Research activity information

• Jan. 2021 4大学連携研究フォーラム, 優秀賞, ネアンデルタール人型GLI3遺伝子多型の機能解析


• Oct. 2009 日本社会心理学会, 大学院生海外学会発表支援制度


• Sep. 2009 日本社会心理学会, 若手研究者奨励賞, 集団内の役割分化メカニズムの解明 -他者補償行動の観点から

• GLI3 in Archaic Humans: Possible Contributions to Human Skeletal and Brain Evolution

  Tadashi Nomura, Ako Agata, Nguyen Thi My Trinh

  ABSTRACT Neanderthals, an extinct hominid, lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. According to fossils, Neanderthals had distinctive anatomical features compared to modern humans, including a long front‐to‐back cranium, low frontal bones, and strong skeletal formation. Furthermore, Neanderthals had large brains similar to those of modern humans, but their brain morphology was different from ours, suggesting that they had different cognitive abilities than modern humans. Recent archaic human genome analysis has unveiled genetic changes underlying Neanderthals' or modern human–specific anatomical and physiological traits. In this review, we focus on the role of GLI3, a key molecule that mediates Hedgehog signaling during vertebrate organogenesis. We discuss possible contributions of GLI3‐mediated hedgehog signaling to human anatomical diversifications, including neocortical structures, which provide insights into the genetic and developmental bases for modern human evolution.

  Wiley, Jun. 2025, Development, Growth & Differentiation

  Scientific journal


• Thermal Adaptations in Animals: Genes, Development, and Evolution.

  Ako Agata, Tadashi Nomura

  Thermal adaptation to environmental temperature is a driving force in animal evolution. This chapter presents thermal adaptation in ectotherms and endotherms from the perspective of developmental biology. In ectotherms, there are known examples of temperature influencing morphological characteristics, such as seasonal color change, melanization, and sex determination. Furthermore, the timing of embryonic development also varies with environmental temperature. This review will introduce the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying temperature-dependent embryogenesis. The evolution of thermal adaptation in endotherms is also important for survival in cold climates. Recent genome-wide studies have revealed adaptive mutations in the genomes of extant humans as well as extinct species such as woolly mammoths and Neanderthals. These studies have shown that single-nucleotide polymorphisms in physiologically related genes (e.g., CPT1A, LRP5, THATA, PRKG1, and FADS1-3) allow humans to live in cold climates. At the end of this chapter, we present the remaining questions in terms of genetic assimilation, heat shock protein Hsp90, and embryonic development.

  2024, Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 1461, 253 - 265, English, International magazine

  Scientific journal


• A Neanderthal/Denisovan GLI3 variant contributes to anatomical variations in mice.

  Ako Agata, Satoshi Ohtsuka, Ryota Noji, Hitoshi Gotoh, Katsuhiko Ono, Tadashi Nomura

  Changes in genomic structures underlie phenotypic diversification in organisms. Amino acid-changing mutations affect pleiotropic functions of proteins, although little is known about how mutated proteins are adapted in existing developmental programs. Here we investigate the biological effects of a variant of the GLI3 transcription factor (GLI3R1537C) carried in Neanderthals and Denisovans, which are extinct hominins close to modern humans. R1537C does not compromise protein stability or GLI3 activator-dependent transcriptional activities. In contrast, R1537C affects the regulation of downstream target genes associated with developmental processes. Furthermore, genome-edited mice carrying the Neanderthal/Denisovan GLI3 mutation exhibited various alterations in skeletal morphology. Our data suggest that an extinct hominin-type GLI3 contributes to species-specific anatomical variations, which were tolerated by relaxed constraint in developmental programs during human evolution.

  Lead, 2023, Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 11, 1247361 - 1247361, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Seeking Harmony Rather Than Efficiency: The Effect of Self‐Construal on Social Compensation

  Ako Agata, Kaori Ando, Yu Kasagi, Naoki Kugihara

  Abstract Many studies have discussed how motivation in task‐related groups is affected by culture. Despite this, the psychological processes underlying these cultural differences have not yet been fully investigated. This study examined the effects of self‐construal on social compensation, that is, motivation gain caused by the expectation of coworkers' poor performance. Participants were 111 Japanese undergraduate students. They were asked to engage in nine tasks as a team with a coworker whose intelligence was inferior or superior and allocate tasks between themselves and their coworkers. We measured the number of tasks that participants selected as their own work as a dependent measure. The results showed that those with interdependent selves were less likely to engage in social compensation even when their coworkers' capability was low.

  Wiley, Jan. 2022, Japanese Psychological Research, 65(4) (4), 347 - 359

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• A Review of Paleogenetic Research on Neanderthals

  アガタ, アコ, ノムラ, タダシ

  京都府立医科大学医学部医学科(教養教育), Dec. 2019, Studia humana et naturalia, (53) (53), 51 - 61, Japanese

  Research institution


• The effect of empathetic observation of fraud victims on individuals’ awareness of their own vulnerability to scams

  Daiku Yasuhiro, Agata Ako, Kugihara Naoki

  Currently,scams are one of the biggest social problems in Japan. This study investigates whether empathetic observation increases individuals’ awareness of their own vulnerability to scams.Moreover, we compared individuals’ evaluation of imagined others’ vulnerability to that of their own vulnerability. We presented two fraud scenarios (scenarioA and scenarioM)to university students and asked them to rate the victim’s responsibility for being defrauded and their own or imagined others’vulnerability to scams. A2×2 between-participants design was used to analyze the relationship between empathetic observation (empathetic,non-empathetic)and the target of vulnerability evaluation(self,others). The results of an ANOVA revealed that empathetic observation did not affect attribution; therefore, the possibility of a failed manipulation was implied. As for vulnerability awareness, the interaction effect was significant in scenario M, which contrasted our expectations. Problems and implications are discussed.

  大阪大学大学院人間科学研究科対人社会心理学研究室, 2016, 対人社会心理学研究, 16, 21 - 26, Japanese


• 集団成績フィードバックが社会的補償に及ぼす影響

  阿形亜子, 釘原直樹

  Mar. 2015, 応用心理学研究, 40(3) (3), 226 - 227

  [Refereed]


• A pilot study on taxonomy of calamity based on risk perception

  Uemura Zentaro, Murakami Koshi, Agata Ako, Kugihara Naoki

  The Japanese Psychological Association, Sep. 2014, The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, 78, 3PM-1-014 - 3PM-1-014, Japanese


• 向社会的行動における競争的利他主義の検討—Competitive altruism and prosocial behavior

  阿形 亜子, 釘原 直樹

  東京 : 日本グループ・ダイナミックス学会, Mar. 2014, 実験社会心理学研究 = The Japanese journal of experimental social psychology, 53(2) (2), 108 - 115, Japanese

  [Refereed]


• 環境配慮行動を促進する新変数の検討—An Unforeseen Factor That Promotes Environmental-Conscious Behavior

  柿本 敏克, 阿形 亜子

  東京 : 日本応用心理学会, Nov. 2013, 応用心理学研究 = Japanese journal of applied psychology, 39(2) (2), 122 - 131, Japanese

  [Refereed]


• The transition in accused scapegoat from mass media (25)

  KUGIHARA Naoki, UEMURA Zentaro, MURAKAMI Koushi, AGATA Ako

  The Japanese Psychological Association, Sep. 2013, The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, 77, 2EV-002 - 2EV-002, Japanese


• マスコミが対象とするスケープゴートの変遷(13)—記憶バイアスに及ぼす影響

  釘原 直樹, 植村 善太郎, 村上 幸史, 阿形 亜子

  公益社団法人 日本心理学会, Aug. 2009, 日本心理学会大会発表論文集, 73, 3PM050 - 3PM050, Japanese


• マスコミが対象とするスケープゴートの変遷（14）―機械分析の方法の開発―

  植村 善太郎, 村上 幸史, 阿形 亜子, 釘原 直樹

  公益社団法人 日本心理学会, Aug. 2009, 日本心理学会大会発表論文集, 73, 3PM051 - 3PM051, Japanese


• 集団全体の業績変動が各成員のパフォーマンスに及ぼす影響

  阿形 亜子, 釘原 直樹

  公益社団法人 日本心理学会, Aug. 2009, 日本心理学会大会発表論文集, 73, 2PM131 - 2PM131, Japanese


• The effects of independent and interdependent construal of self on social loafing

  Agata Ako, Kugihara Naoki

  The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of independent construal of self and interdependent construal of self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) on social loafing. People who have independent construal of self that was common feature in the westerner tend to enhance personal attribute. Therefore, they are especially motivated to evaluate or confirm their ability in achievement situations. On the other hand, people who have interdependent construal of self that was prominent in the East Asia have a propensity to concern their social rule or values, so they do not try to enhance their performance in the achievement situation. The results showed that social loafing occurred in the groups of participants who have the independent construal of self but not occurred in the groups of participants who have the interdependent construal of self. The perspective of social loafing study and the applicability to the real world were discussed.

  大阪大学大学院人間科学研究科対人社会心理学研究室, 2008, 対人社会心理学研究, 8, 71 - 76, Japanese

  [Refereed]

• 暮らしの中の社会心理学

  安藤, 香織 (心理学), 杉浦, 淳吉

  ナカニシヤ出版, Mar. 2024, Japanese, ISBN: 9784779517716


• 新しい社会心理学のエッセンス : 心が解き明かす個人と社会・集団・家族のかかわり

  松井, 豊, 宮本, 聡介

  福村出版, May 2020, Japanese, ISBN: 9784571250552


• 心理学入門 : こころを科学する10のアプローチ

  板口, 典弘, 相馬, 花恵, 岡林, 誠士, 藤村, 友美, 近藤, あき, 阿形, 亜子, 浅野, 良輔

  講談社, Sep. 2017, Japanese, ISBN: 9784061548084


• スケープゴーティング : 誰が、なぜ「やり玉」に挙げられるのか

  釘原, 直樹

  有斐閣, Dec. 2014, Japanese, ISBN: 9784641174054

• 共感性の神経基盤：マウスメタバースシステムを用いた二個体間神経活動の相互作用解析

  阿形 亜子

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業, 特別研究員奨励費, 神戸大学, 01 Apr. 2024 - 31 Mar. 2027


• The Impact of group situation on perceptions and risk judgement

  Agata Ako

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 01 Apr. 2015 - 31 Mar. 2019

  Previous research has shown that group settings affect how much people make effort and better performance. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of group settings on individual judgement about risk-taking, and cognition of materials and face. The main result is that while group situations did not have strong effects, the degree of closeness to particular person affected individual risk-taking judgement. People have particular close person make riskier decision in reward related situations not in cost related situations.


• ワークシェアの心理メカニズムの解明―ワークと報酬の二重性に着目して―

  阿形 亜子

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業, 特別研究員奨励費, 大阪大学, 2010 - 2011

  本研究では、集団心理研究の観点から、ワークシェアリングを分析し、その実現に有用な知見を提出することを目的としている。実際の仕事(ワーク)状況では、コスト(努力や仕事など)を支払い、他者の分も努力することが報酬(社会的評価や金銭的報酬など)となることがワークシェアを阻害するとの仮説(二重性原因仮説)を立て、研究をおこなっている。 本年度は、これまでの成果を発表することを中心とした。主に、学会では、「相互独立協調性自己観と貢献-メンバーの能力差の影響-」と題し、相互協調的自己観と集団作業時における貢献について発表をおこなった。この研究は、「他者の分も努力することによる報酬」として他者からの能力評価を取り上げた前年度の研究を発展させたものである。前年度の研究結果から、「集団に貢献をおこなうことで、自分の能力について、他者からの評価が得られる可能性が高くとも、メンバーの間に能力差があるときには集団への貢献は高まらない」ことが見いだされた。今年度の研究では、「相互協調的自己観(関係の中で自己を捉える集団主義文化やアジアで優勢となる自己観)」を取り上げ、前年度の研究成果のような行動傾向が、欧米文化と日本文化で異なるのかどうかを探索的に調べた。 実験をおこなったところ、相互協調的自己観の低い人(欧米的に自己を独立した存在としてみる欧米的自己観を持つ人)に関しては、前年度の研究成果と同じ傾向がみられた。一方、相互協調的自己観の高い人では、異なる結果がみられた。メンバーの間に能力差があるときにも、他者からの評価が得られる可能性が高い状況において、集団への貢献が高まることが示された。 前年度の成果と統合すると、他者からの社会的評価は、集団への貢献を高めるインセンティブとなるが、その効果は東洋的文化圏の国でより強く、欧米的文化圏では限定的である可能性が示唆された。


• Cyber Loafing at Working Remotely at Home: Assessing the Effectiveness of Remote Work

  The Okawa Foundation for Information and Telecommunications, The Okawa Foundation Research Grant