4th RAP Seminar
The 4th Seminar on RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics
Language: Japanese

Date :

Sept.13(Fri), 2013, 15:00 ～16:00

Location : Cooperation Center, 3F, W319, Wako Campus, RIKEN(理研 和光キャンパス 研究交流棟3階会議室 W319)

Title : Mindscope: Device for physical observation of the mind
マインドスコープ: 精神の物理的観測装置

Speaker:Dr. Hideaki KOIZUMI(Fellow and Corporate Officer, Hitachi, Ltd.)

小泉 英明 博士 （(株)日立製作所 役員待遇フェロー）
Knowing the human brain, and furthermore the human mind, is directly linked to knowing the human being. As statedby René Descartes, “I think, therefore I am,” and Blaise Pascal, “Man is a thinking reed,” thinking is the primary functionof human brain.
Scientific technology is essential to acquire new knowledge. The history of human knowledge shows that thedevelopment of the telescope helped develop astrology and physics and the development of the microscope
contributed to the progress of biology, medical science and chemistry. Moreover, the progress of science led to new
information communications technology (ICT). The issue for the near future is the development of the mindscope in a
broad sense, or a noninvasive brain function imaging technology to understand the human mind. This is expected tocontribute to the progress of mind science, which includes psychiatry; the humanities including philosophy, ethics andlinguistics; and the social sciences including economics [1].
No natural substances with a maximum light absorption peak exist at the wavelength (approx. 800 nm) that is between
the wavelength at which electronic transitions occur via the interaction of atoms with photons and the wavelength where
the rotation and/or vibration of molecules occur. Optical topography uses the wavebands within living bodies’atmospheric transmission windows and the wavelengths close to the isosbestic points that are located at the skirts oflight absorption points of oxidized or deoxidized hemoglobin. Optical topography and functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fMRI) complement each other. There is a possibility that they could function as mindscopes [2].
Recently, research centers of philosophy and economics have begun to hold international conferences regarding
noninvasive brain function imaging. Furthermore, in the healthcare field, optical brain function imaging is used inexaminations related to the health of the mind particularly in the psychiatric clinical phase. Efforts are ongoing to use
this technology to assist with psychiatric diagnoses for “Advanced Medical Treatments (by the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare)” [3–4].
References
1.Koizumi, H. (2012). Brain-science and education in Japan. In S. Della Sala & M. Anderson, (Eds.), Neuroscience in education.
Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
2.Koizumi, H. (2008). Developing the brain: A functional imaging approach to learning and educational sciences. In A. Battro, K.
Fischer, & P. Lena (Eds.), The educated brain. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
3.Takizawa, R., Fukuda, M., Kawasaki, M., Kasai, K., Mimura, M., Shenghong Pu, Noda, T., Niwa, S., Okazaki, Y. (2013).
Neuroimaging-aided differential diagnosis of the depressive state, NeuroImage, S1053-8119 (13) 693-3.
4.Sato, H., Yahata, N., Funane, T., Takizawa, R., Katura, T., Atsumori, H., Nishimura, Y., Kinoshita, A., Kiguchi, M., Koizumi, H.,Fukuda, M., Kasai, K. (2013). A NIRS-fMRI investigation of prefrontal cortex activity during a working memory task, NeuroImage,
83C: 158-173.

Contact: RAP Secretariat (ext.8532)
連絡先： 光量子工学研究領域事務局 (8532)