Research activity information

• Oct. 2022 Kobe University, President's award (financial contribution)


• Apr. 2016 Nanyang Associate Professorship, Nanyang assistant professorship

  Kitada Ryo


• 2015 The Japanese Psychological Association, JPA Awards for International Contributions to Psychology

  Kitada Ryo

• Reduced relationship-specific social touching and atypical association with emotional bonding in autistic adults.

  Ayaka Fukuoka, Ryo Kitada, Kai Makita, Takuya Makino, Nodoka Sakakihara, Lauri Nummenmaa, Hirotaka Kosaka

  BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by social communication deficits, repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Studies have reported aberrant sensory responses, including altered experiences of social touch, in individuals with ASD. However, the relationship between atypical social touch and social networks in ASD remains poorly understood. Social touch is used to strengthen and manage social networks in many species. Studies in general populations across diverse cultures show that the extent of permissible touch is consistently linked to the strength of emotional bonds between the toucher and the touched individual. This study examined relationship-specific patterns of social touch and their association with emotional bonding in individuals with ASD. METHODS: Seventy adults with ASD and 70 typically developed (TD) adults rated their emotional bonds with different social network members (e.g., partners, fathers, strangers) and the pleasantness of being touched by each. Participants also identified body regions where they allowed touch. We hypothesized that patterns of interpersonal touch allowance and emotional bonding, and their relationship, would differ between ASD and TD adults. RESULT: In all social network members except children and female friends, ASD adults allowed significantly less social touching than TD adults. Compared to TD adults, ASD adults also reported having significantly weaker emotional bonds with one social network member and experiencing significantly less pleasantness when touched by multiple members of their social network. In both groups, strength of emotional bond was significantly correlated with permissible touch area. Linear regression analyses showed that our ASD participants were more reliant on bodily touch allowance for emotional bonding than the TD controls. LIMITATIONS: More participants are necessary to secure sufficient number of social network members in ASD. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that adults with ASD generally prefer less social touch from most social network members and show reduced emotional bonding with only a specific connection. In addition, touch allowance was more strongly associated with emotional bonding in ASD than TD adults. These findings highlight the influence of autistic traits on the relationship between social touch and emotional bonding within social networks.

  Corresponding, May 2025, Molecular autism, 16(1) (1), 31 - 31, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• Visual Body Part Representation of the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Univariate and Multivariate fMRI Study

  Yuto Kurihara, Hirotaka Kosaka, Bianca A. Schuster, Ryo Kitada, Takanori Kochiyama, Hidehiko Okazawa, Rieko Osu, Yuko Okamoto

  Abstract The lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) is a part of the brain network that processes human body recognition. It has been implicated in various neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In typically developing (TD) individuals, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown three distinct response patterns to three categories of body parts in the LOTC, namely, action effector body parts, non-effector body parts, and facial parts. It is currently unclear whether the similar topological organization of the LOTC is observed in individuals with ASD, and if social interaction difficulties in this group may partially result from differences in body part recognition in this area. In this fMRI study, adults with ASD and TD adults viewed photographs of hands, feet, arms, legs, chests, waists, upper/lower faces, whole bodies, and chairs. Mass univariate analysis showed no differences in the LOTC response to whole-body images (relative to images of chairs) in the bilateral LOTC between adults with ASD and TD adults. In addition, there were no group differences in the responses to body parts. Furthermore, multivariate (representational similarity) analyses revealed a significant similar body part representation organized into three clusters (limbs, torsos, and faces) in the bilateral LOTC between TD adults and those with ASD. These results indicate that TD adults and those with ASD have comparable neural representations within the LOTC for whole bodies and body parts.

  MIT Press, May 2025, Imaging Neuroscience, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Atypical tactile preferences in autism spectrum disorder: Reduced pleasantness responses to soft objects resembling human body parts.

  Kai Makita, Ryo Kitada, Takuya Makino, Nodoka Sakakihara, Ayaka Fukuoka, Hirotaka Kosaka

  AIM: Previous studies have reported atypical sensory responses in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their implications for social touch. Although adults with ASD often report discomfort with being touched by others, their preferences for the physical properties of objects are less well understood. In a prior study, we observed that, in typically developed (TD) adults, compliance (a physical correlate of softness) increased tactile pleasantness for deformable surfaces up to levels comparable to those of human body parts. In the present study, we conducted psychophysical experiments to test whether individuals with ASD show atypical affective responses to soft objects resembling human body parts. METHODS: Thirty-six adults with ASD and 36 TD adults numerically estimated the perceived pleasantness or softness while lightly pressing urethane rubbers with their right index fingers. RESULTS: The results revealed that pleasantness increased as a function of compliance, but this increase was significantly smaller for patients with ASD than TD adults, particularly at compliance levels including human body parts. However, the perceived softness increased as a function of compliance highly similarly between the ASD and TD groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate an atypical preference of individuals with ASD for soft objects such as human body parts, which may help explain their tendency to avoid social touch.

  Corresponding, Mar. 2025, Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• Functional relevance of the extrastriate body area for visual and haptic object recognition: a preregistered fMRI-guided TMS study

  Hicret Atilgan, Janice J X Koi, Ern Wong, Ilkka Laakso, Noora Matilainen, Achille Pasqualotto, Satoshi Tanaka, Annabel S H Chen, Ryo Kitada

  Abstract The extrastriate body area (EBA) is a region in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex which is sensitive to perceived body parts. Neuroimaging studies suggested that EBA is related to body and tool processing, regardless of the sensory modalities. However, how essential this region is for visual tool processing and non-visual object processing remains a matter of controversy. In this preregistered fMRI-guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) study, we examined the causal involvement of EBA in multisensory body and tool recognition. Participants used either vision or haptics to identify three object categories: hands, teapots (tools), and cars (control objects). Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) was applied over left EBA, right EBA, or vertex (control site). Performance for visually perceived hands and teapots (relative to cars) was more strongly disrupted by cTBS over left EBA than over the vertex, whereas no such object-specific effect was observed in haptics. The simulation of the induced electric fields confirmed that the cTBS affected regions including EBA. These results indicate that the lateral occipito-temporal cortex is functionally relevant for visual hand and tool processing, while the rTMS over EBA may differently affect object recognition between the two sensory modalities.

  Oxford University Press ({OUP}), Apr. 2023, Cerebral Cortex Communications, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• The Effect of Temperature on Tactile Softness Perception

  Zheng Yee Tan, Cameron Mavericks Choo, Youneng Lin, Hsin-Ni Ho, Ryo Kitada

  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Jul. 2022, IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 1 - 8

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words for Representing the Hardness of an Object Are Judged Similarly by Japanese and English Speakers

  Li Shan Wong, Jinhwan Kwon, Zane Zheng, Suzy J. Styles, Maki Sakamoto, Ryo Kitada

  Contrary to the assumption of arbitrariness in modern linguistics, sound symbolism, which is the non-arbitrary relationship between sounds and meanings, exists. Sound symbolism, including the “Bouba–Kiki” effect, implies the universality of such relationships; individuals from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds can similarly relate sound-symbolic words to referents, although the extent of these similarities remains to be fully understood. Here, we examined if subjects from different countries could similarly infer the surface texture properties from words that sound-symbolically represent hardness in Japanese. We prepared Japanese sound-symbolic words of which novelty was manipulated by a genetic algorithm (GA). Japanese speakers in Japan and English speakers in both Singapore and the United States rated these words based on surface texture properties (hardness, warmness, and roughness), as well as familiarity. The results show that hardness-related words were rated as harder and rougher than softness-related words, regardless of novelty and countries. Multivariate analyses of the ratings classified the hardness-related words along the hardness-softness dimension at over 80% accuracy, regardless of country. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the number of speech sounds /g/ and /k/ predicted the ratings of the surface texture properties in non-Japanese countries, suggesting a systematic relationship between phonetic features of a word and perceptual quality represented by the word across culturally and linguistically diverse samples.

  Frontiers Media {SA}, Mar. 2022, Frontiers in Psychology, 13

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• Coexistence of sensory qualities and value representations in human orbitofrontal cortex.

  Takaaki Yoshimoto, Shuntaro Okazaki, Motofumi Sumiya, Haruka K Takahashi, Eri Nakagawa, Takahiko Koike, Ryo Kitada, Shiki Okamoto, Masanori Nakata, Toshihiko Yada, Hirotaka Kosaka, Norihiro Sadato, Junichi Chikazoe

  Despite the multiple regions and neural networks associated with value-based decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is possible a particularly important one. Although the role of the OFC in reinforcer devaluation tasks, which assess the ability to represent identity, sensory qualities, and subjective values of the expected outcomes, has been established, the specific aspect represented in this area remains unclear. In this study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, wherein participants rated the palatability of 128 food items using photographs, we investigated whether the human OFC represents object identity, sensory qualities, or value. Employing many items helped us dissociate object identity from sensory qualities and values; the inferred sensory qualities of identical items were manipulated by a change in metabolic state. Moreover, value differences between items were analytically controlled by employing a technique similar to age adjustment. The palatability ratings for food items significantly decreased after a meal. Using representational similarity analysis, we confirmed that the OFC represents value. Moreover, identical items were represented similarly in the lateral OFC in a given metabolic state; however, these representations were altered post-feeding. Importantly, this change was not explained by subjective value, suggesting that the OFC represents sensory quality and value, but not object identity.

  Feb. 2022, Neuroscience research, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Multisensory integration and its plasticity – How do innate and postnatal factors contribute to forming individual differences?

  Ryo Kitada, Norihiro Sadato

  Elsevier {BV}, Dec. 2021, Cortex, 145, A1 - A4, English

  [Invited]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• Importance of the early visual cortex and the lateral occipito-temporal cortex for the self-hand specific perspective process

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Takanori Kochiyama, Motohide Miyahara, Hiroaki Naruse, Norihiro Sadato, Hidehiko Okazawa, Hirotaka Kosaka

  Elsevier {BV}, Dec. 2021, Neuroimage: Reports, 1(4) (4), 100046 - 100046, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Physical correlates of human-like softness elicit high tactile pleasantness.

  Ryo Kitada, Megan Ng, Zheng Yee Tan, Xue Er Lee, Takanori Kochiyama

  Touching an object can elicit affective sensations. Because these sensations are critical for social interaction, tactile preferences may be adapted to the characteristics of the human body. We have previously shown that compliance, a physical correlate of softness, increased the tactile pleasantness of a deformable surface. However, the extent to which object compliance similar to the human body elicits tactile pleasantness remains unknown. We addressed this question by using a wide range of compliances and by measuring the distribution of compliance of human body parts. The participants numerically estimated the perceived pleasantness or softness while pushing tactile stimuli with their right index fingers. The perceived softness monotonically increased with increasing compliance and then leveled off around the end of the stimulus range. By contrast, pleasantness showed an inverse U pattern as a function of compliance, reaching the maximum between 5 and 7 mm/N. This range of compliance was within that for both hand and arm. These results indicate that objects with similar compliance levels as those of human body parts yield the highest pleasantness when pushing them.

  Aug. 2021, Scientific reports, 11(1) (1), 16510 - 16510, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• The extrastriate body area is involved in reciprocal imitation of hand gestures, vocalizations, and facial expressions: A univariate and multivariate fMRI study.

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Hiroki C Tanabe, Akihiro T Sasaki, Takanori Kochiyama, Noriaki Yahata, Norihiro Sadato

  The extrastriate body area (EBA) in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex has an important role in reciprocal interaction, as it detects congruence between self and other's hand actions. However, it is unclear whether the EBA can detect congruence regardless of the type of action. In the present study, we examined the neural substrate underlying congruence detection of three types of actions: hand gestures, vocalizations, and facial expressions. A univariate analysis revealed a congruency effect, especially for imitating action, for all three types of actions in the EBA. A multi-voxel pattern analysis classifier in the EBA was able to distinguish between initiating interaction from responding to interaction in all experiments. Correspondingly, the congruency effect in the EBA revealed by univariate analysis was stronger for responding to than for initiating interaction. These findings suggest that the EBA might contribute to detect congruence regardless of the body part used (i.e. face or hand) and the type of action (i.e. gestural or vocal). Moreover, initiating and responding to interaction might be processed differently within the EBA. This study highlights the role of the EBA in comparing between self and other's actions beyond hand actions.Running head: Function of EBA in reciprocal imitation.

  Aug. 2021, Social neuroscience, 16(4) (4), 448 - 465, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks underlying the processing of sound symbolism related to softness perception.

  Ryo Kitada, Jinhwan Kwon, Ryuichi Doizaki, Eri Nakagawa, Tsubasa Tanigawa, Hiroyuki Kajimoto, Norihiro Sadato, Maki Sakamoto

  Unlike the assumption of modern linguistics, there is non-arbitrary association between sound and meaning in sound symbolic words. Neuroimaging studies have suggested the unique contribution of the superior temporal sulcus to the processing of sound symbolism. However, because these findings are limited to the mapping between sound symbolism and visually presented objects, the processing of sound symbolic information may also involve the sensory-modality dependent mechanisms. Here, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment to test whether the brain regions engaged in the tactile processing of object properties are also involved in mapping sound symbolic information with tactually perceived object properties. Thirty-two healthy subjects conducted a matching task in which they judged the congruency between softness perceived by touch and softness associated with sound symbolic words. Congruency effect was observed in the orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, medial superior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and cerebellum. This effect in the insula and medial superior frontal gyri was overlapped with softness-related activity that was separately measured in the same subjects in the tactile experiment. These results indicate that the insula and medial superior frontal gyrus play a role in processing sound symbolic information and relating it to the tactile softness information.

  Apr. 2021, Scientific reports, 11(1) (1), 7399 - 7399, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  Link to Kobe Univ. Repository (Kernel)


• Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness.

  Achille Pasqualotto, Megan Ng, Zheng Yee Tan, Ryo Kitada

  The sense of touch allows us to infer objects' physical properties, while the same input also produces affective sensations. These affective sensations are important for interpersonal relationships and personal well-being, which raises the possibility that tactile preferences are adapted to the characteristics of the skin. Previous studies examined how physical properties such as surface roughness and temperature influence affective sensations; however, little is known about the effect of compliance (physical correlate of softness) on pleasantness. Thus, we investigated the psychophysical link between softness and pleasantness. Pieces of human skin-like rubber with different compliances were pressed against participants' fingers. Two groups of participants numerically estimated the perceived magnitude of either pleasantness or softness. The perceived magnitude of pleasantness and softness both increased monotonically as a function of increasing object compliance, levelling off at around the end of the stimulus range. However, inter-subject variability was greater for pleasantness than for perceived softness, whereas the slope of the linear function fit to the magnitude estimates was steeper for softness than for pleasantness. These results indicate that object compliance is a critical physical determinant for pleasantness, whereas the effect of compliance on pleasantness was more variable among individuals than the effect on softness was.

  Jul. 2020, Scientific reports, 10(1) (1), 11189 - 11189, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• The effect of object compliance on the velvet hand illusion

  Pasqualotto A, Jia Yin C, Ohka M, Kitada R

  Jul. 2020, IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 13(3) (3), 571 - 577, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Differences between children and adults in functional connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus and extrastriate body area for gestural interaction.

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Ayumi Seki, Hisakazu Yanaka, Takanori Kochiyama, Tatsuya Koeda

  Gestural interaction, where a person initiates interaction (initiator) and another person responds to it (follower), changes during development. The neural network comprising the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and the lateral occipito-temporal cortex (LOTC) is relevant to gestural interaction. The LOTC includes the extrastriate body area (EBA). Activation of these brain regions depends on the initiating/following role in adults. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging study on 18 children and 18 adults, to elucidate developmental changes of the neural mechanism underlying gestural interaction. We manipulated the initiating/following role (initiating/following) and congruency (congruent/incongruent) of executed and observed actions. After analyzing regional brain activity, we assessed psycho-physiological interaction to examine functional connectivity. Activation in the IFG and connectivity between the IFG and EBA in the Initiating rather than Following condition, which might be associated with evaluating social relevance, was stronger in adults than in children. The increase of the incongruency effect in the following condition (relative to the initiating condition) in the bilateral IPL was significantly attenuated in children compared with adults. These results suggest that the fronto-parieto-temporal network, involved in gestural interactions, undergoes developmental changes.

  Jun. 2020, Social neuroscience, 15(3) (3), 311 - 323, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Visual Body Part Representation in the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex in Children/Adolescents and Adults.

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Takanori Kochiyama, Hiroaki Naruse, Kai Makita, Motohide Miyahara, Hidehiko Okazawa, Hirotaka Kosaka

  The lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) that responds to human bodies and body parts has been implicated in social development and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Neuroimaging studies using a representational similarity analysis (RSA) revealed that body representation in the LOTC of typically developing (TD) adults is categorized into 3 clusters: action effector body parts, noneffector body parts, and face parts. However, its organization of younger people (i.e., children and adolescents) and its association with individual traits remain unclear. In this functional MRI study, TD adults and children/adolescents observed photographs of hands, feet, arms, legs, chests, waists, upper/lower faces, the whole body, and chairs. The univariate analysis showed that fewer child/adolescent participants showed left LOTC activation in response to whole-body images (relative to those of chairs) than adult participants. Contrastingly, the RSA on both age groups revealed a comparable body representation with 3 clusters of body parts in the bilateral LOTC. Hence, this result indicates that, although response to whole-body images can differ, LOTC body part representations for children/ adolescents and adults are highly similar. Furthermore, sensory atypicality is associated with spatial LOTC organization, suggesting the importance of this region for understanding individual difference, which is frequently observed in ASD.

  Oxford University Press (OUP), 2020, Cerebral cortex communications, 1(1) (1), tgaa007, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Controlled emotional tactile stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography.

  Noriaki Kanayama, Masayuki Hara, Junji Watanabe, Ryo Kitada, Maki Sakamoto, Shigeto Yamawaki

  BACKGROUND: Tactile stimulation used to induce emotional responses is often not well-controlled. Replicating the same tactile stimulations across studies is difficult, compared to replicating visual and auditory modalities, which have standardized stimulus sets. Standardizing a stimulation method by replicating stimuli across studies is necessary to further elucidate emotional responses in neuroscience research using tactile stimulation. THE NEW METHOD: We developed a tactile stimulation device. The device's ultrasonic motor and optical force sensor have the following criteria: (1) controls the physical property of stimuli, pressure, and stroking speed; (2) measures actual touch timing; (3) is safe to use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner; and (4) produces low noise in electroencephalography (EEG) and MRI. RESULTS: The noise level of the device's drive was sufficiently low. For the EEG experiment, we successfully used signal processing to diminish the commercial power supply noise. For functional MRI (fMRI) scans, we found <5% signal loss occurred during device rotation. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S): We found no previous report about the noise level of a tactile stimulation device used to induce emotional responses during EEG and fMRI recordings. The signal loss rate was comparable with that of other robotic devices used in MRI scanners. Emotional feelings induced by this stimulation method were comparable with those elicited in other sensory modalities. CONCLUSIONS: The developed device could be used for cognitive-affective neuroscience research when conducting EEG and fMRI scans. The device should aid in standardizing affective tactile stimulation for research in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

  Nov. 2019, Journal of neuroscience methods, 327, 108393 - 108393, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks underlying tactile softness perception: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

  Kitada R, Doizaki R, Kwon J, Nakagawa E, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N

  Humans are adept at perceiving physical properties of an object through touch. Tangible object properties can be categorized into two types: macro-spatial properties, including shape and orientation; and material properties, such as roughness, softness, and temperature. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that roughness and temperature are extracted at nodes of a network, such as that involving the parietal operculum and insula, which is different from the network engaged in processing macro-spatial properties. However, it is unclear whether other perceptual dimensions pertaining to material properties engage the same regions. Here, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to test whether the parietal operculum and insula were involved in extracting tactually-perceived softness magnitude. Fifty-six healthy right-handed participants estimated perceived softness magnitude using their right middle finger. We presented three stimuli that had the same shape but different compliances. The force applied to the finger was manipulated at two levels. Classical mass-univariate analysis showed that activity in the parietal operculum, insula, and medial prefrontal cortex was positively associated with perceived softness magnitude, regardless of the applied force. Softness-related activity was stronger in the ventral striatum in the high-force condition than in the low-force condition. The multivariate voxel pattern analysis showed higher accuracy than chance levels and control regions in the parietal operculum/insula, postcentral gyrus, posterior parietal lobule, and middle occipital gyrus. These results indicate that a distributed set of the brain regions, including the parietal operculum and insula, is involved in representing perceived softness.

  Aug. 2019, NeuroImage, 197, 156 - 166, English, International magazine

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Emotional Tears Communicate Sadness but Not Excessive Emotions Without Other Contextual Knowledge

  Kenichi Ito, Chew Wei Ong, Ryo Kitada

  Frontiers Media SA, Apr. 2019, Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 878, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching

  Juulia T. Suvilehto, Lauri Nummenmaa, Tokiko Harada, Robin I. M. Dunbar, Riitta Hari, Robert Turner, Norihiro Sadato, Ryo Kitada

  Many species use touching for reinforcing social structures, and particularly, non-human primates use social grooming for managing their social networks. However, it is still unclear how social touch contributes to the maintenance and reinforcement of human social networks. Human studies in Western cultures suggest that the body locations where touch is allowed are associated with the strength of the emotional bond between the person touched and the toucher. However, it is unknown to what extent this relationship is culturally universal and generalizes to non-Western cultures. Here, we compared relationship-specific, bodily touch allowance maps across one Western ( N = 386, UK) and one East Asian ( N = 255, Japan) country. In both cultures, the strength of the emotional bond was linearly associated with permissible touch area. However, Western participants experienced social touching as more pleasurable than Asian participants. These results indicate a similarity of emotional bonding via social touch between East Asian and Western cultures.

  The Royal Society, Apr. 2019, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1901) (1901), 20190467 - 20190467

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Affective judgment of social touch on a hand modulated by hand embodiment

  Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, Zheng Z

  Social touch constitutes a critical component of human interactions. A gentle tap on the hand, for instance, can sometimes create emotional bonding and reduce interpersonal distance in social interactions. Evidence of tactile empathy suggests that touch can be experienced through both physical sensation and observation, yet vicarious perception of observed touch on an object as a function of the object’s conceptual representation (e.g., Is this object identified as mine? Does this object feel like part of me?) remains less explored. Here we examined the affective judgement of social touch when the illusory sense of ownership over a dummy hand was manipulated through the rubber-hand illusion. When the same social touch was performed on either the real or the dummy hand, we found a similar sense of perceived pleasantness between the felt and observed touch, but only when the dummy hand was embodied; when it was not, the perceived pleasantness of the observed touch was lesser (an “embodiment effect”; Experiment 1). In addition, we found that the embodiment effect associated with the observed touch was insensitive to the way in which embodiment was manipulated (Experiment 2), and that this effect was specific to social but not neutral touch (Experiment 3). Taken together, our findings suggest a role of embodiment in the affective component of observed social touch and contribute to our understanding of tactile empathy for objects.

  2019, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(10) (10), 2408 - 2422, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Neural correlates underlying change in state self-esteem

  Hiroaki Kawamichi, Sho K. Sugawara, Yuki H. Hamano, Ryo Kitada, Eri Nakagawa, Takanori Kochiyama, Norihiro Sadato

  Nature Publishing Group, Dec. 2018, Scientific Reports, 8(1) (1), 1798, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Distinct sensitivities of the lateral prefrontal cortex and extrastriate body area to contingency between executed and observed actions

  Sasaki AT, Okamoto Y, Kochiyama T, Kitada R, Sadato N

  Corresponding, Aug. 2018, Cortex, 108, 234 - 251, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks underlying conscious tactile perception of textures as revealed using the velvet hand illusion.

  Rajaei N, Aoki N, Takahashi HK, Miyaoka T, Kochiyama T, Ohka M, Sadato N, Kitada R

  Aug. 2018, Human brain mapping

  [Refereed]


• Altered perspective-dependent brain activation while viewing hands and associated imitation difficulties in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Motohide Miyahara, Takanori Kochiyama, Hiroaki Naruse, Norihiro Sadato, Hidehiko Okazawa, Hirotaka Kosaka

  2018, NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL, 19, 384 - 395, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks of social action-outcome contingency: The role of the ventral striatum in integrating signals from the sensory cortex and medial prefrontal cortex

  Motofumi Sumiya, Takahiko Koike, Shuntaro Okazaki, Ryo Kitada, Norihiro Sadato

  Corresponding, Oct. 2017, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 123, 43 - 54, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• The Effect of Dual-Hemisphere Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Parietal Operculum on Tactile Orientation Discrimination

  Shuhei Fujimoto, Satoshi Tanaka, Ilkka Laakso, Tomofumi Yamaguchi, Noriko Kon, Takeo Nakayama, Kunitsugu Kondo, Ryo Kitada

  Sep. 2017, FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE, 11, 173, English, No password

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

  添付ファイルのURL


• Age-dependent atypicalities in body- and face-sensitive activation of the EBA and FFA in individuals with ASD

  Yuko Okamoto, Hirotaka Kosaka, Ryo Kitada, Ayumi Seki, Hiroki C. Tanabe, Masamichi J. Hayashi, Takanori Kochiyama, Daisuke N. Saito, Hisakazu T. Yanaka, Toshio Munesue, Makoto Ishitobi, Masao Omori, Yuji Wada, Hidehiko Okazawa, Tatsuya Koeda, Norihiro Sadato

  Jun. 2017, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 119, 38 - 52, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks involved in tactile speed classification of moving dot patterns: the effects of speed and dot periodicity

  Jiajia Yang, Ryo Kitada, Takanori Kochiyama, Yinghua Yu, Kai Makita, Yuta Araki, Jinglong Wu, Norihiro Sadato

  Corresponding, Feb. 2017, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7, 40931, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• 触覚刺激時における第一次視覚野の活動と情報表現の解析

  野崎 恵, 中谷 駿, 衞藤 祥太, 高橋 陽香, 青木 直哉, 角谷 基文, 北田 亮, 定藤 規弘, 神谷 之康, 宮脇 陽一

  日本視覚学会, Jan. 2017, Vision, 29(1) (1), 34 - 34, Japanese

  [Refereed]


• Overstatement in happiness reporting with ordinal, bounded scale

  Saori C. Tanaka, Katsunori Yamada, Ryo Kitada, Satoshi Tanaka, Sho K. Sugawara, Fumio Ohtake, Norihiro Sadato

  Feb. 2016, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 6, 21321, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• The brain network for haptic object recognition

  Ryo Kitada

  Springer Japan, Jan. 2016, Pervasive Haptics: Science, Design, and Application, 21 - 37, English

  [Refereed]

  In book


• The Supramodal Brain Network for the Recognition of Faces and Bodies: Is Visual Experience Necessary for the Development of High-Order Visual Cortices?

  Ryo Kitada

  2016, ADVANCES IN COGNITIVE NEURODYNAMICS (V), 311 - 315, English

  [Refereed]

  International conference proceedings


• Brain networks of affective mentalizing revealed by the tear effect: The integrative role of the medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus

  Haruka K. Takahashi, Ryo Kitada, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Hiroaki Kawamichi, Shuntaro Okazaki, Takanori Kochiyama, Norihiro Sadato

  Corresponding, Dec. 2015, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 101, 32 - 43, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Designing Haptic Assistive Technology for Individuals Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

  Dianne T. V. Pawluk, Richard J. Adams, Ryo Kitada

  Jul. 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HAPTICS, 8(3) (3), 258 - 278, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Interpersonal touch suppresses visual processing of aversive stimuli

  Hiroaki Kawamichi, Ryo Kitada, Kazufumi Yoshihara, Haruka K. Takahashi, Norihiro Sadato

  Corresponding, Apr. 2015, FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, 9, 164, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Role of the precuneus in the detection of incongruency between tactile and visual texture information: A functional MRI study

  Ryo Kitada, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Yuko Okamoto, Takanori Kochiyama, Norihiro Sadato

  Nov. 2014, NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA, 64, 252 - 262, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Attenuation of the contingency detection effect in the extrastriate body area in autism spectrum disorder

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Hiroki C. Tanabe, Masamichi J. Hayashi, Takanori Kochiyama, Toshio Munesue, Makoto Ishitobi, Daisuke N. Saito, Hisakazu T. Yanaka, Masao Omori, Yuji Wada, Hidehiko Okazawa, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Tomoyo Morita, Shoji Itakura, Hirotaka Kosaka, Norihiro Sadato

  Oct. 2014, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 87, 66 - 76, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• The Brain Network Underlying the Recognition of Hand Gestures in the Blind: The Supramodal Role of the Extrastriate Body Area

  Ryo Kitada, Kazufumi Yoshihara, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Maho Hashiguchi, Takanori Kochiyama, Norihiro Sadato

  Jul. 2014, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 34(30) (30), 10096 - 10108, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• From gestures to words: Spontaneous verbal labeling of complex sequential hand movements reduces fMRI activation of the imitation-related regions

  Motohide Miyahara, Ryo Kitada, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Yuko Okamoto, Hiroki C. Tanabe, Norihiro Sadato

  Mar. 2013, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 75(3) (3), 228 - 238, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Early visual experience and the recognition of basic facial expressions: involvement of the middle temporal and inferior frontal gyri during haptic identification by the early blind

  Ryo Kitada, Yuko Okamoto, Akihiro T. Sasaki, Takanori Kochiyama, Motohide Miyahara, Susan J. Lederman, Norihiro Sadato

  Jan. 2013, FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, 7(7) (7), English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Tactile perception of nonpainful unpleasantness in relation to perceived roughness: Effects of inter-element spacing and speed of relative motion of rigid 2-D raised-dot patterns at two body loci

  Ryo Kitada, Norihiro Sadato, Susan J. Lederman

  2012, PERCEPTION, 41(2) (2), 204 - 220, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Figure/Ground Segmentation via a Haptic Glance: Attributing Initial Finger Contacts to Objects or Their Supporting Surfaces

  Dianne Pawluk, Ryo Kitada, Aneta Abramowicz, Cheryl Hamilton, Susan J. Lederman

  Jan. 2011, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HAPTICS, 4(1) (1), 2 - 13, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Brain networks involved in haptic and visual identification of facial expressions of emotion: An fMRI study

  Ryo Kitada, Ingrid S. Johnsrude, Takanori Kochiyama, Susan J. Lederman

  Jan. 2010, NEUROIMAGE, 49(2) (2), 1677 - 1689, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Representing human hands haptically or visually from first-person versus third-person perspectives

  Ryo Kitada, H. Chris Dijkerman, Grace Soo, Susan J. Lederman

  2010, PERCEPTION, 39(2) (2), 236 - 254, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Haptic face processing and its relation to vision

  Susan J. Lederman, Roberta L. Klatzky, Ryo Kitada

  Springer New York, 2010, Multisensory Object Perception in the Primate Brain, 273 - 300, English

  [Refereed]

  In book


• Haptic figure-ground differentation via a haptic glance

  Dianne Pawluk, Ryo Kitada, Aneta Abramowicz, Cheryl Hamilton, Susan J. Lederman

  2010, 2010 IEEE Haptics Symposium, HAPTICS 2010, 63 - 66, English

  [Refereed]

  International conference proceedings


• Functional Specialization and Convergence in the Occipito-temporal Cortex Supporting Haptic and Visual Identification of Human Faces and Body Parts: An fMRI Study

  Ryo Kitada, Ingrid S. Johnsrude, Takanori Kochiyama, Susan J. Lederman

  Oct. 2009, JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE, 21(10) (10), 2027 - 2045, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Haptic face processing

  Susan J. Lederman, Andrea Kilgour, Ryo Kitada, Roberta L. Klatzky, Cheryl Hamilton

  Sep. 2007, CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-REVUE CANADIENNE DE PSYCHOLOGIE EXPERIMENTALE, 61(3) (3), 230 - 241, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Haptic recognition of static and dynamic expressions of emotion in the live face

  S. J. Lederman, R. L. Klatzky, A. Abramowicz, K. Salsman, R. Kitada, C. Hamilton

  Feb. 2007, PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 18(2) (2), 158 - 164, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Haptic roughness perception of linear gratings via bare finger or rigid probe

  Michael A. Lawrence, Ryo Kitada, Roberta L. Klatzky, Susan J. Lederman

  2007, PERCEPTION, 36(4) (4), 547 - 557, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Multisensory activation of the intraparietal area when classifying grating orientation: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

  Ryo Kitada, Tomonori Kito, Daisuke N. Saito, Takanori Kochiyama, Michikazu Matsumura, Norihiro Sadato, Susan J. Lederman

  Lead, Jul. 2006, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 26(28) (28), 7491 - 7501, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Haptic face identification activates ventral occipital and temporal areas: An fMRI study

  AR Kilgour, R Kitada, P Servos, TW James, SJ Lederman

  Dec. 2005, BRAIN AND COGNITION, 59(3) (3), 246 - 257, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Tactile estimation of the roughness of gratings yields a graded response in the human brain: an fMRI study

  R Kitada, T Hashimoto, T Kochiyama, T Kito, T Okada, M Matsumura, SJ Lederman, N Sadato

  Lead, Mar. 2005, NEUROIMAGE, 25(1) (1), 90 - 100, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Moving tactile stimuli of fingers are integrated in the intraparietal and inferior parietal cortices

  R Ktiada, T Kochiyama, T Hashimoto, E Naito, M Matsumura

  Lead, Apr. 2003, NEUROREPORT, 14(5) (5), 719 - 724, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Internally simulated movement sensations during motor imagery activate cortical motor areas and the cerebellum

  E Naito, T Kochiyama, R Kitada, S Nakamura, M Matsumura, Y Yonekura, N Sadato

  May 2002, JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 22(9) (9), 3683 - 3691, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal


• Perceptual changes in illusory wrist flexion angles resulting from motor imagery of the same wrist movements

  R Kitada, E Naito, M Matsumura

  Lead, 2002, NEUROSCIENCE, 109(4) (4), 701 - 707, English

  [Refereed]

  Scientific journal

• 認知神経科学者の海外サバイバル—特集 グローバルな研究者像を探る

  北田 亮

  東京 : 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会, Sep. 2023, 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会誌 = Journal of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan / 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会 編, 28(3) (3), 17 - 20, Japanese


• 自閉スペクトラム症者と定型発達者における身体部位表象

  栗原勇人, 栗原勇人, 小坂浩隆, SCHUSTER Bianca, 北田亮, 河内山隆紀, 岡沢秀彦, 大須理英子, 岡本悠子

  2023, 日本ヒト脳機能マッピング学会プログラム・抄録集, 25th


• ASDの非定型的な触覚の特徴と社会性の関連

  福岡彩加, 北田亮, 牧田快, 牧野拓也, 小坂浩隆

  2023, 日本精神神経学会総会プログラム・抄録集, 119th


• 触覚刺激弁別課題時における複数脳領域における活動と情報表現の相互作用

  佐藤海渡, 野崎恵, 中谷駿, 高橋陽香, 角谷基文, 北田亮, 定藤規弘, 定藤規弘, 神谷之康, 神谷之康, 宮脇陽一

  2022, 日本神経化学会大会抄録集(Web), 65th


• Brain mechanisms underlying haptic recognition of familiar objects

  北田 亮

  日本基礎心理学会, Sep. 2016, 基礎心理学研究 = The Japanese journal of psychonomic science, 35(1) (1), 68 - 71, Japanese


• Brain mechanisms underlying haptic recognition of familiar objects

  北田亮

  <p>Among our senses, there has been considerable interest in the neural mechanisms underlying visual object recognition. By contrast, relatively little is known about the mechanisms underlying the haptic object perception. Here, I review the previous findings of our neuroimaging experiments on haptic object perception and propose the framework of haptic object recognition in terms of hierarchical and parallel distributed processing. I argue that different brain regions beyond the conventional somatosensory cortex are assigned to processing of different object properties, whereas such separately processed object information may be integrated with another cortical network including a node in the high-order visual cortex. Finally, I also discuss critical questions to be addressed for validating and extending this framework.</p>

  日本基礎心理学会, Sep. 2016, 基礎心理学研究, 35(1) (1), 68 - 71, Japanese


• 触覚と特別支援教育(1)―触図認知と触覚教材・教具作り―

  和氣典二, 渡辺哲也, 北田亮, 大内進, 和氣典二

  Aug. 2016, 日本特殊教育学会大会発表論文集(CD-ROM), 54th, ROMBUNNO.JISHUSHIMPOJIUMU6, Japanese


• 自閉スペクトラム症における顔認知・身体認知に関与する視覚領域の発達遅延

  岡本悠子, 小坂浩隆, 北田亮, 関あゆみ, 田邊宏樹, 林正道, 河内山隆紀, 齋藤大輔, 谷中久和, 棟居俊夫, 石飛信, 大森晶夫, 和田有司, 岡沢秀彦, 小枝達也, 定藤規弘

  2016, 日本ヒト脳機能マッピング学会プログラム・抄録集, 18th, 55, Japanese


• 触覚刺激時におけるヒト視覚野の活動と触覚情報表現

  中谷駿, 高橋陽香, 高橋陽香, 青木直哉, 青木直哉, 北田亮, 北田亮, 定藤規弘, 定藤規弘, 神谷之康, 神谷之康, 宮脇陽一

  02 Sep. 2015, 日本神経回路学会全国大会講演論文集, 25th, 6 - 7, Japanese


• 触覚による物体認識の脳内ネットワーク

  北田亮

  Aug. 2015, 日本心理学会大会発表論文集, 79th, ITL(4), Japanese


• Dual-hemisphere direct current stimulation over the secondary somatosensory cortex improves spatial tactile acuity in human.

  Fujimoto S, Yamaguchi T, Kon N, Osu R, Otaka Y, Kondo K, Kitada R, Tanaka S

  Sep. 2014, Neuroscience 2014,, Yokoyama, Japan.


• Neural substrates of contingency detection for self and other in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: an fMRI study

  Sasaki A, Kosaka, H, Saito DN, Inohara, K, Jung, M, Kitada R, Okazawa H, Sadato N

  Mar. 2014, International Workshop on Molecular Functional Imaging for Brain and Gynecologic Oncology


• 失認―What’s new?触覚認知 触覚認知の心理学

  北田亮

  01 Feb. 2014, Clin Neurosci, 32(2) (2), 183 - 186, Japanese

  [Invited]


• 他者の動作理解に関わる神経基盤の形成に視覚脱失が与える影響

  北田亮

  2014, 日本ヒト脳機能マッピング学会プログラム・抄録集, 16th, 30, Japanese


• Properties of visual cortex in blind individuals

  北田亮

  01 Aug. 2012, Clin Neurosci, 30(8) (8), 953 - 954, Japanese

  [Invited]


• Parietal cortex plays a role in translating cardinal utility into ordinal utility.

  Yamada K, Tanaka, SC, Kitada R, Tanaka S, Sugawara SK, Sadato N, Otake F

  2012, Society for Neuroscience 42st Annual Meeting,, New Orleans, USA,


• Cognitive Brain Mechanisms Underlying Haptic Social Communication

  KITADA RYO

  The Robotics Society of Japan, 2012, 日本ロボット学会誌, 30(5) (5), 466-468 (J-STAGE) - 468, Japanese

  [Invited]


• fMRIを用いた手つなぎ時の脳活動計測

  川道拓東, 北田亮, 吉原一文, 佐々木章宏, 高橋陽香, 高橋陽香, 定藤規弘

  認知神経科学会, Sep. 2011, 認知神経科学, 13(2) (2), 176 - 176, Japanese


• The EBA dysfunction in the ASD; as a "comparator" of self and other's action during reciprocal imitation

  Yuko Okamoto, Hirotaka Kosaka, Ryo Kitada, Hiroki C. Tanabe, Toshio Munesue, Makoto Ishitobi, Masamichi J. Hayashi, Daisuke N. Saito, Hisakazu T. Yanaka, Takanori Kochiyama, Masao Omori, Yuji Wada, Hidehiko Okazawa, Norihiro Sadato

  2011, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 71, E386 - E387, English

  Summary international conference


• Like-me: The role of extrastriate body area for recognition of being imitated

  Yuko Okamoto, Ryo Kitada, Akihiro Sasaki, Tomoyo Morita, Shoji Itakura, Takanori Kochiyama, Hiroki C. Tanabe, Norihiro Sadato

  2009, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 65, S195 - S195, English

  Summary international conference


• Brain networks involved in haptic and visual identification of facial expressions of emotion: An fMRI study

  Ryo Kitada, Ingrid Johnsrude, Takanori Kochiyama, Susan Lederman

  2009, NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, 65, S178 - S178, English

  Summary international conference


• Research on the central control of oral and maxillofacial region. The research of the cerebral control of micturition using MEG.

  AOYAGI TEIICHIRO, HAYAKAWA KUNIHIRO, MIYAJI KEISUKE, ISHIKAWA HIROMICHI, HATA MAKOTO, NAITO EIICHI, KOCHIYAMA TAKANORI, KITADA RYO

  2004, 口腔・顎顔面の中枢制御に関する研究 平成11-15年度, 495(1),495-502, Japanese


• 5.MEGを用いた排尿機能の脳内制御の研究

  青柳貞一郎, 畠亮, 早川邦弘, 宮地系典, 石川博通, 内藤栄一, 河内山隆紀, 北田亮

  30 Jan. 2003, 齒科學報, 103(1) (1), 10 - 11, Japanese


• 3B05 MEGを用いた排尿機能の脳内制御の研究

  青柳貞一郎, 早川邦弘, 宮地系典, 石川博通, 畠亮, 河内山隆紀, 北田亮, 内藤栄一

  30 Jan. 2003, 齒科學報, 103(1) (1), 41 - 41, Japanese


• MEGを用いた排尿機能の脳内制御の研究

  青柳貞一郎, 早川邦弘, 宮地系典, 石川博通, 畠亮, 河内山隆紀, 北田亮, 内藤栄一

  30 Jan. 2003, 歯科学報, 103(1) (1), 41 - 11, Japanese


• 反応課題中のTMSによる運動誘発電位の解析 1 GO/NO‐GO課題中の主動筋における選択的抑制

  橋本敏宏, 武井智彦, 河内山隆紀, 北田亮, 大内田裕, 内藤栄一, 松村道一

  07 Jul. 2002, 日本神経科学大会プログラム・抄録集, 25th, 203, Japanese


• 複数の指の動的触覚刺激統合に関するfMRI研究

  北田亮, 河内山隆紀, 橋本敏宏, 内藤栄一, 松村道一

  07 Jul. 2002, 日本神経科学大会プログラム・抄録集, 25th, 161, Japanese


• 視覚による「主観の誘導」が与える行動学的影響

  富田広美, 河内山隆紀, 守田知代, 北田亮, 松村道一

  07 Jul. 2002, 日本神経科学大会プログラム・抄録集, 25th, 259, Japanese


• 脳磁図計(MEG)による外陰部刺激誘発磁場の測定

  青柳貞一郎, 早川邦弘, 宮地系典, 石川博通, 畠亮, 河内山隆紀, 北田亮, 内藤栄一

  医学図書出版(株), 15 May 2002, 泌尿器外科, 15(臨増) (臨増), 531 - 531, Japanese


• Internally simulated movement sensations activate cortical motor areas and the cerebellum during motor imagery

  KITADA AKIRA, NAITO EIICHI, KOCHIYAMA TAKANORI, NAKAMURA SATOSHI, MATSUMURA MICHIKAZU, YONEKURA YOSHIHARU, SADATO NORIHIRO

  26 Sep. 2001, 日本神経科学大会プログラム・抄録集, 24th, 259, Japanese


• Internally simulated movement sensations activate cortical motor areas and the cerebellum during motor imagery

  KITADA RYO, NAITO EIICHI, KAWACHIYAMA TAKANORI, NAKAMURA SATOSHI, MATSUMURA MICHIKAZU, YONEKURA YOSHIHARU, SADAFUJI NORIHIRO

  01 Sep. 2001, 神経化学, 40(2/3) (2/3), 315, Japanese


• 運動イメージの運動錯覚への影響,またはInfluences of motor imagery on kinesthetic illusion

  北田亮, 内藤栄一, 松村道一

  04 Sep. 2000, 日本神経科学大会プログラム・抄録集, 23rd, 316, Japanese

• 感覚・知覚心理学ハンドブック 第三版

  和氣 典二 重野 純 村上 郁也 編

  Joint work, 第Ⅳ部 触覚 第1章 機械的刺激の物理量 第2章 触覚の生理学, 誠信書房, Mar. 2025, ISBN: 9784414305050


• 質感科学ハンドブック = Handbook of shitsukan science

  小松, 英彦, 富永, 昌二, 西田, 眞也

  Joint work, 1-10 質感認知の脳神経機構：触覚, 東京大学出版会, Jan. 2025, Japanese, ISBN: 9784130603256


• Pervasive haptics

  Kitada Ryo

  Joint work, THE BRAIN NETWORK FOR HAPTIC OBJECT RECOGNITION, Springer Japan, 2016


• 心理学研究法 第１巻 知覚

  北田 亮

  Contributor, 誠信書房, 2011


• Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology (4th edition)

  Kitada R, Pawluk D

  Contributor, John Wiley & Sons, 2010


• Multsensory Object Perception in the Primate Brain

  Lederman SJ, Klatzky RL, Kitada R

  Contributor, Springer Verlag, 2010


• 触覚認識メカニズムと触覚センサ・触覚ディスプレイ技術

  北田 亮

  Contributor, サイエンス&テクノロジー, 2010


• 脳百話―動きの仕組みを解き明かす

  北田 亮

  Contributor, 市村出版, 2003

• 自閉症スペクトラム障害における触覚嗜好の非定型性-人体の柔らかさを模した物体 に対する快感情の低下-

  牧田 快, 北田 亮, 牧野 拓也, 榊原 和, 福岡 彩加, 小坂 浩隆

  日本基礎心理学会第43回大会, Dec. 2024, Japanese

  Poster presentation


• 空中超音波はどのような触質感を喚起するか:実物体との比較による検討

  大屋 里佳, 小丹枝 涼哉, 松村 蒼一郎, 曽明 然, 鈴木 颯, 篠田 裕之, 北田 亮

  日本基礎心理学会第43回大会, Dec. 2024, Japanese

  Poster presentation


• ASMR 動画における視覚・聴覚刺激の時間的同期が視聴時の情動に及ぼす影響

  榊原 和, 北田 亮

  日本基礎心理学会第43回大会, Nov. 2024, Japanese

  Poster presentation


• Atypical tactile preferences in autism spectrum disorder

  Ryo KITADA

  AsiaHaptics2024, Oct. 2024, English

  [Invited]

  Invited oral presentation


• Brain networks associated with interpersonal static touch: The effects of body part and social closeness

  Ryo Kitada, Hiroaki Kawamichi, Yuki H. Hamano, Eri Nakagawa, Sho K. Sugawara, Norihiro Sadato

  Annual Meeting of Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Jun. 2024, English

  Poster presentation


• 触質感と感情の関係性 -社会的触覚の側面から-

  北田 亮

  日本生理心理学会, May 2024, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Invited oral presentation


• ソーシャルタッチの 心理物理学的性質と神経基盤

  北田 亮

  日本臨床神経生理学会, Nov. 2023, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• 触感の神経メカニズム

  北田 亮

  計測自動制御学会SI部門触覚部会 触覚講習会, Nov. 2023, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• 触覚の脳科学

  北田 亮

  応用脳科学アカデミー, Oct. 2023, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Social touch and haptically perceived material properties

  Ryo KITADA

  Symposium at the 97th annual convention of the Japanese Psychology Association, Sep. 2023, Japanese

  Public symposium


• Theta-burst stimulation-induced cortical plasticity in younger and older adults: a TMS-EEG study

  Goodwill AM, Lim W, Bashir S, Kitada R, Cheng W, SH Annabel Ch

  Annual Meeting of Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Jul. 2023, English

  Poster presentation


• Cognitive neuroscience research on haptics and its applications

  Ryo KITADA

  The Japanese Society for Cognitive Psychology, Oct. 2022, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• Cognitive Neuroscience Research on Social Touching

  自閉スペクトラム症国際シンポジウム, Feb. 2022, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• Social touching and brain networks

  Ryo Kitada

  触覚講習会(日本VR学会ハプティクス研究会主催), Dec. 2021, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Survival of Cognitive Neuroscientists -Cognitive Neuroscience Research at a foreign university

  Ryo Kitada

  The 26th Annual Conference of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, Sep. 2021, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• Research environment of foreign universities from the example of Singapore

  Ryo Kitada

  The 85th Congress of the Japanese Psychological Association, Sep. 2021, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• Functional relevance of the lateral occipito-temporal cortex in body recognition

  Ryo Kitada

  Imperial college-LKC neuroscience workshop, May 2021, English

  [Invited]

  Invited oral presentation


• Interpersonal tactile communication - from social networks to neural substrates

  The 14th Human Brain Science Seminar, 2021, English

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Brain networks in multisensory perception from touch to social cognition

  Cognitive Behavior-Brain Science Lectures (心の未来センター, 京都大学), Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness.

  Pasqualotto A, Ng MHS, Kitada R

  IEEE World Haptics Conference (Tokyo, Japan)., Jul. 2019, English

  Poster presentation


• The impact of blindness on the brain network underlying social cognition

  Cognitive Behavioral Psychology 2019, Feb. 2019, English

  [Invited]

  Keynote oral presentation


• The role of the extrastriate body area in social cognition: from body recognition to contingency detection

  The Annual meeting at the Japan Neuroscience Society, Jul. 2018, English

  Public symposium


• Brain network underlying tactile estimation of object stiffness - an fMRI study

  Kitada R, Doizaki R, Kwon J, Nakagawa E, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N

  the Annual meeting of Human Brain Mapping 2018, Jul. 2018, English

  Poster presentation


• The effect of congenital blindness on body-sensitivity in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex

  the Annual meeting of Human Brain Mapping 2018, Jun. 2018, English

  Nominated symposium


• 触覚によるテクスチャに関わる脳内ネットワーク

  電気通信大学脳科学ライフサポート研究センター, Mar. 2018, Japanese

  Public discourse


• Abstractness of value representation in orbitofrontal cortex

  Yoshimoto T, Chikazoe J, Okazaki S, Sumiya M, Takahashi HK, Nakagawa E, Koike T, Kitada R, Okamoto S, Nakata M, Kosaka H, Yada T, Sadato N

  The 47th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Nov. 2017, English

  Poster presentation


• 触れることと物を知ること－脳はどのように触覚情報から物体を認知するのか

  2016年度日本リハビリテーション医学会市民公開講座 「動く・感じる～知っておきたい脳の働き～」, Nov. 2016, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• 触覚による物体の認識に関する脳内ネットワーク

  日本機械学会 講習会 「触覚技術の基礎と応用―ヒトの触覚理解を通して触覚技術の実現と価値を考える―」, Nov. 2016, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• ベルベット錯触の神経基盤.

  公益財団 中山隼雄科学技術文化財団第23回研究成果発表会, Sep. 2016

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Brain networks for haptic object recognition

  The 2nd International Workshop on Neuroimaging and Human Connectomics, Sep. 2016, English

  Nominated symposium


• Brain mechanisms underlying haptic recognition of familiar Objects

  Kitada Ryo

  Japanese Psychonomic Society Forum, Mar. 2016, English

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• The effect of visual deprivation on brain networks underlying the recognition of face and body parts

  5th NIPS-CIN Joint Symposium, Nov. 2015, English

  Nominated symposium


• The supra-modal brain network for the recognition of faces and bodies: is visual experience necessary for the development of high-order visual cortices?

  The 5th International Conference on Cognitive Neurodynamics (ICCN), 2015, English

  [Invited]

  Public symposium


• 他者の動作理解に関わる神経基盤の形成に視覚脱失が与える影響

  北田 亮

  第16回ヒト脳機能マッピング学会（仙台）, Mar. 2014, Japanese, Domestic conference

  Nominated symposium


• ヒトの触覚に関する脳の解剖的・機能的構造

  北田 亮

  触覚講習会 (東京), Nov. 2013, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Neural representation underlying the recognition of facial and bodily expressions in the early blind

  Kitada Ryo

  Blind Brain Workshop (Pisa, Italy), Oct. 2013, English, International conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• 触覚コミュニケーションの認知脳科学的メカニズム

  北田 亮

  名工大・生理研連携シンポジウム＆ワークショップ「触感の解析と理解」（名古屋、愛知）, Mar. 2013, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Public symposium


• 触覚と脳が作る素材感

  北田 亮

  応用脳科学アカデミー （東京）．, Feb. 2013, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Public discourse


• Neural Substrates Underlying Haptic Recognition of Face and Bodyparts

  Kitada Ryo

  Tactile Research Group Meeting, a Sattelite Meeting of Psychonomics Society (Minneapolis, MN, US), Nov. 2012, English, International conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• 触覚の物体認知に関わる脳内メカニズム.快適性を考えるシンポジウム 日本繊維製品消費科学会（京都）

  北田 亮

  快適性を考えるシンポジウム 日本繊維製品消費科学会（京都）, Oct. 2012, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• Neural substrates of haptic object perception.

  Kitada Ryo

  International Seminar on Time Series Modeling of Neuroscience Data (Okazaki, Japan)., Feb. 2012, English, International conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• fMRIを用いた触覚研究 -触覚コミュニケーションを例として-

  北田 亮

  日本心理学会ワークショップ, Sep. 2011, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• 触覚による顔認知の神経基盤

  北田 亮

  日本認知科学会「パターン認識と知覚モデル(P&P)」研究分科会, Mar. 2011, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• 触覚による顔認知の神経基盤

  北田 亮

  日本動物心理学会自由集会, Aug. 2010, Japanese, Domestic conference

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium


• 物理的な自己と類似性

  北田 亮

  日本認知心理学会, Japanese

  [Invited]

  Nominated symposium

• Organization for Human Brain Mapping


• SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE


• JAPANESE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY


• THE JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION


• THE JAPAN NEUROSCIENCE SOCIETY

• 心地よさを生む社会的触覚の仕組みとその個人差：認知科学的理解の深化

  北田 亮

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業, 基盤研究(A), 神戸大学, Apr. 2025 - Mar. 2030


• 多感覚・多文化比較アプローチによる感情認識メカニズムの包括的理解

  田中 章浩, 北田 亮, 上田 祥行, 中村 杏奈

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業, 基盤研究(A), 東京女子大学, Apr. 2025 - Mar. 2028


• 内受容感覚の順応が環境音の生起する情動に与える影響の検討 ◆

  HBF 公益財団法人放送文化基金, 助成（技術開発）, Apr. 2024 - Mar. 2025, Principal investigator


• ムーンショット目標9 こころの安らぎや活力の増大/ 篠田PM 子どものこころを支援する触覚パートナー/研究開発項目2. 触覚刺激が感情に及ぼす効果の評価

  国立研究開発法人科学技術振興機構 ムーンショット型研究開発事業, Dec. 2023 - Mar. 2025, Principal investigator


• The relationship between touch and social cognition in autism spectrum disorder

  北田 亮

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Home-Returning Researcher Development Research), Kobe University, Apr. 2021 - Mar. 2025

  本研究計画は、自閉スペクトラム者が触れ合いを嫌う原因を認知神経科学的に調べ、その影響を社会的認知能力と社会的ネットワークの点から明らかにすることを目的としている。初年度の成果は以下の３点である。(1)コロナ禍の影響により対面実験が難しいため、オンラインで可能な社会ネットワーク実験の準備を行い、データ採集用プログラム及び解析プログラムを開発した。さらに定型発達者を対象とした先行研究結果(Suvilehto et al., 2019)が再現できたため、ASDを対象とした実験を開始した。(2)柔らかさと心地よさに関する心理物理学実験の成果を論文として発表した。具体的には、定型発達者が最も心地よいと報告した物理的な柔らかさ(柔性)は平均として5-7mm/N(1cm2あたり)であり、これは人肌を1N-2Nで押したときの柔性と一致することを明らかにした (Kitada et al., 2021 Scientific Reports) 。この結果は、「触れ合いは快感情を引き起こすことで、親類を含む他者との紐帯を強め、社会的ネットワークを形成する一因になる」とする仮説を支持する。その一方で定型発達者内での自閉症傾向（Autistic Quotient(AQ)の得点）との相関は観察されなかった。参加者のAQ得点のばらつきが十分大きくないことが理由である可能性もあるため、自閉スペクトラム者を対象とした研究を行う。(3)素材の柔らかさ・硬さの回答で日本人は音象徴語を用いるが、定型発達者を対象とした実験で、硬さ・柔らかさに関する日本語の音象徴語は英語圏の人でも偶然の確率より高く知覚できることが分かった(Wong et al., 2021 Frontiers in Psychology)。


• Assessing causality of the association between exercise and neurocognitive gains

  Annabel S H Chen, Masato Kawabata, Ryo Kitada

  MInistry of Education (MOE) Singapore, Academic Research Fund Tier 2 Grant, Jan. 2020 - Jan. 2023, Coinvestigator


• Touch and Blindness: cognitive brain researches on multisensory perception and the effect of visual deprivation on them

  Kitada Ryo

  Nanyang Technological University, NAP startup, Jan. 2017 - Jan. 2020, Principal investigator

  Competitive research funding


• Innovative rehabilitation through kinesthetic illusion

  Ohka Masahiro, MIYAOKA Tetsu, KITADA Ryo, SAITO Hirofumi

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Challenging Research (Exploratory), Challenging Research (Exploratory), Nagoya University, 30 Jun. 2017 - 31 Mar. 2019

  In order to develop a new rehabilitation equipment, we investigated a wearable kinesthetic illusion device and illusion inducing behavior for stimulating multiple tendons to obtain the following achievements. 1) The wearable kinesthetic illusion device was composed of a miniature voice coil motor and a wrist supporter, and we developed a new control method for the device. 2) If we evaluated the wearable kinesthetic device, we elucidated that it had same inducing capability as the conventional desktop type. 3) When we determined the optimal stimulation spot of the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle inducing flexion directional illusion, the best spot was the connecting point of muscle and tendon. 4) When power assist and vibration stimulus were simultaneously applied to the wrist, discrete variation in wrist angle increased the kinesthetic illusion.


• Tactile stimulation device to control emotional response in psychological and neuroscience research

  KANAYAMA NORIAKI, Hara Masayuki, Watanabe Junji, Kitada Ryo

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, 01 Apr. 2016 - 31 Mar. 2019

  In this study, we have aimed to develop a tactile stimulation device, which induces emotional response, because we did not have such a standardized system for tactile emotion study in psychology and cognitive neuroscience research. Also we have tried to compare the emotional response elicited by the tactile stimulation using developed device to visual and auditory stimuli which elicit emotional response. As a result, we have successfully developed a tactile stimulation device and stimulation method.


• 触覚の質感を表現するオノマトペの神経基盤

  北田 亮

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 生理学研究所, 01 Apr. 2016 - 31 Mar. 2018

  本研究課題の目標は、 触覚で得た素材感とオノマトペの結びつきに関する神経基盤を明らかにすることである。本年度の目標どおり機能的磁気共鳴画像法(fMRI)を用いて①触覚による素材の柔らかさ強度に対応する神経基盤の同定（実験1）②柔らかさ強度を表現するオノマトペを表象する神経基盤の同定(実験2) ③触覚の神経基盤とオノマトペを表象する神経基盤の間の相互作用の同定(実験3)の３実験を完了させた。①に関する神経基盤の同定はほぼ完了し、②③の結果については現在解析を進めているところである。来年度から海外へ転出するが、それ以降も継続して結果をまとめる予定である。
  さらに質感に関する研究として、触覚による物体の動き知覚に関する論文を発表した。私たちが触覚から質感を抽出するには、自分の肌か物体が動いていることが重要である。例えば粗さは手の動きの速度に関わらず同じように知覚されることが知られており、この速度に対する粗さの恒常性がどのようにして生じるのかについてはよく分かっていなかった。そもそも粗さ知覚の神経基盤はある程度調べられているものの、触覚の速度知覚に関する神経基盤は、これまで安静条件に対する比較として調べられてきたため、詳しいことがわかっていなかった。この点に取り組むためfMRIによる実験を行い、①二次体性感覚野が速度に相関した活動を示すこと②触覚の速度知覚は動く物体のテクスチャによって変わること ③さらにテクスチャ処理に関わる部位である一次体性感覚野が、速度に関する二次体性感覚野に機能的結合を通じて影響を与えること、を発見した。これらの結果は触覚による速度知覚を理解するための知見を提供する。


• A Study to Elucidate Control Method of Illusionary Hand Movement Based on Fusion Effects of Kinesthetic and Rubber-Hand Illusions

  Ohka Masahiro, MIYAOKA Tetsu, KITADA Ryo, SAITO Hirofumi

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Nagoya University, 01 Apr. 2014 - 31 Mar. 2018

  In order to develop a new rehabilitation system, we elucidate mechanism and controllability of fusion effect of kinesthetic illusion (KI) and rubber-hand illusion (RHI). The former KI is an illusion of limb movement caused by vibration stimulus applied for muscle spindles; the latter RHI is an illusion of limb movement caused by visual stimulus of hand movement movie overlapped on human subject’s hand. In this study, we developed a new equipment generation both of KI and RHI to elucidate the fusion effect. Furthermore, we performed a series of psychophysical experiments to observe that the effect of KI was reinforced by RHI.


• A study of controlling virtual reality using tactile illusion and pseudo-haptics

  OHKA Masahiro, MIYAOKA Tetsu, KITADA Ryo, SAITO Hirofumi

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Nagoya University, 01 Apr. 2015 - 31 Mar. 2017

  In this study, we are attempting to obtain scientific findings, which are available for new haptic devices using pseudo-haptics and velvet hand illusion (VHI). Due to this, we will develop three haptic devices to investigate brain activity invoked by virtual reality (VR) using brain machine interfaces (BMI) such as ElectroEncephaloGram(EEG), Near InfraRed Spectroscopy(NIRS), and HemoencEphaloGraphy (HEG). Our achievements are summarized as follows: 1) compressible force for the tactile pad of the manipulator typed haptic device should be controlled within the range between 1 and 2 N to obtain virtual hardness introduced by pseudo-haptics; 2) the alpha-wave amplitude decreased when searching and extract contour of virtual object through the tactile mouse for fingertips; 3) virtual smooth surface presentation is possible using VHI even if the tactile mouse presenting convex-and-concave pattern is applied as the haptic device.


• A classification of tactile illusions and information processing mechanisms of the illusions

  Miyaoka Tetsu, OHKA Masahiro, KITADA Ryo

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology, 01 Apr. 2013 - 31 Mar. 2016

  We performed psychophysical experiments for three typical examples of tactile illusions (a velvet hand illusion: VHI, a fishbone tactile illusion: FTI, and a lattice tactile illusion: LTI) and brain functional imaging experiments for the VHI. We supposed that virtual surfaces were produced in an observer's brain when suitable tactile stimuli were presented to observers. The observers feel tactile illusions when virtual-stimulus-surface characteristics do not match with the surface characteristics which the observers expected. We estimated that subjective frictions of the virtual surfaces were important to understand the tactile illusions. We need to pay attention that the subjective frictions are produced by the activities of nervous system and are different from the physical frictions.


• The effect of visual deprivation on the development of the ability to understand others and form social ties

  Kitada Ryo

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 01 Apr. 2013 - 31 Mar. 2016, Principal investigator

  How visual experience in early life affects the development of the ability to understand other’s behavior? In the field of developmental psychology, vision is considered to be critical. By contrast, I showed that born blind individuals can recognize simple hand actions. Moreover, the common brain regions underlying the recognition of hand shapes are activated between vision and touch. Activation of such regions were observed in both blind and sighted individuals. These results indicate that the brain networks for the recognition of other’s actions can partially develop even in the absence of early visual experience.

  Competitive research funding


• スキンシップが惹起する情動の脳認知科学的メカニズム

  北田 亮

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 生理学研究所, 01 Apr. 2013 - 31 Mar. 2015, Principal investigator

  本研究の目的はスキンシップの重要性を念頭に「脳はどのように触覚で素材を理解して、情動を惹起するのか」について脳認知科学的に明らかにすることである。成果は主に次の2点からなる。
  (1)昨年度は機能的磁気共鳴画像法(fMRI)を用いた実験により、側頭葉内側部など長期記憶に関わる神経基盤が素材情報の視触覚比較に関与することを明らかにした。本年度はこの成果を国内外の研究集会(Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting・多感覚研究会・質感脳情報学研究集会「触覚サテライトミーティング」で発表し、専門誌（Neuropsychologia）に発表した。
  (2)さらに本年度は他者との接触がどのように不快情報の処理を抑制するのかに関するfMRI研究を遂行した。この研究では健常被験者が、ゴムでできた偽者の手および友人の手に触れながら、不快および不快でない（中性）画像を観察し、その不快度を評定した。不快画像の条件では中性画像の条件に比べて、後頭－側頭領域にわたる視覚野が強く活動した。しかしこの活動の一部は、偽者の手の条件でのみ観察され、友人の手の条件では観察されなかった。すなわち友人の手と接触しているときは、不快刺激に対する視覚野の活動の一部が抑制されることが明らかになった。ただし不快度の評定は親友の手と偽物の手の間に違いがないことから、不快刺激の処理に本質的に不要な活動が減弱されたと解釈した。この成果は論文としてまとめ、Frontiers in Human Neuroscience誌に採択された。

  Competitive research funding


• 触覚による表情模倣の神経基盤－晴眼者と視覚障害者の比較

  北田 亮

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 生理学研究所, 01 Apr. 2011 - 31 Mar. 2013, Principal investigator

  本年度の研究実績は次の3点からなる。 ①視覚障害者の顔表情の認識に関わる神経基盤の同定を完了し、論文として海外科学雑誌に発表した(Kitada et al., 2013 Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)。
  ②Extrastriate body area(EBA)は視覚野にある領域で、他のカテゴリの画像に比べて身体部位の画像に対して強く反応する領域である。我々はEBAが動作模倣における他者と自己の動作の一致性に重要であることを発見した。現在、自閉症群との比較の結果をまとめ、論文として投稿する準備を行っている(Okamoto et al., under review; Yahata et al., in preparation)。
  ③EBAが果たして視覚障害者でも存在するかどうかを明らかにするため、視覚障害者と晴眼者を対象にfMRI実験を実施した。まず晴眼者では触覚を用いようと視覚を用いようと、他のカテゴリの物体に比べ、身体部位に対して反応特異性を示すことを明らかにした。現在、視覚障害者の活動パターンに関して、詳細な解析を実施している。

  Competitive research funding


• Crossmodal neural mechanisms underlying material perception

  KITADA Ryo

  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 2011 - 2012, Principal investigator

  I conducted the following two studies on tactile material perception. (1) We compared the psychophysical patterns of roughness perception and unpleasantness. The psychophysical functions were between the two percepts were highly similar, whereas the constancy of roughness to motion was greater than that of unpleasantness. (2) We investigated brain activity during detecting congruency/incongruency of materials presented visually and haptically. We found that neural substrates revealing the congruency/incongruency effect during perception of materials were different from those during perception of spatial properties of an object (e.g., orientation).

  Competitive research funding


• 触覚による顔認知の神経基盤-晴眼者と視覚障害者の比較

  北田 亮

  日本学術振興会, 科学研究費助成事業 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 新学術領域研究(研究領域提案型), 生理学研究所, 2009 - 2010, Principal investigator

  他者に理解しやす顔表情の表出は円滑なコミュニケーションに重要な役割を果たす。 しかし視覚障害者が表出した顔表情は、晴眼者の表情に比べて認識することが難しいとされている。晴眼者は顔を触るだけで個人や表情を識別できるので、触覚を用いた顔表情の学習によって、より認識しやすい顔表情の表出ができる可能性がある。しかし触覚による顔の認識を支える神経基盤についてはよく分かっていない。例えば視覚による顔の認識には、後頭葉・側頭葉の特異的なシステムの役割が重要であるが、このシステムが多感覚的な顔認識に関わるかどうかはよく分かっていない。さらに視覚障害者で顔認識に関わるこのシステムが発達し、維持されているかどうかも不明である。本研究は顔認知に関わる神経基盤の多感覚性と可塑性について明らかにしようとするものである。 平成21年度は顔認知に関する神経基盤の多感覚性を明らかにした(Kitada, et al., 2010 NeuroImage)。そこで平成22年度は顔認知に関わる神経基盤の可塑性について検討した。視覚障害者を対象に心理物理学実験を行い、視覚障害者でも識別できることを明らかにした。さらに機能的磁場共鳴法(fMRI)を用いて、顔表情の識別に関わる脳活動を先天的な視覚障害者(先天盲)と晴眼者で比較した。その結果、晴眼者の視覚と触覚による顔表情の識別に関わる大脳皮質領域(紡錘状回・中側頭回・下側前頭前野)は、先天盲による顔表情の識別でも活動することを明らかにした。この結果は視覚経験に依存せず、顔表情の認識に関わる神経基盤が発達および維持されることを示している。

  Competitive research funding

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• NA

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