Elucidating the Effects of Social Relationships and Aging on the Neural Basis for the Interplay between Empathy and Memory

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14489
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10040:Experimental psychology-related
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Sugimoto Hikaru 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 革新知能統合研究センター, 学振特別研究員CPD (00829822)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 共感 / 記憶 / fMRI / 社会的比較 / 語彙 / 会話

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The fMRI study originally planned for this study had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and could finally be conducted in FY2023. The results of this study will be presented at scientific meetings and in peer-reviewed journals as soon as the analysis is complete. In addition, we have succeeded in clarifying the neural bases responsible for the memory-enhancing effects of social rewards, brain states related to social comparison orientation and vocabulary richness, brain states that could be thought to reflect the effects of conversation-based intervention methods, and so on. These studies have been published in international academic journals that are highly influential in their respective fields.

Free Research Field

社会神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、他者との相互作用の中で生活を営むヒトの認知機能がどのような場合に促進・抑制され、それがどのような神経基盤によって担われているのかを明らかにする基礎研究に貢献できた点で学術的意義がある。それだけではなく、加齢に伴う認知機能の低下を緩やかにする生活習慣や社会の仕組みに関する示唆を与えるという点で、応用的分野に対する貢献も期待できる。将来的に人々の生活や社会のあり方に大きな変化をもたらす可能性を秘めていることから、社会的意義もあるといえる。