ArticleBMC medical ethics2016
Moral and social reasons to acknowledge the use of cognitive enhancers in competitive-selective contexts.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and predictors of natural nootropic supplement use among medical and pharmacy students: a single-institution cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Ginkgo Biloba as a niche theme cognitive enhancer agent, 1420 dokumen of Scopus database. A bibliometric study from 1988 to 2024.F1000Research · 2025Article
- The rising use of cognitive enhancement drugs and predictors of use during COVID-19: findings from a cross-sectional survey of students and university staff in the UK.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Use and Impact of Cognitive Enhancers among University Students: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Students' use of caffeine, alcohol, dietary supplements, and illegal substances for improving academic performance in a New Zealand university.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2021Article
- Pharmacological Neuroenhancement: Current Aspects of Categorization, Epidemiology, Pharmacology, Drug Development, Ethics, and Future Perspectives.Neural plasticity · 2021Review
- The Dark Triad of personality and attitudes toward cognitive enhancement.BMC psychology · 2020Article
- Ethical aspects of the abuse of pharmaceutical enhancements by healthy people in the context of improving cognitive functions.Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine : PEHM · 2019Article
- Freedom of Thought and Mental Integrity: The Moral Requirements for Any Neural Prosthesis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Article
- Moral Attitudes Toward Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement (PCE): Differences and Similarities Among Germans With and Without PCE Experience.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2018Article
- Bottom Up Ethics - Neuroenhancement in Education and Employment.Neuroethics · 2018Article
- Use of Psychotropic Medications and Illegal Drugs, and Related Consequences Among French Pharmacy Students - SCEP Study: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2018Article
- Can Neuromodulation also Enhance Social Inequality? Some Possible Indirect Interventions of the State.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2017Article
- Towards a Moral Ecology of Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement in British Universities.Neuroethics · 2017Article
- On normative judgments and ethics.BMC medical ethics · 2016Article
- Methylphenidate as a cognitive enhancer in healthy young people.Dementia & neuropsychologiaArticle
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough some of the most radical hypothesis related to the practical implementations of human enhancement have yet to become even close to reality, the use of cognitive enhancers is a very tangible phenomenon occurring with increasing popularity in university campuses as well as in other contexts. It is now well documented that the use of cognitive enhancers is not only increasingly common in Western countries, but also gradually accepted as a normal procedure by the media as well. In fact, its implementation is not unusual in various professional contexts and it has its peak in colleges (where the trend has been characterized as "academic doping"). Even when certain restrictions in the legislation of a country are indeed in place (i.e. through prescriptions requirements), they are without doubts easy to overcome. The legitimacy and appropriateness of such restrictions will not be the focus of our investigation. DISCUSSION: Our concern is instead related to the moral and social reasons to publicly acknowledge the use of cognitive enhancers in competitive-selective contexts. These reasons are linked to a more neutral analysis of contemporary Western society: it is a fact that an increasing number of competitive-selective contexts have a substantial number of contenders using cognitive enhancers. Through the use of five explicative examples, in this paper we want to analyse the problems related to its use. In particular, it will be our aim to show the tension between one of the main argument used by bio-liberals (the use of cognitive enhancers is an eligible procedure that society does not impose on anyone) and the actual implementation of the drugs in competitive, or semi-competitive contexts.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.