Cognitive Enhancement

There is a growing literature in neuroethics dealing with cognitive neuro-enhancement for healthy adults. However, discussions on this topic tend to focus on abstract theoretical positions while concrete policy proposals and detailed models are scarce. Furthermore, discussions appear to rely solely on data from the US or UK, while international perspectives are mostly non-existent. This volume fills this gap and addresses issues on cognitive enhancement comprehensively in three important ways: 1) it examines the conceptual implications stemming from competing points of view about the nature and goals of enhancement; 2) it addresses the ethical, social and legal implications of neuroenhancement from an international and global perspective including contributions from scholars in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America; and 3) it discusses and analyses concrete legal and policy options tailored to specific domestic contexts.
Part I focuses on conceptual issues arising from the use of cognitive neuroenhancement technologies in the social milieu and clinical context. These comprise the ethical concerns of direct-to-consumer-marketing of cognitive enhancement drugs; the extents to which personal choice should be publicly protected; concerns about fairness, social pressure to enhance, the use of cognitive neuroenhancement in psychiatry; etc.
Part II provides analysis from an international perspective. This section addresses the normative issues and cultural values, along with an analysis of empirical data on public attitudes on cognitive enhancement and/or prevalence in various countries around the world.
Part III examines the regulatory options available to policy makers to allow a responsible use of cognitive enhancement. These public policies are applied to concrete neuroenhancement technologies and evaluated for their legitimacy and effectiveness in regulating consumption and demand.
To the best of our knowledge this volume will provide a unique collection of essays from a multidisciplinary and international perspective on cognitive neuroenhancement. As such it will benefit both the academic community and relevant policy makers by offering a comprehensive, easily accessible resource for comparative research on the topic.

This paper evaluated the performance of an envelope enhancement (EE) algorithm subjectively by children with auditory processing disorder (APD), and objectively through computational models. Speech intelligibility data was collected from children with APD, for unprocessed and envelope- enhanced speech in the presence of stationary and non-stationary background noise at different signal to noise ratios (SNRs), both with and without noise reduction (NR) algorithms as a front-end to the EE algorithm. Furthermore, intrusive and non-intrusive objective speech intelligibility metrics were derived to predict the perceptual impact of this EE algorithm. Subjective data for stationary noise conditions revealed that the combination of NR and EE algorithms significantly improved the speech intelligibility scores at poor SNRs. In contrast, the same combination was ineffective in improving speech intelligibility in non-stationary noise conditions. Taken together, subjective results suggest that exaggerating the envelope cues improves speech identification scores for children with APD. However, the benefit obtained varies depending upon the type and level of the background noise. Both intrusive and non-intrusive objective speech intelligibility estimators exhibited good correlation with the subjective data, with the intrusive metric demonstrating better generalization capabilities. Implications of these results for hearing aid applications for children with APD is discussed.

This paper considers recent discussion of the possible use of ‘love drugs’ and ‘anti-love drugs’ as a way of enhancing or diminishing romantic relationships. The primary focus is on the question of whether the idea of using such products commits its proponents to an excessively reductionist conception of love, and on whether the resulting ‘love’ in the use of ‘love drugs’ would be authentic, to the extent that it would be brought about artificially.

Background: Neuroenhancement is the use of substances by healthy subjects to enhance mood or cognitive function. The
prevalence of neuroenhancement among Swiss university students is unknown. Investigating the prevalence of
neuroenhancement among students is important to monitor problematic use and evaluate the necessity of prevention
programs.
Study aim: To describe the prevalence of the use of prescription medications and drugs of abuse for neuroenhancement
among Swiss university students.
Method: In this cross-sectional study, students at the University of Zurich, University of Basel, and Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Zurich were invited via e-mail to participate in an online survey.
Results: A total of 28,118 students were contacted, and 6,275 students completed the survey. Across all of the institutions,
13.8% of the respondents indicated that they had used prescription drugs (7.6%) or drugs of abuse including alcohol (7.8%)
at least once specifically for neuroenhancement. The most frequently used prescription drugs for neuroenhancement were
methylphenidate (4.1%), sedatives (2.7%), and beta-blockers (1.2%). Alcohol was used for this purpose by 5.6% of the
participants, followed by cannabis (2.5%), amphetamines (0.4%), and cocaine (0.2%). Arguments for neuroenhancement
included increased learning (66.2%), relaxation or sleep improvement (51.2%), reduced nervousness (39.1%), coping with
performance pressure (34.9%), increased performance (32.2%), and experimentation (20%). Neuroenhancement was
significantly more prevalent among more senior students, students who reported higher levels of stress, and students who
had previously used illicit drugs. Although ‘‘soft enhancers’’, including coffee, energy drinks, vitamins, and tonics, were used
daily in the month prior to an exam, prescription drugs or drugs of abuse were used much less frequently.
Conclusions: A significant proportion of Swiss university students across most academic disciplines reported
neuroenhancement with prescription drugs and drugs of abuse. However, these substances are rarely used on a daily
basis and more sporadically used prior to exams.

Pharmacological neuroenhancement, defined as the misuse of prescription drugs, illicit drugs, or alcohol for the purpose of enhancing cognition, mood, or prosocial behavior, is not widespread in Europe – nevertheless, it does occur. Thus far, no drug has been proven as safe and effective for cognitive enhancement in otherwise healthy individuals. European studies have investigated the misuse of prescription and illicit stimulants to increase cognitive performance as well as the use of tranquilizers, alcohol, and cannabis to cope with stress related to work or education. Young people in educational settings report pharmacological neuroenhancement more frequently than those in other settings. Although the regular use of drugs for neuroenhancement is not common in Europe, the irregular and low-dose usage of neuroenhancers might cause adverse reactions. Previous studies have revealed that obtaining adequate amounts of sleep and using successful learning techniques effectively improve me...

The main goal of this paper is to describe the development of “Over the Gate”, a game based training designed to empower children’s creativity through games and digital storytelling, in addition to the outcomes of a pilot study. The paper will also focus on the theories of creativity on which the training is based (Mednick, Guilford, Torrance and some processes identified by the Gestalt Psychology), the empowerment of creativity, the existing trainings that are used in schools and the features of “Over the Gate”.

In Truly Human Enhancement: A Philosophical Defense of Limits, Nicholas Agar contributes once more to the debate regarding the ethics of human enhancement, after his 2004 and 2010 books, Liberal Eugenics and Humanity’s End. The main thesis of Truly Human Enhancement is that it is important to take into consideration the “significance of differences in degree of human enhancement… human enhancement is a good thing, but one that it’s possible to have too much of it”. The author endorses moderate enhancements, while rejecting radical enhancements. The focus of the book on the degree of enhancement—not merely the mean or the goal of enhancement—is the novelty here. This means that Agar embraces some technological progress to a degree, within some limits. He illustrates his position using the imagery found in the movie Star Trek, “Here, recognizable human beings use fabulous technologies to travel the universe. They view these technologies very different from the way they view their brains and bodies. The technologies that transport humans across the universe are radically improved. Human brains and bodies are recognizes as grounds of valuable experiences and are preserved”. For the purpose of this review, I will briefly comment on the notion of radical enhancement and then focus on the idea introduced in this book that two ideals drive the enhancement enterprise.

The purpose of the present work is to provide a new taxonomy for cognitive
enhancement, the practical worth of which is demonstrated in the course of
an evaluation of four cognitively affecting activities, with reference to
wellbeing. As such, there are three main sections: Section II, wherein the
novel taxonomy is presented and justified in opposition primarily to the
prominent ‘therapeutic’ framework used in cognitive enhancement
literature; Section III, wherein, to clarify the conception of wellbeing which
is used in later evaluations, two prominent theories of wellbeing (Hedonism
and Desire-Fulfilment Theory (DFT)) are compared and a case is made for
using a version of DFT which I have augmented (DFT+); and finally
Section IV, wherein the new taxonomy is employed along with the DFT+ to
evaluate four cognitively affecting activities, two real (diet and education)
and two fictional interventions devised for this paper (a drug ‘Hythlosite’
and an implant ‘Cognito’). It is concluded that, by using the taxonomy and DFT+, rudimentary methods of enhancing cognition are preferable to more sophisticated ones.

The biotechnological advances obtained in the last decades have configurated a particular scenario about the limits of what we can do with ourselves, especially by revealing that the human enhancement debate still is epistemologically confused and ethically naive. As we intend to discuss, that happens for two reasons: the first one is associated with the moral evaluation of enhancement concepts, in other words, whether or not we would be entitled to promote substantial changes that jeopardize the conservation of our own way of life; the second reason, intrinsically attached to the first one, is to neglect the evolutionary history of human beings and to claim, therefore, that human enhancement should be carefully evaluated because we would not be able to foresee the possible disastrous risks in our future. It is right into these arguments that the debate between bioconservatives and transhumanists becomes epistemologically confused and ethically weak.

La ricerca ha avuto come obiettivo la valutazione delle opinioni di soggetti italiani riguardo al fenomeno dei potenziatori cognitivi: trattasi di farmaci che, assunti da soggetti sani, permetterebbero di migliorare le capacità cognitive. Queste sostanze vengono di solito prescritte dai medici per il trattamento di disturbi neuropsichiatrici. Negli ultimi anni si è rivolta particolare attenzione all’uso dei potenziatori cognitivi in ambito accademico e lavorativo, studenti e lavoratori potrebbero utilizzare queste sostanze per migliorare la propria efficienza durante le sessioni di studio o per aumentare le proprie prestazioni lavorative.
Ispirandoci al modello di Fitz et al. (2013) abbiamo progettato un disegno di ricerca 2x2x2 consistente in otto scenari che differivano tra loro per la presenza di tre variabili (Beneficio, Vantaggio, Pressione sociale).
Per quanto riguarda la variabile Beneficio abbiamo effettuato una distinzione tra “Individuale” (il protagonista è l’unica persona ad ottenere un beneficio) e “Sociale” (oltre al protagonista ne beneficiano anche altri del risultato conseguito).
Relativamente al Vantaggio abbiamo tenuto conto di due possibilità: la presenza di un “Vantaggio Competitivo” (se il protagonista dello scenario raggiunge il suo scopo ciò influisce sulla possibilità degli altri di raggiungerlo) e l’assenza di “Vantaggio Competitivo”(il fatto che il protagonista raggiunga il suo scopo non interferisce sulla possibilità che anche altri lo raggiungano).
La variabile relativa alla Pressione sociale è stata manipolata sottolineando che da una parte vi erano “Solo alcuni” che utilizzavano un potenziatore cognitivo per raggiungere l’obiettivo specificato, mentre dall’altra vi era una quantità maggiore di persone che usavano il farmaco indicata come “Molti”.
Dopo la lettura dello scenario abbiamo chiesto ai partecipanti di rispondere a tre domande a scelta multipla attraverso l’utilizzo di scale Likert a 6 e 7 punti.
Nella prima domanda abbiamo chiesto ai soggetti di immedesimarsi nella posizione del protagonista e decidere di assumere o meno il potenziatore cognitivo. La seconda domanda indagava il modo in cui la pressione sociale poteva influenzare l’atteggiamento e le opinioni dei partecipanti. Nella terza ed ultima domanda abbiamo chiesto di indicare la percentuale di merito attribuibile al protagonista che ha raggiunto il suo obiettivo attraverso l’utilizzo di un potenziatore cognitivo. 
I nostri risultati si sono basati sulle risposte di 400 partecipanti, suddivisi in 244 femmine (61%) e 156 maschi (39%).
Il 73% dei soggetti non si è dimostrato favorevole all’assunzione del potenziatore cognitivo, soltanto il 20% ha dichiarato di voler assumere il farmaco e il 7% non ha espresso un giudizio specifico.
Ciò che emerge dalla nostra ricerca è che in Italia non vi è una generale propensione a ricorrere alla pratica del potenziamento cognitivo farmacologico.
Le principali resistenze che abbiamo rintracciato sono riconducibili alle preoccupazioni sugli effetti collaterali e alla scorrettezza del procurarsi un vantaggio rispetto agli altri in situazioni di competitività. L’analisi dei risultati relativi al concetto di merito ha indicato che l’assunzione di un farmaco stimolante non diminuisce il valore attribuibile ad un soggetto che ha portato a termine il suo obiettivo. Abbiamo inoltre osservato che i partecipanti ritengono la pressione sociale una variabile di cui tener conto in merito al sentirsi o meno forzati ad assumere un potenziatore cognitivo.

La riflessione sulle neuroscienze e il diritto è da tempo avviata. Occorre proseguire in essa e indagare le possibili nuove aggressioni e, di conseguenza, i nuovi bisogni di tutela per la persona umana da esse rivenienti e le molteplici ricadute nel diritto civile delle scoperte neuroscientifiche, destinate a rivoluzionare e travolgere anche postulati classici, istituti e categorie civilistiche tradizionali.
Basti pensare all’individuazione dei mirror neurons ed al conseguente possibile uso del neuromarketing nella contrattazione. Rispetto alle nuove minacce alla libertà di autodeterminazione da esso riveniente, l’inadeguatezza della tutela e dei rimedi (datati) del codice civile impone la ricerca di ulteriori strumenti di tutela del consenso. Il neuromarketing -  preoccupante anche perché si innesta nei processi decisionali, nel nucleo delle preferenze ed abitudini di vita, dell’identità e della personalità stessa del consumatore - determina  un indebito condizionamento del consumatore;  l’anomalia che si determina nel processo formativo della volontà – di carattere strutturale in ragione dell’inserimento dell’atto (promozionale) di neuromarketing nel contesto dell’attività di commercializzazione - impone la rivisitazione, in una prospettiva funzionale, del principio di non interferenza tra le regole di comportamento e le regole di validità del contratto e l’abbandono dell’anacronistico parametro del consumatore medio, che non tiene conto della mass customization delle attuali strategie di marketing, sempre più mirate, personalizzate, rivolte non indistintamente ai consumatori, bensì al  consumatore concreto, le cui propensioni all’acquisto sono calcolate in base a sofisticati algoritmi personalizzati. La tutela del consumatore va assicurata, oltre che con il rimedio risarcitorio, con la nullità di protezione  del contratto a valle delle pratiche commerciali di neuromarketing.
Il cambiamento di prospettiva da operare, nella riflessione sulle neuroscienze alla luce dell’assiologia dell’ordinamento e della sua innovativa nozione di ordine pubblico, è radicale e impone di vagliare la meritevolezza di tutela nel sistema italo-europeo, con la preminenza in esso assegnata alla dignità umana, di alcune applicazioni neuroscientifiche (mind reading e lie detection) e metodologie di enhancement (delle facoltà cognitive) ed empowerment (delle capacità umane), valorizzando la concezione funzionale e relativa della capacità.
Indubbiamente, le neuroscienze pongono sfide, ma rappresentano anche opportunità. Il fondamentale e determinante contributo delle indagini neuroscientifiche per una più efficace protezione civilistica delle persone in condizioni di debolezza psichica e la tecnica del Brain–Computer Interface per la manifestazione di una volontà giuridicamente rilevante sono solo alcuni degli esempi che lasciano intravedere quanto preziose e determinanti potranno rivelarsi le neuroscienze ai fini della tutela, sempre più effettiva, della persona umana.

Im vergangenen Jahrzehnt wurde sowohl in der wissenschaftlichen und bioethischen Literatur als auch in Medien und Politik vermehrt über Pharmakologisches Neuro-Enhancement (PNE) als Instrument zur kognitiven Leistungssteigerung diskutiert. Unter diesem Begriff werden der nicht medizinisch indizierte Konsum von verschreibungspflichtigen Medikamenten und der Konsum von Alkohol oder anderen psychoaktiven Substanzen mit dem Ziel der Verbesserung der kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit oder Stimmung in Schule, Studium oder am Arbeitsplatz subsumiert. Die spezifische Konsummotivation ist ausschlaggebend für die Definition von PNE, unabhängig davon, ob die beabsichtigte Wirkung eintritt oder nicht. Methylphenidat, Modafinil sowie verschreibungspflichtige und illegale Stimulanzien bilden den Mittelpunkt der Debatte rund um PNE. Allerdings können auch sedierende Substanzen indirekt einen positiven Einfluss auf die Kognition entfalten, wenn sie die Nervosität reduzieren oder Entspannung fördern. Deshalb sollten Substanzen wie Alkohol, Cannabis oder Schlaf- und Beruhigungsmittel ebenfalls als potenzielle Enhancer diskutiert werden. Während die meisten Menschen bereits frei erhältliche Substanzen wie Koffein, sogenannte Soft-Enhancer, zur Leistungssteigerung im Studien- oder Arbeitskontext eingesetzt haben, fällt die Prävalenz des PNE im engeren Sinne deutlich geringer aus. Die nicht-medizinische Verwendung von verschreibungspflichtigen Medikamenten und Konsum illegaler psychoaktiver Substanzen zur Leistungssteigerung sind an große Bedenken hinsichtlich medizinischer Sicherheit, sozialer Gleichstellung und Fairness gekoppelt. Zurzeit existiert noch kein nebenwirkungsfreies Medikament, das zuverlässig eine Leistungsverbesserung über alle kognitiven Domänen hinweg herbeiführen könnte. Oftmals wird vergessen, dass die Wirkung der gegenwärtig als Neuro-Enhancer diskutierten Substanzen individuell stark variiert, und dass nicht alle Menschen gleichsam gewillt sind, ihre kognitive Leistung mithilfe von Substanzen zu verbessern. Diese Umstände und spezifische Persönlichkeitsmerkmale von Personen mit regelmäßigem PNE-Konsum lassen eine Zunahme solcher Praktiken in naher Zukunft, selbst in Bereichen mit hohem Leistungsdruck und Notwendigkeit der Selbstoptimierung, als nur wenig wahrscheinlich erscheinen.

Klaming and Vedder (2010) have argued that enhancement technologies that improve the epistemic efficiency of the legal system (“epistemic enhancements”) would benefit the common good. But there are two flaws to Klaming and Vedder’s reasoning. First, they rely on an under-theorised and under-specified conception of the common good. When theory and specification are supplied, their CGJ for enhancing eyewitness memory and recall becomes significantly less persuasive. And second, although aware of such problems, they fail to give due weight and consideration to the tensions between the individual and common good. Taking these criticisms onboard, this article proposes an alternative, and stronger, CGJ for epistemic enhancements. The argument has two prongs. Drawing from the literature on social epistemology and democratic legitimacy, it is first argued that there are strong grounds for thinking that epistemic enhancements are a desirable way to improve the democratic legitimacy of the legal system. This gives prima facie but not decisive weight to the CGJ. It is then argued that due to the ongoing desire to improve the way in which scientific evidence is managed by the legal system, epistemic enhancement is not merely desirable but perhaps morally necessary. Although this may seem to sustain tensions between individual and common interests, I argue that in reality it reveals a deep constitutive harmony between the individual good and the common good, one that is both significant in its own right and one that should be exploited by proponents of enhancement.

"Ludzkie zdolności poznawcze i sensualne są znacznie ograniczone. Człowiek posiada zaledwie 5 podstawowych zmysłów – wzrok, słuch, smak, węch, dotyk; oraz dodatkowe zmysły równowagi i propriocepcja. Jakby tego było mało posiadane zmysły są słabo dostrojone np. wzrok pozwala na obserwację drobnego wycinka promieniowania elektromagnetycznego (światło widzialne w zakresie długości fali 380-780 nm), z użyciem jedynie trzech fotoreceptorów widzenia barwnego i jednego odpowiedzialnego za postrzeganie monochromatyczne, dla porównania rawka błazen (łac. Odontodactylus scyllarus, potocznie krewetka modliszkowa) posiada aż 16 fotoreceptorów,  przy tym widząc również w podczerwieni i ultrafiolecie. Czy świat innych zmysłów (jak zwierzęca echolokacja, elektrorecepcja, magnetorecepcja, czy znane ze parapsychologii telekineza, telepatia)  jest zamknięty dla człowieka? Nauka zdaje się mieć receptę: tam gdzie człowiek nie został doposażony ewolucyjnie przez naturę z pomocą przychodzi mu technologia, która umożliwi poprawą zdolności poznawczych (ang. cognitive enhancement).
Poprawa zdolności poznawczych i zmysłów człowieka, jest znacząco akcentowana w nurcie filozofii transhumanistycznej i odnosi się do nadrzędnej koncepcji wzmocnienia ludzkiego (ang. human enhancement) – uzyskanie długowieczności, większej witalności, ogólnego dobrobytu i super-inteligencji. Szczególnym przypadkiem wzmocnienia ludzkiego jest wzmocnienie poznawcze/kognitywne (ang. cognitive enhancement). Zdaniem transhumanistów poprawa zdolności władz umysłowych człowieka obejmować powinna: zwiększenie pamięci, inteligencji, polepszenia myślenia abstrakcyjnego i logicznego, a także winna obejmować: rozszerzenie zasięgu ludzkich zmysłów, udoskonalenie układu nerwowego, uzupełnienie kory mózgu nowym „metamózgiem”, mogący wpływać na czucie somatyczne tym samym zwiększając samoświadomość i dając możliwość przestrajania emocji, redukcję popędów oraz wysubtelnienie niektórych stanów emocjonalnych, przekraczanie poza typowe ludzkie zmysły, czy też przekroczenie środowiska naturalnego poprzez stopniową wirtualizację życia, w której człowiek będzie żył na granicy świata realnego i wirtualnego.
Metody mające wzmacniać procesy poznawcze oraz ludzkie zmysły, można podzielić na następujące grupy: biotechnologiczne (neurofarmakologia, genetyka), informatyczne (sztuczna inteligencja, nanotechnologia, robotyka, komunikacja human-computer interaction), niefarmakologiczne (mnemotechnika, medytacja, sen, trening mentalny, odżywianie), innym podziałem jest wydzielenie metod inwazyjnych i nieinwazyjnych.
W moim wystąpieniu skupiam się analizie metod i technologii (dostępnych i teoretycznych) mających usprawnić ludzkie poznanie zmysłowe.  Przedstawiam w jaki sposób dochodzi do udoskonalenia ludzkich zmysłów oraz jak możliwy jest odbiór niedostępnych zmysłów. Ponadto rozważam również, konsekwencje takich działań w kontekście etycznym i społecznym.
"

""Abstract : Limitless is a movie (released in 2011) as well as
a novel (published in 2001) about a tormented author who
(plagued by a writer’s block) becomes an early user of an
experimental designer drug. The wonder drug makes him
highly productive overnight and even allows him to make a
fortune on the stock market. At the height of his career,
however, the detrimental side-effects become increasingly
noticeable. In this article, Limitless is analysed from two
perspectives. First of all, building on the views of the French
novelist Emile Zola, the novel is seen as the report of a
closely monitored experiment. Subsequently, building on
the phenomenology of Ludwig Binswanger, I will show how
the cognitive enhancement drug not only boosts the protagonist’s
information processing capacities, but also modifies
his experience of space and time, his sense of spatiality, his
way of being-in-the-world. On the basis of these (complementary)
analyses I will indicate how genres of the imagination
(such as movies and novels) may play a significant role in assessing the societal implications of emerging
technological developments such as neuro-enhancement,
especially during the preparatory or anticipatory stage.

The final publication is available at : http://www.springer.com/medicine/journal/11019"""

This text examines the types of organizations that are already working to intentionally deploy neuroprosthetic technologies for human enhancement among their workforce (or are expected to do so), factors that affect their adoption of such technologies, and the organizational roles that such neurotechnologies may play.

The current state of therapeutic neuroprosthetic device use is presented, along with an overview of posthumanizing neuroprostheses and the types of enhanced capacities that they offer human workers that may be relevant to organizations. A range of factors incentivizing or discouraging the organizational deployment of posthumanizing neuroprostheses is identified and discussed. The organizational roles of therapeutic and posthumanizing neuroprostheses are then analyzed. Many organizations already unknowingly incorporate workers possessing therapeutic neuroprostheses, while two key paths for the organizational deployment of posthumanizing neuroprostheses are highlighted. First is the ‘transitional augmentation’ of human workers as a stopgap measure on the path to eventual full automation of business processes through the use of AI. The second path involves retaining human workers in particular positions because exogenous factors (such as legal, ethical, or marketing requirements) mandate that human agents fill them, while augmenting the workers so that they can perform more competitively.

It is noted that military organizations play a key role among organizations likely to be early adopters of posthumanizing neuroprostheses. Known and hypothesized military programs for neuroprosthetic enhancement are discussed, along with characteristics of military organizations that remove obstacles that render the deployment of neuroprostheses impractical for most organizations. Other types of organizations are highlighted that share some traits as potential early adopters. Finally, enterprise architecture (EA) is discussed as a preferred management tool for many organizations that are likely to be early adopters; while EA does not directly address the serious ethical and legal questions raised by posthumanizing neuroprostheses, it can facilitate the functional aspects of integrating neuroprosthetically augmented workers into an organization’s personnel structures, business processes, and IT systems.

Learning behaviors of students are the key to either success or failure in their ventures.  For educational setting, there is the outcomes based requirement that verifies students’ learning. However, there are also factors affecting their learning behaviors. These are observed in their value judgment about self, peers and classroom environment.  Knowing these facts about the factors that can be related to the learning behaviors can base the school program for students to enhance classroom conditions and services for students. These can be determined through descriptive method using the questionnaire and mean averages and Pearson r product moment correlation statistics in analyzing the results. A significant relationship between the students’ learning behaviors of valuing self, others and environment and the factors in classroom situations that included teachers’ behavior and methods of teaching, instructional materials and guides, and the classroom conditions was found. As a result, an improved co-curricular program of the school was made to take effect for the school year 2013-14.

This paper has two distinct but related goals: (1) to identify some of the potential consequences of the Internet for our cognitive abilities and (2) to suggest an approach to evaluate these consequences. I begin by outlining the Google effect, which (allegedly) shows that when we know information is available online, we put less effort into storing that information in the brain. Some argue that this strategy is adaptive because it frees up internal resources which can then be used for other cognitive tasks, whereas others argue that this is maladaptive because it makes us less knowledgeable. I argue that the currently available empirical evidence in cognitive psychology does not support strong conclusions about the negative effects of the Internet on memory. Before we can make value-judgements about the cognitive effects of the Internet, we need more robust and ecologically-valid evidence. Having sketched a more nuanced picture of the Google effect, I then argue that the value of our cognitive abilities is in part intrinsic and in part instrumental, that is, they are both valuable in themselves and determined by the socio-cultural context in which these cognitive abilities are utilised. Focussing on instrumental value, I argue that, in an information society such as ours, having the skills to efficiently navigate, evaluate, compare, and synthesize online information are (under most circumstances) more valuable than having a lot of facts stored in biological memory. This is so, partly because using the Internet as an external memory system has overall benefits for education, navigation, journalism, and academic scholarship.

A great number of existing, emerging and hypothetical technologies offers the possibility of neuroenhancement of human beings, promising (or threatening) to drastically change the lives of citizens. Among them are so called „smart drugs” - psychopharmacological interventions that allegedly boost brain power, and „neuroprosthesis“ - electromagnetic interventions in the brain in the form of interface with computers or even artificial means of augmenting cognition, new brain stimulation technologies that combat pain and control mental focus, and even highly sophisticated neuroimplants with special sensory input or electro-mechanical output.
The debate on enhancement in neuroethics, the field of applied ethics analyzing the social, legal and ethical challenges of these technologies, had been sidetracked to a metaphysical argument about human nature. Most arguments against enhancement tend to concentrate on the issue of authenticity or what it means to live according to human nature. The pro-enhancement arguments are broadly utilitarian, and furthered by the claim that human brains are no more than tools among other tools of cognition, and even that human beings are “natural born cyborgs”. The issue of distributive justice has been evoked on both sides, although without specific content to the conception of justice that should be applied. The questions of what implications does neuroenhancement have for individual and especially to political autonomy are so far rather left unanswered.
This dissertation conducts an in-depth case by case analysis of existing and emerging cognitive neuroenhancement technologies while extending and applying Rawls' concept of autonomy and conception of distributive justice, in order to formulate a distinct approach in neuroethics that would be political and not metaphysical. The primary objective of this research is to contribute toward answering the question: What public policies would be legitimate and effective in the context of use of cognitive enhancement drugs and devices by healthy adults in a democratic society?
More specifically, the dissertation extends and applies Rawls's principles of justice and autonomy by confronting their normative requirement with contemporary empirical findings that might challenge or even undermine them. Then, sufficiently updated Rawlsian notions of autonomy and justice are used in a case-by-case analysis of existing pharmaceutical (Modafinil, Methylphenidate and Amphetamines) cognitive enhancement technologies. In the case-by-case analysis, by drawing on empirical findings on safety and efficacy, long term effects and prevalence, arguments for and against the use of a given technology are discussed and a corresponding policy approaches and models analyzed. The appropriate approach (discourage use) and model (economic disincentives model) are specified and further analyzed in the context of existing legal regulation (including international treaties) of stimulant drugs.
The principles, approach and model are then also applied in a case-by-case analysis of existing electro-magnetic (transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation) cognitive enhancement technologies. The differences between the regulatory framework in stimulant drugs and devices are analyzed, along with currently available evidence on safety and efficacy and danger profiles, before tentative conclusions about policy are made.
The analysis of particular cases is then tested against general objections to a Rawlsian framework, and more specific objections to the Rawsian idea of public reason. Finally, concrete objections to the policy proposals and conclusions in specific cases of existing pharmacological and electro-magnetic cognitive enhancement technologies are reviewed and refuted.

The digital age has facilitated the creation of fluid, open stories that are subject to change as they unfold across different media platforms, each contributing to the story as a whole. Transmedia storytelling is also linked to transhumanism, a philosophy based on the idea that human limitations can be overcome through reason, science and technology to finally free us from the limitations of our bodies and minds. The concept of the literary has changed because the concept of the human has also evolved, as technology has been used to enhance both human capacities and storytelling through active participation, group work, and collective intelligence. This double enhancement that transmedia and transhuman storytelling entail is explored in this article through a textual and paratextual analysis of Serial, the world's most popular podcast, which can help us redefine the present blurring of disciplinary boundaries and the new territory of the literary.

يتناول هذا الكتاب موضوعا من الموضوعات المهمة والتى طرحت نفسها على الساحة ، بعد فترة من الركود والخمول وتهميش ذوى الاحتياجات الخاصة فى الوطن العربى ، وهذا الموضوع هو  الدمج الشامل لذوى الاحتياجات الخاصة من حيث مفهومه ونشأته وأنواعه وأسسه وفوائده .كما يتناول خصائص واحتياجات فئات الأطفال ذوى الاحتياجات الخاصة التى تستحق الدمج ، كما يعرض بعد كل فئة متطلبات دمجها داخل الروضة مع العاديين ، ثم يفصل الكتاب للواقع الحالى لإعداد معلمة رياض الأطفال فى مصر سواء فى كليات رياض الأطفال أو فى أقسم تربية الطفل الملحقة بكليات التربية ، ثم يعرض قرارا وزاريا بجمهورية مصر العربية 2011/  2012يتبنى فكرة الدمج وشروطه ومواصفاته ، ويحدد معايير الروضة والمدرسة الدامجة .
  والله الموفق والمستعان،،،،،،،،                                 
المؤلفان
د. عبدالله عبدالظاهر الخولى       
د.ثناء شعبان محمد
كلية التربية – جامعة أسيوط
جمهورية مصر العربية

The incorporation of a neuroprosthetic device into one’s being at the physical, cognitive, and social levels constitutes a form of ‘cyborgization’ that imposes new constraints on one’s existence while simultaneously opening a path to new forms of experience. This text explores the boundaries of this qualitatively novel form of being by formulating an ontology of the neuroprosthesis as an instrument that shapes the way in which its human host experiences and acts within emerging posthumanized digital-physical ecosystems.

The ontology addresses four main roles that a neuroprosthetic device may play in this context. First, a neuroprosthesis may serve as a means of human augmentation by altering the cognitive and physical capacities possessed by its host. Second, it may manipulate the contents of information produced or utilized by its human host. Third, a neuroprosthesis may shape the manner in which its host inhabits a digital-physical body and external environment. And finally, a neuroprosthesis may regulate the autonomous agency possessed and experienced by its host.

The development and use of such an ontology can allow researchers to better understand the psychological, social, and ethical ramifications of such technologies and can enable the architects of neuroprosthetic systems and the digital-physical ecosystems within which their human hosts operate to formulate principles of design and management that minimize the dangers and maximize benefits for the neuroprosthetically augmented inhabitants of such environments.

“Posthuman” has become an umbrella term to refer to a variety of different movements and schools of thought, including philosophical, cultural, and critical posthumanism; transhumanism (in its variations of extropianism, liberal and democratic transhumanism, among others); the feminist approach of new materialisms; and the heterogeneous landscape of antihumanism, metahumanism, metahumanities, and posthumanities.  The struggle over the meaning of “posthuman” can be seen as a way of coping with an urgency for the integral redefinition of the notion of the human, following the onto-epistemological as well as scientific and bio-technological developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

What is human enhancement all about? Why has it become a major concern in debates about the future of contemporary societies? This book is devoted to clarifying the underlying ambiguities of these major debates. It proposes novel ways of exploring what human enhancement means, what practices and technologies are involved, and what goals are invoked, with their respective justifications and criticisms. It calls on contributors from different countries and backgrounds—sociology, philosophy, bioethics, political science, engineering, medicine, literary studies, science fiction—to examine three fundamental aspects of human technological enhancement: firstly, what the concept of human enhancement means; secondly, what practices constitute human enhancement today, and; thirdly, what it might become in the future.

If key assumptions concerning safety and efficacy, non-addictiveness, non-coercion, and accessibility are not met, Kantian ethics would consider mood and cognitive enhancement to be impermissible. But what if these assumptions are granted? The arguments for the permissibility of neuroenhancement are stronger than those against it. After giving a general account of Kantian ethical principles, the author argues that, when these assumptions are granted, Kantian ethics no longer justifies the prohibition of neuroenhancement, and responds to two objections.

This article begins by considering four traditional definitions of enhancement, then proposes a fifth, the Welfarist definition. It then considers fairness-based objections to enhancement, using the example of performance enhancement in sport. In so doing it defines sport and the values proper to it, surveys alternative theories of justice, considers the natural distribution of capabilities and disabilities, and draws a distinction between social, psychological, and biological enhancement. The article advances a new argument that justice requires enhancement.

Pharmaceuticals or other emerging technologies could be used to enhance (or diminish) feelings of lust, attraction, and attachment in adult romantic partnerships. While such interventions could conceivably be used to promote individual (and couple) well-being, their widespread development and/or adoption might lead to “medicalization” of human love and heartache—for some, a source of serious concern. In this essay, we argue that the “medicalization of love” need not necessarily be problematic, on balance, but could plausibly be expected to have either good or bad consequences depending upon how it unfolds. By anticipating some of the specific ways in which these technologies could yield unwanted outcomes, bioethicists and others can help direct the course of love’s “medicalization”—should it happen to occur—more toward the “good” side than the “bad.”

Executive functions (EFs) refer to the higher-order processes needed to attain goal-directed behaviour. It is generally agreed that EFs involves three main cognitive functions – Working memory, inhibitory control, and task switching. Enhancement and maintenance of EFs had been investigated by applying cognitive training. Studies have reported mixed transfer results to EFs following focused training interventions. This paper focuses on randomized-task switching training spanned across a six-session intervention, whereby pretest and posttest assessment of nearby EFs were compared to passive controls. The training regimen included two randomized-task switching tasks. The transfer assessment focuses on the near-transfer criterion of EFs, i.e. working memory (AOSPAN & SymSpan), inhibitory control (Stop- Signal & ANT), and task switching (alternating-run paradigm). Results showed improvement in task-specific performance but no transfer to nearby EFs, and no transfer to the dissimilar alternating-run task switching paradigm. Results suggest that a randomized-task switching training intervention may not be as effective as the alternating-run task switching training, yet it may be catered to specific individuals displaying attentional control deficits.

This text presents an introduction to neuroprosthetic devices and systems that explores both the state of the art of sensory, motor, and cognitive neuroprostheses that are currently in use as well as more sophisticated kinds of neuroprosthetic technologies that are being actively pursued or that are expected to be developed in the future. This overview takes us from the contemporary world of neuroprostheses that have been designed primarily for purposes of therapeutic treatment of medical disorders and the restoration of natural human abilities lost due to illness or injury to an emerging future world in which neuroprosthetic devices offer the possibility of augmenting and transforming the capacities of their users in such a way that they can perhaps best be described as ‘posthumanizing’ technologies.

The emerging technological developments across various scientific fields have brought about radical changes in the ways we perceive and define what it means to be human in today’s highly technologically oriented society. Advancements in robotics, AI research, molecular biology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, medicine, etc., are mostly still in an experimental phase, but it is likely that they will become a part of our daily experience. However, human enhancement and emergence of autonomous artificial beings have long been a part of futures imagined in SF and cyberpunk. While focusing on the phenomenon of cyborg as a product of both social reality and fiction, this chapter will attempt to offer a new perspective on selected SF and cyberpunk narratives by treating them not only as fictions but as theories of the future as well. Furthermore, selected examples of the existing real-life cyborgs will show that SF narratives are not merely limited to the scope of imagination but are a constituent part of lived experience, thus blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction.

El transhumanismo es un movimiento científico y filosófico que propone superar, a través de las nuevas tecnologías, las restricciones que la condición bioló- gica nos impone. Algunos transhumanistas postulan que la lucha contra los límites naturales podría derivar en la modificación radical de nuestro cuerpo o incluso en su prescindencia (Kurzweil 2000; 2006; Kurzweil & Grossman 2005). Otros autores, como Nicholas Agar, proponen una biomodificación moderada que no exceda el marco de lo que entendemos como humano (Agar 2010; 2014).