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"Sport Enhancement: From Natural Doping to Brain Stimulation" offered for open access for the month of May

Sports Doping and Brain Stimulation

By IGI Global on May 1, 2015
“Competing in sports has taught me that if I'm not willing to give 120 percent, somebody else will.”
Ron Blomberg, New York Yankees (1969, 1971–76)

Sports Doping And Brain StimulationContributed by Professor José Luis Pérez Triviño (Law Department, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain)

Technology penetrates all aspects of our lives. One of these areas is sports, where technological developments have contributed directly to performance enhancement in players. Performance enhancement methods have existed since sports began. As far back as ancient Greece, Olympic champions experimented with herbal concoctions, fermented elixers, and hallucinogens to improve sports performance.

From natural remedies to today’s highly developed pharmaceuticals, athletes have used many varied treatments and substances to increase athletic ability. In the future however, it seems that the more prevalent enhancements will be biotechnological due to the fact that these promise better and safer sport performance enhancement. Scientific knowledge has offered certainties about the connection between the brain (mental and emotional factors) and the rest of the body in sports performance; this forms the core of experiments aimed at enhancing sport performance. The latest techniques are being developed in the field of neuroscience; notably transcranial stimulators.

According to the Mayo Clinic, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain; initially created to improve symptoms of depression. A large electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near your forehead. The electromagnet used in TMS creates electric currents that stimulate nerve cells in the region of your brain involved in mood control and depression.

These stimulators can also decrease reaction time and reduce fatigue; they can better athletes’ capacity to learn sport skills. The use of these stimulators could be extended to both professional and amateur athletes, since they are commercially accessible. This is just the initial application of neuroscience in sports.

Brad Partridge wrote in the sports column, Roar: "Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has launched a high performance athletic lab with another company, Axon Sports, whose motto is: “Train above the neck”. Forget muscle-building drugs – their goal is to develop tools to “accelerate the acquisition of athletic cognitive expertise.” Some researchers suggest that stimulation of the motor cortex could improve muscle force, reduce reaction time, or improve endurance. Do-it-yourself trans-cranial direct current stimulation kits are readily available to members of the public.

Are these technological enhancements considered doping? This is an intriguing question. Doping, or using the more morally neutral term enhancement, has always been present in sport practice and not only at the present time, which is marked by professionalism and competitiveness. What is clear is that they can seriously affect sport ethics insofar as they can be economically accessible to both professional and amateur athletes.

The IGI Global article "Sport Enhancement: From Natural Doping to Brain Stimulation," by Professor José Luis Pérez Triviño (Law Department, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain) explores the latest developments in doping linked to biotechnological advances, neuroscience, and transcranial stimulators. These devices promise to improve not only physiological aspects in sport performance, but also mental and emotional ones. On the other hand, they can seriously affect sport ethics insofar as they can be economically accessible to professional and amateur athletes. Download "Sport Enhancement: From Natural Doping to Brain Stimulation" here.

An article in the International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), this resource advances scholarship on the impact of ethics in technological advances and applications, both in established areas (e.g. computer ethics, engineering ethics, and biotech ethics) and new areas of research (e.g. nanoethics, artificial morality, and neuroethics). As a semi-annual journal that publishes empirical research, theoretical studies, innovative methodologies, practical applications, case studies, and book reviews, IJT provides moral and ethical aspects of technology in society. Indexed by SCOPUS, Inspec, and ACM, this journal is a valuable addition to any library or collection. Recommend to your librarian or download a sample issue of IJT on the journal web page.

IGI Global is now offering FREE lifetime e-access with all print journal subscriptions. Purchases must be made directly through the IGI Global Online Bookstore or through a distributor. Purchase any print or electronic publication directly through the IGI Global Online Bookstore and receive a 20% discount* applied directly to your shopping cart. Offer also includes individual book chapters, journal articles, and teaching cases purchased through InfoSci®-OnDemand, IGI Global’s premier bibliographic database which allows you to search, select, and download the content you need, when you need it. 20% discount offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Discount offer valid on purchases made directly through IGI Global’s Online Bookstore (www.igi-global.com/) and may not be used by distributors or book sellers. Contact cust@igi-global.com for additional information.

Some of IGI Global’s other publications discussing human enhancement and ethics include the following:



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