This paper examines the concept of cognitive enhancement technologies, and explores the science and the policy implications around one hypothetical cognitive enhancement technology: Neural Tissue Augmentation.  Click here for a PDF of the paper.

Cognitive therapy emerged in the 1970's as an attempt to address the thinking aspects of psychological disorders.  Aaron T. Beck and Gary Emery developed in the 1970's and 80's a model of therapy focusing on the cognitive elements of these disorders, namely thinking and visual images, and couched it within a cogent and influential framework of mental processes.   Cognitive Therapy is today considered the most effective therapy model for panic attack disorders and one of the most effective for depression, along with interpersonal therapy.  One the most interesting implications of the Cognitive Processing model, though unintended, is its promise in providing a "Western" psychological paradigm in which to understand traditionally Eastern practices like Zen Buddhism.  While many psychologists may balk at terminology like Satori and No-self, these experiences can be translated into a more familiar framework using the terminology of the mind sciences.  The fruitful union of the Cognitive Processing model and Zen open up exciting insights, and offer a tantalizing taste of the possibilities in the cross-disciplinary exploration of these fields.