Separating neuroethics from neurohype

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Of the three types of DTC neurotechnologies the authors claim pose the greatest concerns—neuromarketing applications of imaging research,

non-invasive neuromodulation devices, and brain–computer interfaces for control or self-monitoring—only the last two represent DTC neurotechnologies. The first category, neuroimaging,

consists of companies using imaging techniques to attempt to discern consumer preferences and is not currently applied in the DTC context, as the authors acknowledge. Yet the authors

speculate that expensive and unwieldy neuroimaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) will become DTC —even though they currently

cost between $1 and $2 million2, require radio frequency and electromagnetically shielded rooms, and necessitate that the subject remain almost completely motionless during data collection.

In support of this view, they cite a 2018 study of a new MEG prototype3 that according to them “could lead, in the near future, to a new generation of lightweight, wearable neuroimaging

headsets” (p. 807). However, the MEG prototype was only ‘wearable’ in the sense of not being tethered to the floor—the subject was required to limit head motion to within 10 cm and had to

remain between two large panels of magnetic coils3. In addition, given that a full-brain prototype of this device would cost ~$1 million4, it is difficult to envisage how a consumer-grade

MEG lies anywhere in the near future. Furthermore, the authors seem to assume that accurate, portable neuroimaging techniques will become ubiquitous (“... once DTC neuromonitoring becomes

sufficiently widespread…”; p. 807). Should a consumer version of an fMRI or MEG ever be developed—which is speculation at present—there is no reason to assume that it will become widespread.

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University of Pennsylvania, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Philadelphia, PA, USA Anna Wexler Authors * Anna Wexler View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Anna Wexler. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Wexler, A. Separating neuroethics from

neurohype. _Nat Biotechnol_ 37, 988–990 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0230-z Download citation * Published: 09 August 2019 * Issue Date: September 2019 * DOI:

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