2024年

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2023年

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2022年

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2021年

A Paper by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe and Colleagues has been Published in Human Brain Mapping

A paper by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe, Dr. Kohei Asano (KRC Research Fellow, Professor, Osaka University of Comprehensive Children Education) and colleagues, entitled, “Musical instrument training program improves verbal memory and neural efficiency in novice older adults,” has been published in Human Brain Mapping.

In this study, healthy older adults were randomly assigned to either the intervention group, which received keyboard harmonica group lessons for 4 months, or a control group without any alternative training. The differences between the two groups were examined. Results showed that the musical instrument lessons improved memory performance on a test that measures verbal recall. The results also showed improved neural efficiency during cognitive tasks only in the intervention group.

*Please click on the image to view the paper. (English)

Guo X, Yamashita M, Suzuki M, Ohsawa C, Asano K, Abe N, Soshi T, Sekiyama K (2021)
Musical instrument training program improves verbal memory and neural efficiency in novice older adults
Human Brain Mapping 42 (5): 1359-1375
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.25298

2021/04/05

2020年

Poster Presentation by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe et al. received the Special Excellence Presentation Award at the 84th annual convention of the Japanese Psychological Association

A poster presentation by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe et al. (lead presenter: Ryuhei Ueda, Researcher, Center for Information and Neural Networks, former Office Assistant of KRC) received the Special Excellence Presentation Award at the 84^th annual convention of the Japanese Psychological Association (JPA), which was held online from September 8 to November 2, 2020.

JAP is an academic society to which researchers from various fields, mainly experimental psychology and clinical psychology, belong. They conduct activities with the aim of seeking a wide exchange of knowledge in cooperation with related academic societies. At this year’s annual convention, 562 poster presentations were selected, and based on the results of votes cast by directors and members of the committee, 13 presentations were awarded the Special Excellence Presentation Award.

[Website for Presentation Award]
https://psych.or.jp/prize/conf/

2020/11/04

Research by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe has been introduced in the graphic science magazine Newton

Research on psychopaths by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe (http://kokoro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/20180700_abe_socialcognitive/) has been introduced in Newton, a monthly graphic science magazine for a broad readership. The September 2020 issue features psychopaths.

Feature Article: Do psychopaths lie more often than ordinary people? (in Japanese)

Newton, the September 2020 issue, pp. 110

https://www.newtonpress.co.jp/newton/back/bk_202009.html

2020/10/08

A Commentary by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

A Commentary by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe, “Overriding a moral default for honesty or dishonesty,” has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). This commentary is on a paper by Sebastian Speer et al., entitled “Cognitive control increases honesty in cheaters but cheating in those who are honest,” which was published in PNAS in August 2020.

*Click on the image to access the paper.

Abe N (2020)

Overriding a moral default for honesty and dishonesty

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117 (36): 21844-21846

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014489117

2020/10/08

A paper by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe and colleagues has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

A paper by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe and colleagues, entitled “Brain and behavioral alterations in subjects with social anxiety dominated by empathic embarrassment,” has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

This study used fMRI to approach the neural basis of Taijin-kyofusho (TKS), a subtype of social-anxiety disorder common in East Asia. The results showed that TKS was characterized by enhanced affective and reduced cognitive empathy. It also indicated that the whole-brain functional connectivity involved in cognitive empathy had decreased in the TKS group. These results suggest that TKS may be caused by an imbalance between affective and cognitive empathies.

This research was conducted using MRI scanner and related facilities of the Kokoro Research Center.

Click on the image to access the paper.

Data;
Authors: Tei S, Kauppi J, Jankowski KF, Fujino J, Monti RP, Tohka J, Abe N, Murai T, Takahashi H, Hari R (2020)

Title: Brain and behavioral alterations in subjects with social anxiety dominated by empathic embarrassment

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117 (8): 4385-4391

2020/04/22

KRC Cognition, Behavior, & Brain Intensive Lecture 2019 “Neural Networks Associated with Multisensory Processing, From Tactile Sensation to Social Cognition”

For two days (December 26 and 27, 2019), Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe lead the KRC Cognition, Behavior, & Brain Intensive Lecture 2019, “Neural Networks Associated with Multisensory Processing, From Tactile Sensation to Social Cognition” at Kyoto University’s Inamori Center.

Associate Professor Ryo Kitada (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) was invited as a lecturer. He explained the neural bases of multisensory processing, from basic knowledge to the latest research results. Prof. Kitada’s research explores the unique mechanisms of tactile sensation using multiple complementary methods, such as psychophysics, fMRI, and TMS.

Many researchers and students from inside and outside the university were in attendance, taking advantage of the opportunity to attend a lecture by a researcher who is active internationally. In addition to holding a Q&A session with the audience, Prof. Kiada discussed the research environment overseas.

: Ryo Kitada (Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

: Venue

[DATA]

Dates: December 26 (Thu) & 27 (Fri), 2019

Time: 10:30-12:00 and 13:30-16:45

Place: Large Conference Room, Kyoto University Inamori Center 3F

Fee: Free of Charge

Intended Audience: Researchers and Students

Participants: 55

2020/03/02

2019年

KRC Cognitive Science Seminar was held on August 30, 2019

The Kokoro Research Center held a Cognitive Science Seminar at the Inamori Center on August 30, 2019. The seminar was organized and moderated by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe.

Kenji Ogawa (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Human Sciences, Hokkaido University) gave a lecture entitled “The neural basis of thinking from the standpoint of others.” Prof. Ogawa introduced recent fMRI research on the neural bases of the acquisition of third-party viewpoints and its relation to theory of mind. Following the lecture, a Q&A session was held.

Prof. Kenji Ogawa

The venue

Event flyer

2019/11/18

The 2019 Experimental fMRI Seminar

The 2019 Experimental fMRI Seminar was held at Kokoro Research Center’s MRI Laboratory on August 19 and 20, 2019.

These seminars have been held annually since 2013 to provide Kyoto University students and researchers an opportunity to learn first-hand about functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eleven students from the departments of Education, Integrated Human Studies, and Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability participated in this year’s seminar.

The seminar was organized Dr. Nobuhito Abe, Dr. Yoshiyuki Ueda, Dr. Ryusuke Nakai, Dr. Kuniaki Yanagisawa and Dr. Kohei Asano, who gave lectures about how to use fMRI in experimental research. The attendees learned the basics of fMRI and functional brain imaging studies, and were given the opportunity to use a fMRI machine to analyze brain activation during hand movement. The seminar concluded with a discussion and Q&A session.

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poster

2019/10/16

KRC Cognitive Science Seminar was held on August 08, 2019

The Kokoro Research Center held a Cognitive Science Seminar at the Inamori Center on August 8, 2019. The seminar was organized and moderated by Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe.

Hiroyuki Muto (Research Organization of Open Innovation and Collaboration, Ritsumeikan University / Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) gave a lecture entitled “Statistical Modeling Approaches in Cognitive Psychology.” To demonstrate the usefulness of statistical modeling, a wide range of studies regarding things such as postdiction, mental rotation, and memory were presented.

Hiroyuki Muto

Associate Professor Nobuhito Abe

Event flyer

2019/10/16