Reseachers
HANAKAWA, Takashi
Director, Department of Advanced Neuroimaging, Integrative
Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and
Psychiatry
Title:
Multidimensional Neuroimaging of Plastic Changes of the
Brain Associated with Acquisition of Brain-Machine
Interface
Summary:
Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are emerging techniques,
which may help to restore functions of patients who have
suffered from stroke or spinal cord injury. During the
acquisition of BMI, the state of the brain dynamically
changes due to its own plasticity. The purpose of this
study is to understand the mechanisms of neuroplasticity
associated with the BMI acquisition and to develop a BMI
system in which the brain and the computer efficiently
cooperate.
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HATTORI, Noriaki
Director, Neurorehabilitation Research Institute,
Morinomiya Hospital
Title:
Investigation of the mechanism of functional recovery
after stroke and a fundamental study on application of BMI
to stroke
Summary:
The aim of this study is to establish a method to estimate
the effect of rehabilitation therapy after stroke based on
the detailed assessment of the pathophysiology of motor
impairment and the evaluation of capacity of motor
learning of the patients. Furthermore, this study will
investigate what kind of information from which part of
the brain will be usable for the patients to control brain
machine interface by using magnetic resonance imaging and
other techniques.
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HAYASHI, Yuichiro
Assistant Professor, Medical Innovation Center, Kyoto
University Graduate School of Medicine
Title:
Development and application of an in vivo multiple single
cell stimulation and recording system
Summary:
Although neural correlates of various physiological events
have been found, such neural activities are rarely proved
to be the basis of the physiological events. To test this,
not only recording, but also manipulating the activity
should be required. To this end, I have been developing a
method for optical neural stimulation with single cell
resolution. This technique will help to elucidate
physiological roles of specific patterns of neural
activity.
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ISODA, Masaki
Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Kansai Medical
University
Title:
Neuronal mechanisms for monitoring performance of self and
others in decision-making
Summary:
Adaptive decision-making in the real world context depends
on the ability to track and integrate action outcomes
generated by both self and others. Using
electrophysioloical technique in alert behaving monkeys,
this study tries to uncover the neuronal mechanisms of how
individuals are capable of monitoring performance of other
agents and thereby guiding purposeful behavior of their
own.
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NAKAMURA, Kae
Professor, School of Medicine, Kansai Medical University
Title:
The role of dopamine and serotonin for reward-punishment
computation
Summary:
Well-balanced reward-punishment computation is essential
for decision-making. I will test the hypothesis that this
process is supported by dopamine (DA)-serotonin (5HT)
interaction. Interdisciplinary approach consisting of
single-unit recordings from DA/5HT neurons,
pharmacological manipulation, and electrical stimulation
will clarify the neuronal circuit that support
decision-making and learning model.
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SUETANI, Hiromichi
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Kagoshima
University
Title:
Nonlinear Manifold Learning Approach for Information
Representation in the Brain and Its Application to
Brain-Machine Interface
Summary:
It is very important how we extract the information flow
from the brain activities measured by various imaging
techniques such as EEG, fMRI, NIRS for developing the
real-time Brain-Machine Interface (BMI). In this project,
I propose an approach for representing information in the
brain from the viewpoint of nonlinear dynamics. The key of
the proposed approach is the methods of nonlinear manifold
learning recently developed in the field of machine
learning and the time-delay embedding of the multivariate
time series. I aim for applying the proposed method to
realize the more refined BMI-technology.
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TAKAHASHI, Hidehiko
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Kyoto
University Graduate School of Medicine
Title:
Molecular mechanism of emotional decision-making
Summary:
We sometimes make irrational decision-makings (altruistic
behavior, moral judgment gamble etc.), which is not
accounted for by economic theories assuming individuals
are rational decision makers and have purely
self-regarding preferences. These irrational
decision-makings are highly influenced by emotions. I aim
to identify target brain regions involved in emotional
decision-making by fMRI, and then to investigate the role
of neurotransmitters such as dopamine in the regions by
positron emission tomography or pharmacological
manipulation. This approach will contribute to cultivation
of moral sentiment and diagnosis of neuropsychiatric
disorders.
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TAKAHASHI, Hirokazu
Assistant Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science
and Technology, The University of Tokyo
Title:
Adaptive decoding by information theory and dimensional
reduction
Summary:
Information for neural decoding are embedded in neural
responses as various features. In addition, these
informative features can change according to experience,
learning and context. Having these properties of brain in
mind, the present work takes advantage of mathematical
methods such as information theory and dimensional
reduction, by which information in the neural responses
can be better identified, and achieves efficient neural
decoding.
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TAKAHASHI, Susumu
Associate Professor, Laboratory of Neural Circuitry, Unit
for Systems Neuroscience, Graduate School of Brain
Science, Doshisha University
Title:
Development of BMI for controlling omni-directional
vehicle using intended movement directions estimated from
neuronal ensemble activity
Summary:
Using a unique multi-neuronal recording system in
conjunction with an accurate, real-time spike-sorting, I
develop a novel method that can elucidate the actual
encoding of information by the neuronal networks of many
neurons in the brain of behaving animals. On the basis of
the method, I develop a brain-machine interface (BMI) that
can control an omni-directional vehicle toward a target
position using the intended movement directions estimated
from the activity of many neurons in the hippocampal
formation. Moreover, I elucidate functional roles of the
hippocampal formation using the BMI.
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YAMADA, Maki
Researcher, Graduate School of Medicine,
The University of Tokyo
Title:
Visualization and Induction of Functional Neuronal Network
Summary:
Manipulation of the information coding process would be
one of the ideal methods for managing the Brain Machine
Interface. The first aim of this study is to analyze the
rules of synaptic plasticity with regard to learning in
animals in vivo, through the visualization of the
molecular changes in neuronal dendritic spines. The second
aim is to manipulate neuronal activity that would induce
neuronal circuit reorganization. To begin with, the
cellular and molecular biological technique would be
utilized to develop the basic technologies for these
purposes.
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YOSHIMURA, Yumiko
Professor, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience,
National Institutes of Neural Science
Title:
Analysis of neural circuits underlying information
processing in visual cortex
Summary:
The aim of this research project is to elucidate the basic
organization of the neural circuits that underlie
efficient cortical information processing and compensatory
mechanisms that enable neural circuits in a sensory cortex
that has lost its specific sensory inputs to participate
in and improve information processing in other modalities
of the sensory system. Next, I will investigate ways to
facilitate the compensatory processes. To this end, I will
conduct detailed analyses in mouse visual cortex using
electrophysiological methods combined with modern genetic
technology. It is expected that the results obtained from
these analyses will promote the development of new BMI and
neuro-rehabilitation techniques.
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