The neural mechanism of the "sense of unity" between self and other

• Project/Area Number: 16H02839
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: Shimada Sotaro 明治大学, 理工学部, 専任教授 (70440138)
• Research Collaborator: Matsumoto Kenji
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥16,250,000 (Direct Cost: ¥12,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,750,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥6,110,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,410,000)
• Keywords: 社会性 / ミラーシステム / 脳機能イメージング / ハイパースキャニング / 社会性認知 / 脳認知科学 / 一体感 / 認知科学 / 脳・神経

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we conducted a cognitive neuroscience study to understand how the “sense of unity” emerges between the self and others, especially in relation to the activation of the mirror neuron system and the reward system in the brain. We addressed two social cognitive tasks, namely cheering and being-imitated tasks, to see whether the sharing of reward is important for the formulation of the sense of unity or not. The results showed that sharing reward simultaneously activated the mirror neuron system and the reward system and enhanced the sense of unity between the self and others.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は、ミラーシステムと報酬系が自己と他者の「一体感」を形成する上で重要な役割を果たすことを示した点で学術的に新規で重要である。特に応援課題と他者に模倣される被模倣課題という異なる２つの課題を用いて、同様の結果を得たことは本研究の結果の妥当性を示している。報酬を共有することによって自己と他者の一体感が形成されるという本研究の知見は、会社や学校などにおける効果的なグループの形成など、さまざまな社会的場面に応用可能である。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Socially Anxious Tendencies Affect Impressions of Others’ Positive and Negative Emotional Gazes. (2018)
  • Author(s): Yuki Tsuji, Sotaro Shimada
  • Journal Title: Frontiers in Psychology Volume: 9 Pages: 2111-2111
  • DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02111
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Cheering enhances inter-brain synchronization between sensorimotor areas of player and observer (2018)
  • Author(s): Tadayoshi Koide, Sotaro Shimada
  • Journal Title: Japanese Psychological Research Volume: 60(4) Issue: 4 Pages: 265-275
  • DOI: 10.1111/jpr.12202
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Spontaneous imitative movements induced by an illusory embodied fake hand (2018)
  • Author(s): S. Shibuya, S. Unenaka, T. Zama, S. Shimada and Y. Ohki
  • Journal Title: Neuropsychologia Volume: 111 Pages: 77-84
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.023
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Socially anxious tendencies affect neural processing of gaze perception (2017)
  • Author(s): Yuki Tsuji, Sotaro Shimada
  • Journal Title: Brain and Cognition Volume: 118 Pages: 63-70
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2017.08.002
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] We-mode 認知脳科学の可能性. (2016)
  • Author(s): 嶋田総太郎
  • Journal Title: 心理学評論 Volume: 59(3) Pages: 232-235
• [Journal Article] ミラーニューロンシステムの活動計測による3次元音場再現システムの定量的評価. (2016)
  • Author(s): 小林まおり, 土田江一郎, 上野佳奈子, 嶋田総太郎
  • Journal Title: 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会論文誌 Volume: 21(1) Pages: 73-79
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 仮説検証サイクルと記号設地. (2016)
  • Author(s): 橋田浩一, 嶋田総太郎, 今井むつみ
  • Journal Title: 認知科学 Volume: 23(1) Pages: 65-73
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] The senses of ownership and agency in first- and third-person perspectives in the full body illusion. (2018)
  • Author(s): Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: The 2nd International Symposium on Embodied-Brain Systems Science (EmboSS2018)
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Enhancement of empathy for other’s pain by vicarious reward: A skin conductance response study. (2018)
  • Author(s): Mizuki Nakajima, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 48th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN2018)
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Inter-brain synchronization during cooperative joint action reflects the sense of joint agency. (2018)
  • Author(s): Masahiro Shiraishi, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: Organization on Human Brain Mapping (OHBM2018)
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Enhancement of empathy for pain by vicarious reward measured with skin conductance response (2017)
  • Author(s): Mizuki Nakajima, Aziem Abdullah, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 23th Annual Meeting of the Organization on Human Brain Mapping
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Socially anxious tendencies affect impression of the other’s happy and disgusting gazes (2017)
  • Author(s): Yuki Tsuji, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Intersubject correlation analysis of students’ brain activity during listening to teacher’s explanation. (2016)
  • Author(s): Yusuke Hirako, Tadayoshi Koide, Takaai Ito, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN2016)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Effect of cheering on functional connectivity between the player's and the observer's brain activity during a competitive game. (2016)
  • Author(s): Tadayoshi Koide, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN2016)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Socially anxious tendency affects discrimination of emotions in other's gaze. (2016)
  • Author(s): Yuki Tsuji, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN2016)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Vicarious reward enhances the mirror neuron system activity: An EEG study. (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsukasa Inomata, Takuro Zama, Yu Inoue & Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN2016)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 代理報酬によるミラーニューロンシステムの活動変化 (2016)
  • Author(s): Aziem Athira Abdullah、尾崎明美、小出允善、嶋田総太郎
  • Organizer: 日本認知科学会第33回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道大学
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-16
• [Presentation] 応援が対戦ゲームにおけるプレイヤーと観察者の脳機能結合に与える影響 ー二人同時脳活動計測による検討ー (2016)
  • Author(s): 小出允善、 嶋田総太郎
  • Organizer: 日本認知科学会第33回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道大学
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-16
• [Presentation] 他者の視線に対して抱く感情に社交不安傾向が与える影響 (2016)
  • Author(s): 都地裕樹、嶋田総太郎
  • Organizer: 日本認知科学会第33回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道大学
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-16
• [Presentation] Functional connectivity between dorsomedial prefrontal and motor cortices during being imitated. (2016)
  • Author(s): Aziem Athira Abdullah, Akihiro Sato, Madoka Matsumoto, Yukihito Yomogida, Kenji Matsumoto, Sotaro Shimada
  • Organizer: The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM2016)
  • Place of Presentation: Geneva
  • Year and Date: 2016-06-26
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Book] 認知脳科学 (2017)
  • Author(s): 嶋田 総太郎
  • Total Pages: 179
  • Publisher: コロナ社
  • ISBN: 9784339078121
• [Remarks] 明治大学 理工学部 電気電子生命学科 認知脳科学研究室
  • URL: http://www.isc.meiji.ac.jp/~sshimada/index.html