Neural substrate of linguistic intuition and its plasticity in neuralfeedback.

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18512
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 2:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Mejiro University
• Principal Investigator: TOKIMOTO Shingo 目白大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (00291849)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 曽雌 崇弘 京都大学, 総合生存学館, 特定研究員 (00381434)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 適格性判断 / 脳波 / 対人反応性指標 / 自閉症スペクトラム指数 / メタ認知 / 発生源推定

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The linguistic judgment on a sentence is generally assumed to be invariant. However, Carroll, et al. (1981, Language) asked English native speakers to judge the acceptability of a sentence while they faced their self-images in the mirror in front of them and they observed that the sentences were judged more acceptable when the speakers faced their self-images in the mirror. In this study, we performed an EEG experiment to examine the finding by Carroll, et al. (1981) in Japanese and the neural substrate of the possible plasticity of linguistic judgments. The self-image in a mirror enhanced the EEG oscillation in theta and alpha bands. The higher rejection rate of the experimental sentences in With Mirror than in No Mirror condition could be due to the enhancement in theta and beta bands. This suggests that the meta-linguistic judgment on a sentence could be more acute by a stronger oscillation in theta and alpha band, and that these oscillations are deeply concerned with metacognition.

Free Research Field

神経言語学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

実験参加者の眼前に鏡を置き、自身の全身を実験参加者に見せることで、言語課題遂行時にセルフモニタリングを誘導する。セルフモニタリングの有無に対応する行動反応と脳波の解析による神経活動ならびに質問紙による対人反応傾向個人差の間の相関を解析し、認知課題におけるセルフモニタリングの効果とメカニズムを対人傾向の個人差との関わりで考察する。対人コミュニケーションにおける個人差に社会的関心が集まっている現代において、他者視点の存在が行動に与える影響とその個人差を神経科学的に解明する手がかりとなることを意図している。