Moral Attitudes Toward Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement (PCE): Differences and Similarities Among Germans With and Without PCE Experience.

Sabine Pohl,Elisabeth Hildt,Hannes Boelsen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.01451

Abstract

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE), the use of illicit and/or prescription drugs to increase cognitive performance, has spurred controversial discussion in bioethics. In a semi-structured interview study with 60 German university students and employees, differences and similarities in moral attitudes toward PCE among 30 experienced participants (EPs) vs. 30 inexperienced participants (IPs) were investigated. Substances EPs used most often are methylphenidate, amphetamines, tetrahydrocannabinol and modafinil. Both EPs and IPs addressed topics such as autonomous decision making or issues related to fairness such as equality in test evaluation and distortion of competition. While most EPs and IPs were convinced that the decision of whether or not to use PCE is part of their individual freedom, their views varied considerably with regard to fairness. IPs considered issues related to fairness as much more critical than EPs. Thus, a person’s moral attitudes toward PCE may not only depend on moral common sense, but also on whether they have used illegal and/or prescription drugs for PCE before. This points to the importance of including the various relevant stakeholder perspectives in debates on the ethical and social implications of PCE.

Highlights

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE), the use of illicit substances and/or prescription drugs to improve cognitive performance, has become an often-discussed topic in bioethics over the last decade (Schelle et al, 2014: p. 1; Garasic and Lavazza, 2016: p. 1; Schleim and Quednow, 2018)
A number of studies have investigated attitudes toward PCE (Babcock and Byrne, 2000; Franke et al, 2012a,b; Partridge et al, 2012; Bell et al, 2013; Sattler et al, 2013; Vrecko, 2013; Singh et al, 2014; Maier et al, 2015; Ram et al, 2017; Vagwala et al, 2017). The aim of this interview study was to find out what moral attitudes toward pharmacological enhancement participants with PCE experience and without PCE experience are aware of and whether those vary between the two groups
Typically inexperienced participants (IPs) in this study believed distortion of competition was caused, assuming users were in a better position competitively than those not using PCE: “[I]f you really use it for enhancement, the performance will be better. [...] Not, because the person is really better, but because they took the stimulant drug in that moment.”

Summary

Introduction

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE), the use of illicit substances and/or prescription drugs (off-label use) to improve cognitive performance, has become an often-discussed topic in bioethics over the last decade (Schelle et al, 2014: p. 1; Garasic and Lavazza, 2016: p. 1; Schleim and Quednow, 2018). The aim of this interview study was to find out what moral attitudes toward pharmacological enhancement participants with PCE experience (experienced participants, EPs) and without PCE experience (inexperienced participants, IPs) are aware of and whether those vary between the two groups. By EP, people were categorized who have used or still were using illicit substances and/or prescription drugs (off-label use) for cognitive enhancement.

Results

Conclusion