Project Description

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are especially promising for people with severe motor disabilities. This technology can restore their abilities to communicate and act. In recent years there has been great progress in the BCI research. As research has advanced, non-clinical areas of application (e.g., gaming) have also emerged, so that the future will likely see BCIs in a wide range of settings.

Our overall project goal is to evaluate the ethical, legal, and social challenges presented by the development in the field of BCIs and their increasing application in research, health care and other societal applications. In order to achieve this goal, we will identify and analyze fundamental ethical and legal questions concerning human agency, responsibility, autonomy and regulation. We will also collect empirical data about the perspectives of crucial stakeholders (patients and their families, health care professionals and general public). Finally, we plan to effectively disseminate the findings of our research to key policy makers for regulation and to the public for practical use.
Here you find more information about the specific areas of research.

We are an interdisciplinary and international project consisting of scholars from philosophy, social sciences, neuroscience and law. Here you can find out more about the research team.

Matthew and the Montreal team have put together an introductory video for the INTERFACES project and our research questions:              

INTERFACES Project Introduction - Ethics and Brain-Computer Interfaces