Ethical Concerns and Perceptions of Consumer Neurotechnology from Lived Experiences of Mental Workload Tracking

Abstract

With rapid growth in the development of consumer neurotechnology, it is imperative to consider the ethical implications that this might have in order to minimise consumer harm. Whilst ethical and legal guidelines for commercialisation have previously been suggested, we aimed to further this discussion by investigating the ethical concerns held by potential end users of consumer neurotechnology. 19 participants who had previously experienced mental workload tracking in their daily lives were interviewed about their ethical concerns and perceptions of this type of future neurotechnology. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach identified three superordinate themes. These related to concerns surrounding privacy, data validity and misinterpretation, and personal identity. The findings provide further validation for previous research and highlight further ethical considerations that should be factored into the commercialisation of neurotechnology.