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Popular Media and Bioethics Scholarship: Sharing Responsibility for Portrayals of Cognitive Enhancement with Prescription Medications

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Handbook of Neuroethics

Abstract

The use of prescription medications for the cognitive enhancement of healthy individuals has been a captivating and contentious subject in the media and in the bioethics literature. This chapter provides an overview of the roles the media have played in reporting features of the nonmedical use of prescription medications by healthy individuals for enhancement and the influence the media have exerted on academic discourses. We note the broadening of media coverage from trend reporting to taking on research questions of the prevalence and efficacy of cognitive enhancement. We also reflect on the emergent contribution of messages via social media in online discussions about cognitive enhancement. Messages from traditional and social media are often based on anecdotal evidence and may perpetuate misrepresentations of cognitive enhancement especially when referenced by academic researchers. Such misrepresentations may harbor underlying normative messages that can influence the behavior of individuals. The different forms of media and academic bioethics share a responsibility to portray cognitive enhancement in a light that reflects current evidence and does not encourage the nonmedical use of medications based on anecdotal experiences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Neuroethics Research Unit, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Cynthia Forlini

  2. UQ Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Herston, QLD, QLD 4029, Australia

    Cynthia Forlini

  3. University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Room 709, Building 71/918, Brisbane, QLD, 4029, Australia

    Brad Partridge & Jayne Lucke

  4. Neuroethics Research Unit, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal, 110 avenue des Pins Ouest, H2W lR7, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

  5. Department of Medicine and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

  6. Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Experimental Medicine & Biomedical Ethics Unit, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Eric Racine

Authors
  1. Cynthia Forlini
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  2. Brad Partridge
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  3. Jayne Lucke
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  4. Eric Racine
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cynthia Forlini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Jens Clausen

  2. The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Neil Levy

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Forlini, C., Partridge, B., Lucke, J., Racine, E. (2015). Popular Media and Bioethics Scholarship: Sharing Responsibility for Portrayals of Cognitive Enhancement with Prescription Medications. In: Clausen, J., Levy, N. (eds) Handbook of Neuroethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_83

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_83

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4707-4

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