2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Development of right-lateralized self-face area
Project/Area Number |
17K01615
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Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
Section | 一般 |
Research Field |
Developmental mechanisms and the body works
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Research Institution | Osaka University |
Principal Investigator |
Morita Tomoyo 大阪大学, 先導的学際研究機構, 特任准教授(常勤) (60543402)
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Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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Keywords | 自己顔 / 機能的MRI / 脳発達 / 高次視覚野 / 言語 |
Outline of Final Research Achievements |
One’s own face is a special symbol of the self. In fact, the human brain has a higher-order visual cortex (self-face area) that specializes in the processing of self-face. In adults, this self-face area is known to be lateralized in the right hemisphere. In the present study, we investigated how and when the self-face area develops. We measured brain activity when children (8-11 years), adolescents (12-15 years) and younger adults (20-24 years) viewed self-face images and those of others by using functional MRI. We found that the self-face area is formed in the right hemisphere after the mid-teens. We also showed that this visual cortex goes through a developmental process in which it responds to all faces (one's own and others' faces) in the early teens, but after the mid-teens, the response to other faces is suppressed, resulting in emergence of selective response to one's own face.
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Free Research Field |
認知神経科学
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Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
本研究では、自分の顔を専門的に処理する視覚領域(自己顔領域)は、小学生や中学生の時期には認められなかったことから、10代半ば以降に形成されることが明らかとなった。これは予想以上にゆっくりとした発達であり、10代半ばで成人と同程度に成熟すると考えられている高次連合野(右半球下前頭-頭頂領域)に位置する自己認知ネットワークよりも遅れて、自己顔領域が成熟することを意味する。脳の発達において、感覚領野は高次連合野よりも早く発達が進行し、成人様に成熟するというのが定説であるが、こうした見方に一石を投じる新しい知見と言える。
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