Bad Moves

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Making decisions is such a regular activity that it is mostly taken for granted. However, damage or abnormality in the areas of the brain involved in decision-making can severely affect personality and the ability to manage even simple tasks.

Here, Barbara Sahakian and Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta discuss the process of normal decision making - our strategies for making decisions, biases that affect us, and influential factors - and then describe the abnormal patterns found in patients with conditions such as severe depression, Alzheimer's, and accidental brain damage.

Using striking examples and case studies from their own research to show the impact of abnormal decision making, they introduce the concept of 'hot' and 'cold' decision making based on the level of emotions involved, showing that in various psychiatric conditions extreme emotions alter the pattern of decision making.

Looking at the ways in which the brain can be manipulated to improve cognitive function in these patients, they consider the use of 'smart drugs' that alleviate these problems. The realization that smart drugs can improve cognitive abilities in healthy people has led to growing general use, with drugs easily available via the Internet. They raise ethical questions about the availability of these drugs for cognitive enhancement, in the hope of informing public debate about an increasingly important issue.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• 1 Life choices (p. 1)
• 2 Peering inside the 'black box' (p. 21)
• 3 Extreme emotions and risky behaviour (p. 43)
• 4 Interventions-drugs hit the press (p. 83)
• 5 Professor's little helper-the ethics of enhanced cognition (p. 105)
• Concluding thoughts (p. 131)
• Endnotes (p. 135)
• Acknowledgements (p. 151)
• References (p. 153)
• Index (p. 163)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Sahakian (Univ. of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, UK) and LaBuzetta (medical resident, Harvard-affiliated hospitals) have presented an excellent synopsis of the neuroscience of decision making and the ethical issues surrounding the use of cognitive-enhancing drugs. Bad Moves is written in three parts. The first section of the book covers the basic neuroscience involved in decision making and reward. The second describes the processes by which these decision-making systems can go wrong and the available treatments. The third section covers the debate and ethical issues surrounding the rise of "smart drugs" and their increasing use as cognitive enhancers, rather than as therapeutic agents. Similar ethical topics are covered in Neuroethics in Practice, by A. Chatterjee and M. Farah (2013), Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21st Century, by N. Levy (2007), and Neuroethics: An Introduction with Readings, edited by M. Farah (2010). Indeed, Sahakian contributed to the latter title. Unlike these works in the broader field of neuroethics, the current volume is dedicated entirely to the ethics of decision making and cognitive-enhancing drugs. The book as a whole is written in clear language with an engaging style. It is an excellent resource for a wide audience. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic, general, and professional readers. K. C. Michael University of Maryland Baltimore County