Neural Prosthetics: Neuroscientific and Philosophical Aspects of Changing the Brain
Walter Glannon
Abstract
Neural prosthetics (neuroprostheses, neural prostheses) are devices or systems that influence the input and output of information in the brain. They modulate, bypass, supplement, or replace regions of the brain and its connections to the body that are damaged, dysfunctional, or lost from brain injury, congenital conditions, limb loss, or neurodegenerative disease. Neural prosthetics can generate, improve, or restore sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Some prosthetics are implanted in the brain. Others are connected to it in brain–computer interfacing. This book describes auditory and vis ... More
Neural prosthetics (neuroprostheses, neural prostheses) are devices or systems that influence the input and output of information in the brain. They modulate, bypass, supplement, or replace regions of the brain and its connections to the body that are damaged, dysfunctional, or lost from brain injury, congenital conditions, limb loss, or neurodegenerative disease. Neural prosthetics can generate, improve, or restore sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Some prosthetics are implanted in the brain. Others are connected to it in brain–computer interfacing. This book describes auditory and visual prosthetics, deep brain and responsive neurostimulation, brain–computer interfaces, brain-to-brain interfaces, optogenetics, and memory prosthetics and discusses some of their neuroscientific and philosophical implications. The neuroscientific discussion focuses on how neural prosthetics can restore brain and bodily functions. The philosophical discussion focuses on how people with these prosthetics can benefit from or be harmed by them. It also focuses on how these devices and systems can lead to a better understanding of or change our attitudes about the brain–mind relation, identity, mental causation, and agency. The book considers the therapeutic, rehabilitative, and restorative potential of neural prosthetics in improving functional independence and quality of life for millions of people with disabling conditions.
Keywords:
auditory prosthetics,
brain–computer interfaces,
brain–mind relation,
brain-to-brain interfaces,
deep brain stimulation,
memory prosthetics,
mental causation,
sensorimotor functions,
shared control,
visual prosthetics
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2021 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198813910 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2021 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198813910.001.0001 |
