Homepage of This Laboratory

Professor

Ryuta KAWASHIMA

Associate Professor

Jorge Javier RIERA DIAZ

Associate Professor

Motoaki SUGIURA

Associate Professor

Takashi TSUKIURA

Assistant Professor

Satoru YOKOYAMA

Assistant Professor

Akitake KANNO

Instructor

Naoki MIURA

Instructor

Shinichiro KAHOH

Researchers in our department have a variety of backgrounds including medicine, science, life science, engineering, pharmacy, linguistics, pedagogy, and the arts, and work energetically on a wide range of studies of brain science, from brain dynamics research, which is designed to determine the metabolism and circulation of brain cells in small animals, to functional brain imaging research, which creates images of the working of the mind, to social technology study, which applies the findings of these studies to educational and welfare fields.

In brain dynamics research, we are elucidating the principles of brain activity. By analyzing neuronal activity, metabolism, and microcirculatory dynamics in small animals using mathematical and physiological models, we develop the techniques to measure the spatiotemporal dynamics of brain activity in humans.

In functional brain imaging research, our interest is the "human mind." We elucidate the neural underpinnings of cognitive functions, such as perception, memory, motor, linguistic, and emotional processes, and reveal the mechanism of the mind that survives the complicated physical and social environment around us.

In social technology research, we will open a new possible approach to education and social welfare from the viewpoint of brain science. We develop welfare systems for the improvement and maintenance of brain function in the elderly and education systems to best foster the healthy development of brain function in children.

Fig.1 Two photon laser scanning microscope for the brain dynamics research

Fig.2 Brain areas involved in the communication as revealed using functional MRI

Publication list

1. Takeuchi H, Taki Y, Sassa Y, Hashizume H, Sekiguchi A, Fukushima A, Kawashima R "Regional gray matter volume of dopaminergic system associate with creativity: evidence from voxel-based morphometry" Neuroimage, in press.
2. Tsukiura T, Sekiguchi A, Yomogida Y, Nakagawa S, Shigemune Y, Kambara T, Akitsuki Y, Taki Y, Kawashima R "Effects of aging on hippocampal and anterior temporal activations during successful retrieval of memory for face-name associations" Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, in press.
3. Sugiura M, Mano Y, Sasaki A, Sadato N "Beyond the memory mechanism: person-selective and non-selective processes in recognition of personally familiar faces" Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, in press.
4. Jeong H, Hashizume H, Sugiura M, Sassa Y, Yokoyama S, Shiozaki S, Kawashima R "Testing second language oral proficiency in direct and semi-direct settings: a social-cognitive neuroscience perspective" Language Learning, in press.
5. Riera J, Ogawa T, Hatanaka R, Goto T, Sumiyoshi A, Kadji HE, Nakauchi S, Kawashima R "Concurrent observations of astrocytic Ca2+ activity and multi-site extracellular potentials from an intact cerebral cortex " Journal of Biophotonics, in press.
6. Tsukiura T, Mano Y, Sekiguchi A, Yomogida Y, Hoshi K, Kambara T, Takeuchi H, Sugiura M, Kawashima R "Dissociable roles of the anterior temporal regions in successful encoding of memory for person identity information" Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, in press.
7. Yokoyama S, Miyamoto T, Kim J, Uchida S, Yoshimoto K, Kawashima R "Learning effect of L2 words in non-fluent second language learners: an fMRI study" Second Languages: Teaching, Learning and Assessment, in press.
8. Takeuchi H, Taki Y, Sassa Y, Hashizume H, Sekiguchi A, Fukushima A, Kawashima R "White matter structures associated with creativity: evidence from diffusion tensor imaging" Neuroimage, 51: 11-18, 2010.
9. Takeuchi H, Sekiguchi A, Taki Y, Yokoyama S, Yomogida Y, Nozomi K, Yamanouchi T, Suzuki S, Kawashima R "Training of working memory impacts structural connectivity" Journal of Neuroscience, 30: 3297-303, 2010.
10. Jeong H, Sugiura M, Sassa Y, Wakusawa K, Horie K, Sato S, Kawashima R "Learning second language vocabulary: Neural dissociation of situation-based learning and text-based learning" Neuroimage, 50: 802-809, 2010.
11. Yomogida Y, Sugiura M, Sassa Y, Wakusawa K, Sekiguchi A, Fukushima A, Takeuchi H, Horie K, Sato S, Kawashima R "The Neural Basis of Agency: An fMRI study" Neuroimage, 50: 198-207, 2010.
12. Miura N, Sugiura M, Takahashi M, Sassa Y, Miyamoto A, Sato S, Horie K, Nakamura K, Kawashima R. "Effect of motion smoothness on brain activity while observing a dance: an fMRI study using a humanoid robot " Social Neuroscience. 5: 40-58, 2010.
13. Sugiura M, Sassa Y, Watanabe J, Akitsuki Y, Maeda Y, Matsue Y, Kawashima R. "Anatomical segregation of representations of personally familiar and famous people in the temporal and parietal cortices " Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 21:1855-1868, 2009.
14. Sugiura M, Wakusawa K, Sekiguchi A, Sassa Y, Jeong H, Horie K, Sato S, Kawashima R "Extraction of situational meaning by integrating multiple meanings in a complex environment: a functional MRI study" Human Brain Mapping. 30(8): 2678-2688, 2009.
15. Yokoyama S, Kim J, Uchida S, Miyamoto T, Yoshimoto K, Riera J, Yusa N, Kawashima R "Left middle temporal deactivation caused by insufficient second language word comprehension by Chinese-Japanese bilinguals" Journal of Neurolinguistics 22, 476-485, 2009.