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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the role of STS collaboration in the development of neurotechnology using VR/AR systems that monitor users’ neuroadaptive states for task-relevant information. It furthermore reflects on STS researchers’ roles and the political context shaping the affordances of interventions.

Paper long abstract

Neurotechnology has been met with both techno optimistic enthusiasm and critical hesitation. From an STS point of view, emerging technologies—and the ways in which they are received by various groups in society—constitute an object of study in their own right. In line with earlier technoscientific developments, neurotechnology opens yet another chapter in the longstanding STS scholarship. Some of this work has been carried out from the vantage point of an allegedly disengaged observer, while a second strand of research has taken place in collaborative settings.

Contemporary funding schemes require research consortia to include an SSH perspective in their proposed projects. Such mandatory inclusion is itself a science policy intervention. In this paper, we present this type of research collaboration in the context of advanced neurotechnology. Our project focuses on the combined deployment of immersive VR training with AR based real world assistance, continuously monitoring performance and physiological signals to infer the neuroadaptive states of its users. These technologies raise questions of workplace surveillance and the hybridization of work (Levy 2023), due to the detection of cognitive states such as workload, uncertainty, and error awareness. Specific to this research is the integration of neurophysiological data with machine learning methods aimed at providing real time immersion in task relevant information.

Building on earlier work, this paper reflects on how STS researchers negotiate their positioning between collaborative proximity and scholarly autonomy. We conclude by considering the broader political landscape that shapes the ways in which such affordances for intervention can be negotiated.