People with experimental brain implants are pushing for more recognition and respect.

Ian Burkhart participating in a clinical trial in 2016. Jo McCulty/The Ohio State University

Scientists have been working on ways to decode brain activity for decades. Teams have developed brain implants that can be used to control robotic limbs and computers, and even to “speak.”

The people who volunteer for trials of those devices play a vital role in that research, and they ought to be recognized for their contributions, says Ian Burkhart , who had one implanted in his own brain back in 2014. He’s been working on a set of guidelines for researchers developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).

Ethics guidelines for clinical trials already exist. But BCI trials are different, says Jennifer Chandler, a professor of law and neuroethics at the University of Ottawa who also worked on the guidelines.…