Introduction
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system in the human body. The nerve system coordinates the transformation of information and nerve signals to different body parts. The human body is sensitive to internal and environmental changes that impact the normal functioning of different parts and sections. The nervous system studies are classified into two categories; the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS).
Central nervous system studies relate to brain and spinal cord treatments, while peripheral nervous system studies entail the study of nerves that connect the CNS to the other parts of the body. The practice of Neurophysiology is a subsection of neuroscience that involves the study of body nerves, spinal cord, and brain diseases such as tumors, which are the initial sources of brain cancer (Miller et al., 2021). Professionals in neurophysiology studies perform practical bioelectric activities to assess the coordination between the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado is a neurophysiologist famous for enhancing mind control through electric brain stimulation. This paper explores the relevance of Jose Manuel’s studies concerning neuroscience practices and ethics.
Neuroscience Ethical Issues
Ethical practices refer to publicly acceptable behaviors that could arise from different professional activities or general human activities. In neuroscience, ethical practices revolve around the end consequences of an experiment, research, and participants’ well-being. Many practitioners’ brain intervention is the primary concern, since interfering with the human brain is highly sensitive and critical. Brain surgeries can result in permanent damage to normal brain functioning.
Brain enhancements through drugs and other interventions help people’s brains function better (Dresler et al., 2018). Interfering with the human brain affects how people think and feel, resulting in new issues never experienced before. Nowadays, technological advancements have contributed to new methods of altering brain functions, resulting in controlled brain interventions. All the brain interventions aim to improve patients’ health and brain functioning despite the awareness of possible consequences. Brain imaging is also a vital issue resulting from brain interference by physiologists.
The correlation between brain enhancements and the normal psychological state can be measured to assess the effects of brain interference. Intentional deception has been the newly successful brain imaging method. Practitioners use developed applications, such as neuromarketing consciousness or unconsciousness of a patient who has recently undergone physiological brain enhancement. The concept of brain imaging has been widened to measure aspects, such as intelligence, vulnerabilities of mental health, personal attitudes, and personal traits.
Privacy is a significant issue to address through brain imaging since people need to provide accurate and viable information to entities such as the government, organizations, employers, and families. Physiologists must argue whether victims of brain enhancement can determine when, how, or whether to protect privacy. Neuro-realism is a disputed ethical issue of whether brain complications are true or false. The public believes that health issues diagnosed through electric equipment are genuine compared to said words or claims from an ailing person.
Memory erasure and dampening are possible consequences of physiological procedures or after brain interventions (Cogan et al., 2019). Some neurosurgical drugs, such as Propranolol, have been proven to reduce pain from traumatic memories effectively. The technology for memory erasure has been ethically considered helpful and will continue to advance with advancements in medical technologies.
Although Propranolol was initially produced for hypertension health issues, controversy increases on whether physiological practitioners should continue administering Propranolol to neurosurgical patients. Patients under neurosurgical treatments are put in an unconscious state for ease of pain and smooth operations. The disorders of consciousness have raised ethical concerns, as people argue that unconscious patients cannot explain their state of pain or health issues. An awake patient who shows no signs of awareness is considered in a vegetative state and can develop complications of consciousness due to physiological treatments that require patients to be unconscious during the treatment process.
Relevance of Jose’s Experiments to Neuroscience Ethics
Studies conducted by Jose Rodriguez intended to evoke brain responses through the use of electric signals. The experiment conducted by the neurophysiologist involved animals, such as cats and monkeys, where he later researched human beings (De Jonge et al., 2017). Jose’s technology, which he referred to as “stimoceiver,” involved the implantation of radio-active electrodes in the brains of animals and human beings under experiment. Through a push-button, Jose would send radio-active signals to the electrodes to evoke emotions and interfere with the brain functioning of the research subject.
While using “stimoceiver” technology, Rodriguez stimulated emotions and controlled the behaviors of animals and human beings. In his experiment with four patients, he realized that the amygdala and hippocampus stimulation resulted in thoughtful concentration and odd feelings. Despite proof of emotional elicits, Jose triggered physical reactions, such as body movements through the motor cortex. Implants in humans stimulate actions out of their control, such as euphoric feelings triggered by implants near the septum in the limbic region. According to the victim’s experiences, the feeling of Euphoria exceeded the feelings of pain and depression.
Jose Rodriguez invented Chemitrode technology, which released controlled amounts of medicine to brain areas. Through Chemitrode technology, Jose evaluated and assessed both positive and negative effects of neurophysiology medication on both animals and humans. In an experiment with a bull, Rodriguez was able to both the emotional and physical activities of the bull, such as stopping and activating bull charge toward him.
A chimpanzee named Paddy was stimulated with uncomfortable and painful aversive reactions, which proved that neuroscience practices could result in both temporary and permanent impacts. The Chimpanzee experiment proved to Jose and the world that behavioral and physiological interventions could stop panic attacks and seizures. Although not all of the experiments and researches conducted by Jose Rodriguez made him happy, most of them reflected neuroscience ethics and implicated consequences of physiological practices to human beings and animals.
Conclusion
The human and animal nervous system connects the brain and other body parts through the nerves. Brain interference could result in permanent and temporary physiological impacts on both humans and animals. Professionals of neuroscience must portray expertise and vast knowledge while handling physiological patients to improve their health. The impacts of brain enhancement should be well addressed to correlate ethical and unethical practices that could lead to the rejection of neuroscience advancement in society.
The researches conducted by Jose Rodriguez will continue to stress the impacts, relevance, and importance of neurosurgical practices in the modern world where health practitioners, such as neurosurgeons, can consult, attain knowledge, and advance the technology. People with interest and the urge to know the evolution of neuroscience can refer to Rodriguez’s studies. Developers of medical equipment should learn and innovate more techniques for handling and treating neurosurgical patients to continue the trend set by Jose Rodriguez.
References
Cogan, E. S., Shapses, M. A., Robinson, T. E., & Tronson, N. C. (2019). Disrupting reconsolidation: memory erasure or blunting of emotional/motivational value? Neuropsychopharmacology, 44(2), 399-407.
De Jonge, L., Petrykiv, S., Fennema, J., Michielsen, P., & Arts, M. (2017). A tribute to Jose MR Delgado (1915–2011): The pioneer of electric brain-Stimulation. European Psychiatry, 41(S1), S768-S768. Web.
Dresler, M., Sandberg, A., Bublitz, C., Ohla, K., Trenado, C., Mroczko-Wasowicz, A., Kuhn, S., & Repantis, D. (2018). Hacking the brain: Dimensions of cognitive enhancement. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 10(3), 1137-1148. Web.
Miller, K. D., Ostrom, Q. T., Kruchko, C., Patil, N.,Tihan, T., Cioffi, G., Fuchs, H. E., Waite, K. A., Jemal, A., Siegel, R. L., & Barnholtz-Sloan, J. S. (2021). Brain and other central nervous system tumor statistics. A cancer journal for clinicians. Web.