| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2009: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2008: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
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| Research Abstract |
First, brain activations were examined during observing and imitating emotional faces movies and just moving facial muscles employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) in 34 healthy adults (17 male/17 female). The significantly stronger activations were observed in the posterior inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal sulcus in the imitation condition than in the just moving condition. While the common activations were observed during imitation and observation conditions, the amygdala and anterior insular cortex were activated more robustly in imitation conditions than in observation conditions. The most of these results well replicated the previous literature (Carr et al., 2003). The present study further showed a significant sexually-dimorphic feature in brain activations especially in left posterior superior temporal sulcus: The females showed a significantly strong activation in this region compared with the males. These findings suggest that activations in brain regions associated with interpersonal perceptions and emotions allow us to empathize the other's emotion in at least partially sexually-dimorphic manner.
Then, the changes in brain activation induced by intranasal oxytocin administration were examined in 10 high functional individuals with autism-spectrum disorders. The clinical trial, which was designed as double-blind, randomized, and crossover, was approved by the institutional review board of the University of Tokyo hospital. The oxytocin administration enhanced the extensive brain activations including superior temporal sulcus, inferior frontal, and anterior insular cortices compared with the placebo, while the activation in amygdala was reduced by oxytocin administration. These preliminaryresults suggest that oxytocin enhances the ability to understanding other's emotion through these enhancements of brain activations, although the further study will be needed in a larger sample.
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