Background:
The knowledge of neuroscience as well as the understanding of how to protect the brain has remained a mystery for humans over the better part of their existence. However, throughout the 21st century, the capabilities of science to manipulate brain states and the advancing development of tools have brought in new possibilities of restoring cognitive performance - and upgrading already healthy functioning.
What is Neurotechnology?
Neurotechnology is any sort of technology that is able to provide a greater depth of information and understanding towards the brain (as well as the activity of the nervous system), and everything that affects it. It is a technology that has become very widespread within the medical community, being used in both research, and therapeutic/rehabilitative terms. Overall, neurotechnology is able to read and write information into the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous system, through the usage of neural interfaces - which requires several different methods. Because of this, it is composed of 3 different technological categories: neuromodulation technologies (stimulating nervous system structures as a way to affect neural activity) brain-machine interfaces (reading and writing information into the brain, with the ability to control a patient through “external software ) and neuroprostheses (a restoration/replacement of sensory, motor, or cognitive functions, through brain prosthetics). However, these types of neurotechnology still have a variety of limitations, including the lack of function independently, or in line with brain signals.
Neurotechnology within Cognitive Enhancement:
How effective neurotechnology is at both recording and stimulating neural activity (in the sense that it can understand perception, memory, and other cognitive mechanisms) relies on numerous factors that influence its daily usability. There are both invasive (entering the body through the use of a medical instrument) and non-invasive (without breaking skin) technologies within this “hemisphere”. Some non-invasive technologies include those for brain stimulation (such as transcranial electrical stimulation -tES, transcranial magnetic stimulation - TMS, focused ultrasound - FUS , etc.), and those for the recording of brain activity (functional near-infrared spectroscopy - fNIRS, electroencephalography - EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging - fMRI , etc). Typically, non-invasive technology will record data (such as electrical activity, changes in blood flow, etc.) with the use of electrode attachments towards the scalp, or other materials in relevance to electrical currents. However, invasive technologies (including those that are recording as well as stimulatory) rely on the direct insertion of electrodes/microelectrodes INTO the brain. Due to how invasive such technology is (as well as cost, etc.), the cognitive enhancement research that is able to be done using invasive neurotechnology is very LIMITED, because its only target in the medical field right now is to IMPROVE rather than advance a patient's health. Nevertheless, neurotechnology has already begun to play a huge role in the scientific field of neuroscience, and its further advancement will continue to be a necessity within the study of cognitive enhancement.
References
Cinel, Caterina, et al. “Neurotechnologies for Human Cognitive Augmentation: Current State of the Art and Future Prospects.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 13, 31 Jan. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6365771/, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2019.00013.
Henderson, Jaimie . “Cognitive Enhancement - GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar.” Radar.gesda.global, radar.gesda.global/topics/cognitive-enhancement. Accessed 27 May 2024.
“Neurotechnologies: The next Technology Frontier.” IEEE Brain, brain.ieee.org/topics/neurotechnologies-the-next-technology-frontier/.
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