The fMRI investigation of the developmental process of the perception of supernatural agent and prosocial behavior

• Project/Area Number: 26560415
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Childhood science (childhood environment science)
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Takahashi Hideyuki 大阪大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (30535084)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Mifune Nobuhiro 高知工科大学, 経営学部, 講師 (00708050) ; Morita Tomoyo 大阪大学, 工学研究科, 特任講師 (60543402) ; Moriguchi Yusuke 上越教育大学, 学校教育研究科, 准教授 (80546581)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: 超自然的存在 / 子ども / fMRI / 規範的行動 / パレイドリア錯覚 / リズム同期 / イマジナリーコンパニオン / 子どもfMRI

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although there are huge diversities in beliefs of supernatural agents among cultures and societies, legends and myths describing about these agents exist in all culture and societies without exceptions. This fact implies that infants and young children have kinds of prototype images about the supernatural agent from birth.In this study, we have tried to verify this hypothesis by developing a new experimental task that could evaluate how the interpersonal rhythmic synchrony affected the visual illusion in random-dots images.We performed behavioral and fMRI experiments in both adults and children and we found the phenomenon that rhythmic synchrony enhances the visual illusion regardless of subject's age. From this finding,we argued the psychological and neural mechanisms about how young children perceive the supernatural agents.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] The anterior insula tracks behavioral entropy during an interpersonal competitive game (2015)
  • Author(s): Takahashi H., Izuma K., Matsumoto M., Matsumoto K., Omori T.
  • Journal Title: PLOS ONE Volume: 10-6 Issue: 6 Pages: 0-0
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123329
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Different impressions of other agents obtained through social interaction uniquely modulate dorsal and ventral pathway activities in the social human brain (2014)
  • Author(s): H. Takahashi, K. Terada, T. Morita, S. Suzuki, T. Haji, H. Kojima, M. Yoshikawa, Y. Matsumoto, T. Omori, M. Asada, and E. Naito
  • Journal Title: Cortex Volume: (印刷中) Pages: 289-300
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.03.011
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Presentation] リズムの集団間シンクロが促進するパレイドリア錯覚 -没集団行動が生み出すエージェント幻想の脳プロセスの探究- (2015)
  • Author(s): 高橋英之，伴碧，守田知代，内藤栄一，浅田稔
  • Organizer: 2015年度日本認知科学会第32回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 千葉大学（千葉県 千葉市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-18
• [Presentation] 太鼓ロボットとのリズム遊びが ロボットをモチーフとした子どもの描画に与える影響 (2015)
  • Author(s): 伴 碧，高橋英之，浅田稔
  • Organizer: 2015年度日本認知科学会第32回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 千葉大学（千葉県 千葉市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-18