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Opinion and Comment

Nature Biotechnology 25, 393–397 (1 April 2007) | doi:10.1038/nbt0407-393

Commercializing cognitive neurotechnology|[mdash]|the ethical terrain

Margaret L Eaton & Judy Illes

Mental illness is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, afflicting one in five Americans and over one in four Europeans. Cognitive neurotechnologies—technologies that enable the monitoring and/or modulation of the function of the brain—promise to improve the treatment of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders and may ultimately be applied to enhance emotional stability, cognitive clarity and sensory experiences.