The dynamic and ever-evolving nature of neuroimaging research creates important ethical challenges. New domains of neuroscience research and improving technological capabilities in neuroimaging have expanded the scope of studies that probe the biology of the social and ethical brain, the range of eligible volunteers for research, and the extent of academic-industry relationships. Accordingly, challenges in informed consent and subject protection are surfacing. In this context, we provide an overview of the current landscape for neuroimaging and discuss specific research ethics topics arising from it. We suggest preliminary approaches to tackle current issues, and identify areas for further collaboration between neuroimagers and institutional review boards (research ethics committee).
AustinM. A.HardingS., & McElroyC. (2003). Genebanks: A comparison of eight proposed international genetic databases. Community Genetics, 6(1), 37–45.
4.
BartelsA.ZekiS. (2004). The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. NeuroImage, 21(3), 1155–1166.
5.
BeskowL. M.BurkeW.MerzJ.F.BarrP.A.TerryS.PenchaszadehV.B. (2001). Informed consent for population-based research involving genetics. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(18), 2315–2321.
6.
CanliT., & AminZ. (2002). Neuroimaging of emotion and personality: Scientific evidence and ethical considerations. Brain & Cognition, 50(3), 414–431.
7.
Central Brain Tumor Registry OF The united States. (2004). Statistical Report: Primary Brain Tumors in the United States, 1997–2001. Hinsdale, Il: Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States.
8.
ChoM. K. (2002). Conflicts of interest in magnetic resonance imaging: Issues in clinical practice and research. Topics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 13(2), 73–78.
9.
DecetyJ.JacksonP. L.SommervilleJ. A.ChaminadeT., & MeltzoffA. N. (2004). The neural bases of cooperation and competition: An fMRI investigation. NeuroImage, 23(2), 744–751.
10.
DiPietroJ. A. (2000). Baby and the brain: Advances in child development. Annual Review of Public Health, 21, 455–471.
EberhardtJ. L. (2005). Imaging race. American Psychologist, 60(2), 181–190.
13.
EmmanuelE. J.WendlerD., & GradyC. (2000). What makes clinical research ethical?Journal of the American Medical Association, 283(20), 2701–2710.
14.
FosterM. W., & CarterT. H. (1998). A model agreement for genetic research in socially identifiable populations. American Journal of Human Genetics, 63(3), 696–702.
15.
GrayA. J. (2002). Stigma in psychiatry. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 95(2), 72–76.
16.
GreeneJ. D.SommervilleR. B.NystromL. E.DarleyJ. M., & CohenJ. D. (2001). An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science, 293 (5537), 2105–2108.
17.
GuraT. (2005). Educational research: Big plans for little brains. Nature, 435(7046), 1156–1158.
18.
HilgenbergS. (2005). Formation, malformation, and transformation: My experience as medical student and patient. Stanford Medical Student Clinical Journal, 9(1), 22–25.
19.
HintonV. J. (2002). Ethics of neuroimaging in pediatric development. Brain & Cognition, 50(3), 455–468.
20.
IllesJ.DesmondJ. E.HuangL. F.RaffinT. A., & AtlasS. W. (2002). Ethical and practical considerations in managing incidental findings in functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain & Cognition, 50(3), 358–365.
21.
IllesJ.KannD.KaretskyK.LetourneauP.RaffinT. A.Schraedley-DesmondP. (2004). Advertising, patient decision making, and self-referral for computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging. Archives of Internal Medicine, 164(22), 2415–2419.
22.
IllesJ.KirschenM. P.EdwardsE.StanfordL. R.BandettiniP.ChoM. K., (2006). Incidental findings in brain imaging research. Science, 311(5762), 783–784.
23.
IllesJ.KirschenM. P., & GabrieliJ. D. (2003). From neuroimaging to neuroethics. Nature Neuroscience, 6(3), 205.
24.
IllesJ.RacineE., & KirschenM. (2006). A picture is worth a thousand words, but which one thousand? In IllesJ. (Ed.), Neuroethics: Defining the Issues in Research, Practice and Policy (pp. 149–168). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25.
IllesJ., & RacineE. (2005). Imaging or imagining? A neuroethics challenge informed by genetics. American Journal of Bioethics, 5(2), 5–18.
26.
IllesJ., & RaffinT. A. (2005). No child left without a brain scan? Toward a pediatric neuroethics. Cerebrum, 7(3), 33–46.
27.
IllesJ.RosenA.GreiciusM., & RacineE. (2007). Prospects for prediction: Ethics analysis of neuroimaging in Alzheimer's disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1097, 278–295.
28.
IllesJ.RosenA. C.HuangL.GoldsteinR. A.RaffinT. A.SwanG. (2004). Ethical consideration of incidental findings on adult brain MRI in research. Neurology, 62(6), 888–890.
29.
JuengstE. T. (1998). Groups as gatekeepers to genomic research: Conceptually confusing, morally hazardous, and practically useless. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 8(2), 183–200.
30.
KatzmanG. L.DagherA. P., & PatronasN. J. (1999). Incidental findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging from 1000 asymptomatic volunteers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 281(1), 36–39.
31.
KimB. S.IllesJ.KaplanR. T.ReissA., & AtlasS. W. (2002). Incidental findings on pediatric MR images of the brain. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 23(10), 1674–1677.
32.
KirschenM. P.JaworskaA., & IllesJ. (2006). Subjects' expectations in neuroimaging research. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 23(2), 205–209.
33.
KulynychJ. (2002). Legal and ethical issues in neuroimaging research: Human subjects protection, medical privacy, and the public communication of research results. Brain & Cognition, 50(3), 345–357.
34.
KumraS.AshtariM.AndersonB.CervellioneK. L., & KanL. (2006). Ethical and practical considerations in the management of incidental findings in pediatric MRI studies. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(8), 1000–1006.
35.
LanglebenD. D.SchroederL.MaldjianJ. A.GurR. C.McDonaldS.RaglandJ. D. (2002). Brain activity during simulated deception: An event-related functional magnetic resonance study. NeuroImage, 15(3), 727–732.
36.
LiebermanM. D.HaririA.JarchoJ. M.EisenbergerN. I., & BookheimerS.Y. (2005). An fMRI investigation of race-related amygdala activity in African-American and Caucasian-American individuals. Nature Neuroscience, 8(6), 720–722.
37.
MacKayC. R. (1984). Ethical issues in research design and conduct: Developing a test to detect carriers of Huntington's disease. IRB: Ethics & Human Research, 6(4), 1–5.
38.
MathiakK., & FallgatterA. J. (2005). Combining magnetoencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. International Review of Neurobiology, 68, 121–148.
39.
MazziottaJ. C. (2000). Window on the brain. Archives of Neurology, 57(10), 1413–1421.
40.
McClureS.LaibsonD. I.LoewensteinG, & CohenJ. D. (2004). Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science, 306(5695), 503–507.
41.
McClureS. M.LiJ.TomlinD.CypertK.S.MontagueL.M., & MontagueP.R. (2004). Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44(2), 379–387.
42.
NarasimhanK. (2004). Scaling up neuroscience. Nature Neuroscience, 7(5), 425.
43.
OwensD. G. (1997). Ethical aspects of research on brain morphology in psychiatric patients. Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanità, 33(4), 489–496.
44.
PezawasL.Meyer-LindenbergA.DrabantE. M.VerchinskiB. A.MunozK. E.KolachanaB. S. (2005). 5-HTTLPR polymorphism impacts human cingulate-amygdala interactions: A genetic susceptibility mechanism for depression. Nature Neuroscience, 8(6), 828–834.
45.
PhelanJ. C. (2002). Genetic bases of mental illness—a cure for stigma?Trends in Neurosciences, 25(6), 430–431.
46.
PhilipsM. (2005). Coping with unsuspected findings in volunteers. Nature, 434(7029), 17.
47.
PoppJ. A., & mooreD. L. (1994). Institutional review board evaluation of neuroscience protocols involving human subjects. Surgical Neurology, 41(2), 162–167.
48.
RacineE.Bar-IlanO., & IllesJ. (2005). fMRI in the public eye. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(2), 159–164.
49.
RacineE.Bar-IlanO., & IllesJ. (2006). Brain imaging: A decade of coverage in the print media. Science Communication, 28(1), 122–143.
50.
RacineE.Van der LoosH. Z. A., & IllesJ. (2007). Internet marketing of neuroproducts: New practices and healthcare policy challenges. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics16(2), 181–194.
51.
ReillyP. R. (1991). Reviewing proposals to study biological correlates of criminality. IRB: Ethics & Human Research, 13(6), 8–9.
52.
RiisP. (1993). The Danish Brain Collection and its important potentials for future research. IRB: Ethics & Human Research, 15(6), 5–6.
53.
RosasH. D.FeiginA. S., & HerschS. M. (2004). Using advances in neuroimaging to detect, understand, and monitor disease progression in Huntington's disease. NeuroRx, 1(2), 263–272.
54.
RosenA. C.BodkeA.L.W.PearlA., & YesavageJ. A. (2002). Ethical, and practical issues in applying functional imaging to the clinical management of Alzheimer's disease. Brain & Cognition, 50(3), 498–519.
55.
ThompsonM. (2004). The subjective experience of participating in neuroimaging research studies: Illuminating differences between children and adults. Mini-symposium: Ethical dimensions in neuroscience. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
56.
TogaA. W. (2002). Imaging databases and neuroscience. The Neuroscientist, 8(5), 423–436.
57.
UttalW. R. (2001). The New Phrenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
58.
WeberF., & KnopfH. (2006). Incidental findings in magnetic resonance imaging of the brains of healthy young men. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 210(1–2), 81–84.
WolpeP. R.FosterK. R., & LanglebenD. D. (2005). Emerging neurotechnologies for lie-detection: Promises and perils. American Journal of Bioethics, 5(2), 39–49.
61.
WoodwardL. J.AndersonP. J.AustinN. C.HowardK., & InderT. E. (2006). Neonatal MRI to predict neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants. New England Journal of Medicine, 355(7), 685–694.
62.
YoungS. N. (2002). The ethics of placebo in clinical psycho-pharmacology: The urgent need for consistent regulation. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 27(5), 319–321.
