used widely by many societ- ies,54 new technologies are now being considered, particularly in the realm of neuronal interfaces with computers and artificial intelligence. In this context, neurocognitive appliances would be able to sense or modulate neuronal function in order to physically augment cognitive pro- cesses such as executive function, attention and memory. Neuronal interface systems may also be able to improve wakefulness, perception, moods and social or moral cognition.55 Similarly, eliminating the retention of distressing memories could be considered as a kind of functional advancement.56 At this stage, it is important to remember that many of the ethical ques- tions raised by cognitive treatments and enhancements using neuronal inter- faces may be similar to those that already exist in, for example, the use of certain pharmaceutical drugs. As the Presidential Commission of the Study of Bioethical Issues indicated in 2015: The debates about cognitive enhancement include many of the ethical con- cerns raised by neural modification more generally, including the importance This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.