Yuko Yotsumoto, Ph.D.
professor
Dr. Yotsumoto is a professor in the Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Prior to her current position, she worked at Keio University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston University. She earned her PhD in psychology in 2005 at Brandeis University.
Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi
Doctoral Student
Brain is a multi-gear oscillatory machine: different modes of cognitive process summon different activation patterns across neural ensembles near and far. In my research, I seek to answer how brain's oscillatory structure enables our integrated cognition by investigating its role in transmission of sensory information, spatial and temporal perception, and storage of memory traces. EEG, tACS and fMRI are the main methodologies I use to answer this question.
Teruaki Kido
Doctoral Student
In the environment, there are a lot of visual or auditory stimuli and the characteristics of these stimuli gets processed in our brain. Sometimes, these have temporal information, and we can process the temporal information embedded in the stimuli. I am currently exploring how we can process multiple intervals simultaneously by using behavioral tasks since I am interested in the properties of neural system for interval processing.
Wei Chen
Doctoral Student
How do we understand what is a “goal”, a “method” or “time”? I am interested in exploring how the neural representation of semantic, verbal and sensory information connects to the understanding of a concept in our brain. Is it just clusters of information, how are they organized, and finally, can we reproduce it in a silicon chip?
Taku Otsuka
Doctoral Student
We receive various sensory information through sensory organs and behave through processing them in the brain. However, there is no specific sensory organ for the perception of elapsed time. Considering the time perception may be deeply related to multisensory information integration including the somatosensory system, I’m planning to conduct research using psychophysical methods and virtual reality devices.
Tamaka Harada
Master's Student
In the subjective world of mine, my consciousness exists, whereas I cannot say for sure yours exists, which makes “me” unique and special to me. Many research findings have also supported the claim that humans’ representation of the self is “special” and realized by systems that are distinct from those used for more general purposes. I seek to study neural underpinnings and evolutionary history of the human brain’s ability to distinguish self from others through behavioral experiments and functional neuroimaging techniques.
Hana Hinohara
Master's Student
“Time flies while you are having fun.” Our time perception depends on the environment. I’m interested in the situation which influences the time perception and the brain activity while such changes happens. I’m planning to investigate by using behavioral tasks and stimulators.
Rei Takahashi
Master's Student
Although light and sound are different physical phenomena, our brain can measure and compare these durations. It was also reported that multisensory time information are perceived with interaction. I am interested in a mechanism of time perception, especially a mechanism to integrate multisensory information of time. I would like to investigate it using behavioral experiments and brain activity measurements.
Ryosei Fujimoto
Master's Student
The "self" is something that we take for granted, and it seems that we can never separate it from ourselves. How do this perception and cognition of self arise, and how do they influence our subjective experience? I would like to study the process of self-recognition and its relation to our perception and cognition through behavioral experiments and functional neuroimaging techniques.
Koki Shirasawa
4th Year Student
We make a variety of sensory judgments, such as “beautiful” or “fashionable,” in response to visual stimuli such as landscapes, paintings, and designs. Sometimes we prefer visual stimuli that at first glance appear to be unfavorable. I am interested in the mechanisms involved in these sensory judgments and would like to conduct research using behavioral experiments and functional neuroimaging techniques.
Ken Takeda
4th Year Student
Is the red that I see the same as the red that others see? It is not easy to directly compare the quality of consciousness itself (qualia) produced by visual experiences. However, we can examine the degree of similarity by focusing on the relationships. Through the analysis of behavioral and neural activity data, I would like to advance my research on methodologies to characterize the quality of consciousness.
Naoaya Tachibana
4th Year Student
One of the human natures is rhythm with repeated activity and rest, such as sleep-wake cycle and the coordinated contraction of muscles during exercise. These constant rhythmic activities are caused by the entrainment of neurons in the brain, which are synchronized in a specific frequency band. I am interested in this kind of synchronization having various effects on sensation and cognition, and want to study it through psychophysical behavioral experiments and EEG measurements.
Biora Oshima
3rd Year Student
We make judgments based on predictions and inferences in various everyday situations, such as when recognizing something in front of us or catching a ball, and these judgments are influenced by both on-the-spot sensory input and knowledge from past experiences. I am interested in how these integrations are achieved in human perception and motor learning, and would like to study it using behavioral experiments and models.