Relationship between Cognitive Dysfunction and Psychosocial / Physico-Environmental Factors in Developmental Disabilities

Research Topic
Relationship between Cognitive Dysfunction and Psychosocial / Physico-Environmental Factors in Developmental Disabilities

Lead Researcher
Yukiori Goto, Associate Professor, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Host Researcher
Yoshiyuki Ueda, Senior Lecturer, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Collaborating Researchers
Masakazu Ide, Researcher, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Yumi Umesawa, Research Fellow, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Takeshi Atsumi, Research Fellow, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities

Ayana Tamura, Researcher, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Shino Ogawa, Researcher, Research Institute for Child Development and Learning Support

Joint Researchers
Yui Asaoka, Master’s Program, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Srishti Tripathi, Doctor’s Program, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Children with developmental disabilities have various difficulties in their social lives due to their symptoms. These difficulties can be resolved by improving the brain dysfunction that causes the symptoms of developmental disabilities, by changing their behavior so that they can adapt to the surrounding environment, or by enhancing the surrounding environment itself.

At present, however, basic knowledge on developmental disabilities have not yet been gathered, such as treatments to improve brain dysfunction, support for adapting their behavior to the environment, and effective environmental enhancements based on individual characteristics. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the relationship between brain dysfunction of developmental disabilities and psychosocial / physical environmental factors, and to apply it to the establishment of treatment and support.

It is widely considered that there are two main causes of social difficulties due to developmental disabilities; one is the problem of social information processing and recognition itself, the other is general environmental information processing problems.

In this research, therefore, we will attempt to investigate and elucidate the problem from two viewpoints: influences of psychosocial and physical environmental factors. First, the investigation of the influences of psychosocial factors will clarify what kind of disabilities are observed in the recognition of social contexts, such as social ranking or the type of social connection (for example, the difference between the perceptions of family members, such as parents or siblings, and the perceptions of unfamiliar others), and the cranial nerve base related to processing the information. This has hardly been considered in previous studies on social communication problems in developmental disabilities.

Second, in the investigation of the influences of physical environmental factors, the relationship between physical phenomena that become objects of support (hyperactivity, sensory processing disorder) and developmental disabilities will be clarified. For example, reports have shown that hyperactivity is a compensatory act that increases cortical activity and thereby compensates for working memory deficits, and, the more sensitive a person is, the higher the temporal resolution of touch is. A detailed examination of the relationship between these physical phenomena, which are targets of clinical intervention and evaluation, and the findings of neurophysiological processes will be extremely helpful in developing effective clinical support.

2020/05/29