Group 6 conducts fundamental research to help people adapt to new lifestyles in an emerging avatar-symbiotic society. With rapid advancements in Cybernetic avatars (CAs) and robotic technologies, it is essential that humans learn to use these tools effectively. Equally important is understanding how such technologies influence human physiology and daily life and identifying and bridging any gaps that may arise between humans and new technologies.
To address these challenges, we utilize omics approaches — comprehensive methods that measure and analyze groups of molecules without pre-selecting specific targets. Unlike hypothesis-driven analyses that focus on particular substances, omics techniques aim to capture the entire landscape of a phenomenon, making them powerful tools for exploring new and unknown effects.
In fiscal year 2024, we expanded our experimental platforms enabling subject-based multi-omics studies to further accelerate our research progress. We also conducted brain response analysis during the use of CAs.

[Construction of Subject-based Multi-omics Platforms]

Our group has adopted an approach in which healthy volunteers participate in specifically designed tasks, and molecular changes before and after the tasks are comprehensively analyzed.
To promptly evaluate the biological impacts of various devices and technologies developed under Objective 1, we further expanded this platform. We therefore enhanced the research facilities at the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, strengthening the experimental environment for human subject research (Figure 1). In addition, we introduced a shielded room capable of blocking electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields, and sound, aiming to improve the precision of measurements such as Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. Each experimental room is equipped with an adjoining molecular biology laboratory, allowing for the rapid processing of collected samples. Furthermore, a new experiment room was also established at the Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University. We now can conduct subject-based multi-omics studies at multiple sites across Japan.

[Brain Response Analysis]

Dr. Haruno (NICT CiNet) discovered that the use of CAs can change human behavior (Figure 2). Many people may have experienced that factors such as whether the other person's facial expressions are visible, or whether one's own face is shown during an online meeting, can influence their actions.
In his recent study, Dr. Haruno had participants perform risk-related decision-making tasks while their brain activity was measured using functional MRI (fMRI). Interestingly, when facial expressions were presented via CAs rather than human faces, participants tended to make riskier decisions.
Furthermore, differences in the ambiguity of positive or negative facial feedback between the avatar and human conditions were found to promote high-risk decision-making. The amygdala, a brain region associated with emotional evaluation, was shown to play a key role in processing this ambiguity. This research provides new insights into how CA use can influence human decision-making and suggests potential applications in areas such as personnel support using CAs.

By fully utilizing our newly established multi-omics platform for human subjects, we aim to accelerate research under Moonshot goal 1. We anticipate that this capability to thoroughly understand the effects of using CAs on us will make a significant contribution to the future development of an avatar-symbiotic society.