Talks by Dr. Yamada and Dr. Moriguchi

November 25, 2014

15:00-16:00 Makiko Yamada

16:00-17:00 Yusuke Moriguchi

Place: CiNet 1F Conference Room

Makiko Yamada

Neural and molecular correlates of baseless self-confidence, National Institute of Radiological Sciences

Belief in oneself is not always well founded, but an essential aspect of the human mind. It motivates to achieve our goals and helps us to have hopes for future, which promote both mental and physical health. In my talk, I will present our recent findings of how baseless self-confidence is associated with default states of neural and molecular systems, using resting-state fMRI and PET.

Yusuke Moriguchi

Department of School Education, Joetsu University of Education

Imaginary companion in young children

Imaginary companion (IC) refers to imaginary agents who participate in every activity with children.IC is phenomenon commonly observed in young children, and about half of thechildren experience ICs. It is well known that children often report realistic perceptual experience of IC.

However, due to reliance on anecdotal evidence , it was unclear whether children experienced such realistic perception. We indirectly examined the issue by testing whether children’s behaviors and brain responses were affected when “observing” an invisible agent.