Human Agency and Brain-Computer Interfaces: Understanding users? experiences and developing a tool for improved consent

Agency, our ability to act and experience a sense of responsibility for our actions, is central to individual identity and societal conceptions of moral responsibility. Neural devices are currently used to treat some brain disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, and are being developed to treat others such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, yet their use raises important ethical concerns about potential effects on agency. Dr. Goering, Dr. Klein and their team will investigate agency in individuals receiving brain computer interface devices for sensory, motor, communication, and psychiatric indications. They aim to build a user-centered neural agency framework, and, ultimately, to enhance the informed consent process by developing a communication tool that patient participants might use to better understand and discuss potential changes in agency associated with use of neural devices.