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

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

Asuka Kaneko, Master’s Program, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Sakina Ubukata, Master’s Program, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

Zhixi Chen, Research Student, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

 Children with neurodevelopmental disorders 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 neurodevelopmental disorders, 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 neurodevelopmental disorders 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.

It is widely considered that there are two main causes of social difficulties due to neurodevelopmental disorders; 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.

In particular, this year, we will clarify what kind of disabilities are observed in the recognition of social contexts, such as the social status or the type of social relationship (for example, the difference between the perceptions of family members, such as parents or siblings, and the perceptions of unfamiliar others), social learning like imitation and the neural mechanisms related to processing such information. In investigations of the effects of psychosocial factors, these issues have hardly been considered in previous studies on social communication problems in neurodevelopmental disorders.

The findings from this research will play an important role in clarifying the relationship between brain dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders and psychosocial and physical environmental factors, and in promoting the establishment of treatment and support for neurodevelopmental disorders.

2021/07/30