NEUROTECHNOLOGY AND COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT IN EDUCATION

Abstract

Neurotechnology is moving into classrooms faster than the evidence for using it is accumulating. This chapter surveys what EEG, fNIRS (Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy), neurofeedback, transcranial stimulation, and brain-computer interfaces can plausibly do for learning, and what they cannot yet do. Drawing on Nouri's (2025) scoping review of 471 studies and the wider neuroethics literature, it separates three things popular accounts conflate: measuring a cognitive state, training it, and directly altering it. The evidence leans heavily toward measurement; laboratory gains rarely translate cleanly into classroom achievement; and cognitive load theory, extended with physiological measurement, offers a sounder interpretive lens than treating a raw neural signal as meaningful. The chapter works through mental privacy, institutional consent imbalances, and equitable access, anchored in UNESCO's 2025 Recommendation and the IEEE Brain Neuroethics Framework. Accessibility applications rest on solid ground; general enhancement remains largely speculative.