Educational neuroscience: Neuroethical considerations

Research design and methods in educational neuroscience involve using neuroscientific
tools such as brain image technologies to investigate cognitive functions and inform educational
practices. The ethical challenges raised by research in social neuroscience have become
the focus of neuroethics, a sub-discipline of bioethics. More specifically here, we give
an overview of neuroethical issues arising from brain imaging studies and neuropharmacology
in education, from neuromyths to potential stigmatization of learners, and discuss the
relevance of establishing the field of educational neuroethics. We argue that by integrating
ethical positions to research design and methods in educational neuroscience, it would become
possible to contextualize results and the diffusion of results, which in turn insure better
credibility among the wide variety of stakeholders to new knowledge emerging from
educational neuroscience.