Verification of brain function measurement to improve the accuracy of understanding method using objective indices for children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities in support situations

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K18656
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Education and related fields
Research Institution	Nagasaki University
Principal Investigator	Suzuki Yasumi 長崎大学, 教育学部, 教授 (90315565)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	寺田信一高知大学, 教育研究部人文社会科学系教育学部門, 教授 (00346701)
Project Period (FY)	2017-06-30 – 2022-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2021)
Budget Amount *help	¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000)
Keywords	重症心身障害児 / 実態把握 / 脳機能評価 / 事象関連性変動 / 偏有向コヒーレンス / 脳神経ネットワーク機能計測 / 神経ネットワーク機能計測 / 行動評価 / 偏有向コヒーレンス解析 / 有向伝達関数 / 脳神経ネットワーク機能評価 / 発達支援
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In order to improve the accuracy of understanding method using objective indices for children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities, we introduced partial directed coherence(PDC) to brain function measurement, which enables examination of cortical functional connectivity from EEG, in addition to event-related change(ERC). The ERC measurement of children's stimulus receptive properties revealed the sensory modalities of stimuli(toys) that were effective for working with children. The PDC measurement showed that when children accepted a preferred stimulus(toy), the connectivity to the relevant cortical areas increased according to the sensory modality of the presenting toy. The latter measurement added a new perspective to the investigation of brain functions of children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities, and contributed to improve the accuracy of understanding their conditions.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	ヒトの脳活動は、それぞれの脳部位が神経ネットワークを通して有機的に接続・連携して活動することにより生起している。皮質の機能的接続性をその向きを含めて頭皮上脳波から解析できる手法を、重症心身障害児の脳機能評価に導入することで、呈示される刺激の感覚モダリティに関連した皮質領域の接続性が評価でき、実態把握の精度が向上する。生体現象計測を利用した生理心理学的研究方略を特別支援教育領域で展開することで、神経科学や情報科学の進歩と相俟って、最先端科学に基づく障害や指導効果の評価が可能となり、支援方法を選択・考案する際の科学的根拠となる。