Research
Theme
Body
The “body” forms the basis of our perception, cognition, and behavior. We interact with the external environment through our motor actions. Behind the apparent motor behavior, the body perception also changes in a flexible manner. In our laboratory, we investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the adaptability of bodily perception. Moreover, based on the concept of “tool-body” assimilation, we work toward applying our findings to sports, craft, industrial, and prosthetic researches.
Time
“Time” is involved in diverse aspects of our daily mental and physical activities. These include our past memories, predictions for the future, and motor behavior such as walking and catching a ball. It is known that different brain regions operate according to different time scales (days, hours, minutes, or seconds). Our present research focuses on perception and behavior that occur during short time intervals (e.g., < 0.1 sec) that reflect “the moment” or “the present”.
Uncertainty
Our daily environment is highly diverse and variable. This results in uncertainty. In our laboratory, we investigate the ways in which the human brain overcomes uncertainty to achieve precise and stable perception, cognition, and motor behavior. Our results provide fundamental knowledge that might allow us to develop techniques to aid in human skill training, error prevention, robotic control, and others.
Sports
Studies on neurological treatment and rehabilitation have advanced the brain sciences. Such clinical studies aim to improve deteriorated neural functions. Acquisitions of sports skills improves normal neural functions. Investigation of neural mechanisms that help acquire sport skills holds out promise for advancing the brain science. Inspired by sports, we investigate human brain mechanisms.