Neurosciences et Stimulation cérébrale: rencontre interdisciplinaire franco-canadienne

Neuroscience and Brain Stimulation: a FrancoCanadian Interdisciplinary Inquiry

NormaStim is a research project dedicated to legal, philosophical and sociological issues in neurosciences, studied through a specific technology: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). At the interface between experiment and daily clinic in the field of neurosurgery, neurology and psychiatry, DBS is an interesting case for studying important contemporary questions, notably the links between clinical research and daily medical practice, the comparison between drugs and medical devices, the understanding of care concepts, the way social, medical and legal interventions connect or the transformations of responsibility and liability (civil, criminal, medical…). NormaStim associates a multidisciplinary team of 28 social sciences and humanities researchers, with the cooperation of DBS specialists in Paris, Grenoble and Nantes, and 3 partners well-known in the field of Law (ISPS), Sociology, Anthropology and History of health and sciences (CERMES3) and Philosophy and History of care, medicine and neurosciences (SPHERE). Two hypotheses are at the core of the project: 1) DBS is a key technology for studying contemporary issues in science and health; 2) DBS can be a revelator of the changes induced by neurosciences in the medical, social and legal fields.

This workshop intends to propose a space for interdisciplinary discussion between French and Canadian scholars regarding neuromodulation issues.

During the last period, drugs took center stage in neurology and psychiatry, but electrical and magnetical neurostimulation devices are drawing more and more attention. Beyond the medical sphere, they arouse the interest and provoke the debate as they are potential tools for cognitive enhancement. However, a great diversity of devices and usages are covered when talking about brain stimulation. To better understand and specify Deep Brain Stimulation, in both dimensions: chirurgical gesture and invasive device with reversible effects, it seems necessary to compare. The comparison is to be built in several directions: between neuromodulation devices, between usages, but also between cultural, sociological and legal frameworks. This workshop is about looking for differences and common points, but also highlighting articulations and interlacing (for instance between care, research and enhancement; between drugs and medical devices; between surgery, technical adjustments and after-surgery care and follow-up; between pre- and post- behavioral and psychological evaluation).

PROGRAMME

Accueil/Welcome: Anne SARIS (UQAM), Sonia Desmoulin-Canselier (CNRS, ISJPS/DCS)

Session 1: Perspectives françaises : Le projet Normastim / A French perspective: the NormaStim project
Céline CHERICI (MCF, Université de Picardie) : « La SCP, nouvelle frontière en psychiatrie? / DBS : the New Frontier in Psychiatry ? » ;
Baptiste MOUTAUD (CR CNRS, LESC) : « Soigner, explorer, augmenter. La SCP en neurologie et en psychiatrie / Treating, Exploring, Enhancing. DBS in Neurology and Psychiatry »
Discutante/Main Discussant: Johanne COLLIN (Professeure, Université de Montréal)

Session 2: Philosophie des neurosciences / Epistemology of neuroscience
Veljko DUBLJEVIĆ (IRCM & McGill University): « Ethical and philosophical issues stemming from research, clinical and enhancement uses of transcranial direct current stimulation »
Discutant principal/Main Discussant: Luc FAUCHER (Professeur, UQAM)

Session 3: Consentement et neurochirurgie / Consent and legal regulation of neurosurgery
Jennifer CHANDLER (Professeure Ottawa University): « Consent and legal regulation of neurosurgery for psychiatric disorders »
Discutante/Main Discussant: Anne Saris (Professeure, UQAM)

Session 4: Usages, mise sur le marché et responsabilité / Uses, Market and Liability
Nathalie VOARINO (PhD student, Université de Montréal) :  » Le concept de doubleusage : un outil éthique pour l’encadrement de dispositifs de stimulation transcrânienne  »
Sonia DESMOULIN-CANSELIER (CR CNRS, ISJPS/DCS) & Guillaume CANSELIER (PhD JD lawyer, associate ISJPS) : « Causalité et prédispositions: de l’évaluation médicale au raisonnement judiciaire / Causality and predispositions : medical evaluation/judicial reasoning ».