Rei Akaishi
Curriculum Vitae
Business Address: Center for Brain Science, East Building
2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan
Birth Date: 02/14/1981
Birth Place: Tokyo, Japan
Citizenship: JapaneseBusiness Phone: +81-048-462-1111
E-mail: rei.akaishi@riken.jp
EDUCATION and TRAINING
Undergraduate:
2000-2004
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
Graduate:
2005-2007
2007-2011

The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo

B.S., 2004

M.S., 2007
PhD. 2011Child Psychology

Medical Science
Medicine

Post-doctoral:
2011-2012
Post-doctoral research fellow at The University of Tokyo
2012-2014
Post-doctoral research fellow at University of Oxford
2014-2015
Post-doctoral research fellow at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of MedicalScience
2016-2018
Post-doctoral research fellow at University of Rochester
2018-2019 Post-doctoral research fellow at Center for Information and Neural
Networks
PI:
2019-current Unit
Leaderat
RIKEN-CBS-Toyota
RIKEN-Center for Brain Science

Collaboration

Awards and Fellowships
2000-2004 Six times on the Dean’s list for academic excellence.

Center,2010-2012 JSPS DC2 fellowship for a graduate student and post-doctoral fellowship2012-2013 Fellowship of Canon Foundation in Europe
2013-2014 Post-doctoral fellowship of Uehara Memorial Foundation
2014-2017 JSPS post-doctoral fellowship2015 Participation in Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Interdisciplinary)

Skills
MATLAB programming for designing behavioral experiments and data analysis
EEG data recording and analysis,
Eye-movement recording and analysis in humans and monkeys
Technique combining TMS and EEG to examine the brain state with high time
resolution
Functional and structural MRI data recording and data analysis
Analysis with computational models of learning/memory and decision making
Monkey behavioral training with touch screen and free eye-movement
Behavioral training of monkeys with virtual reality navigation taskPUBLICATIONSMorishima, Y., Akaishi, R., Yamada, Y., Okuda, J., Toma, K. & Sakai, K. (2009).
Task-specific signal transmission from prefrontal cortex in visual selective attention.
Nature Neuroscience, 12(1), 85-91.
Soga R, Akaishi R, Sakai K. Predictive and postdictive mechanisms jointly contributeto visual awareness. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(3), 578-592.
Akaishi, R., Morishima, Y., Rajeswaren, V., Aoki, S. & Sakai, K. Stimulation of thefrontal eye field reveals persistent effective connectivity after controlled behavior. TheJournal of Neuroscience, 30(12), 4295-4305.
Akaishi, R., Ueda, N., & Sakai, K. (2013). Task-related modulation of effective
connectivity during perceptual decision making: Dissociation between dorsal andventral prefrontal cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15 July 2013
Akaishi, R., Umeda, K., Nagase, A., & Sakai, K. (2014). Autonomous mechanism ofinternal choice estimate underlies decision inertia. Neuron, 81(1), 195-206.

Akaishi, R. (2015) Changing concepts of decision. The Brain & Neural Networks,
22(1):30-36.
Akaishi, R., Kolling, N., Brown, J., & Rushworth, M. (2016) Neural mechanisms ofcredit assignment in a multi-cue environment. The Journal of Neuroscience, 36(4):1096-1112
Akaishi, R. & Hayden, B. (2016). A spotlight on reward. Neuron, 90(6):1148-1150
Wittmann, M., Kolling, N., Akaishi, R., Chau, KHB., Brown, JW., Nelissen, N., &Rushworth, MFS. Predictive decision making driven by multiple time-linked reward
representations in the anterior cingulate cortex. Nature Communications, 7(12327)
Eisenreich, B., Akaishi, R., Hayden, B. Control without controllers: Towards a
distributed neuroscience of executive control. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,
29(10): 1684-1698.
Mitsuto-Nagase, A., Onoda, K., Foo, J. C., Haji, T., Akaishi, R., Yamaguchi, S., Sakai,K., & Morita, K. Neural Mechanisms for Adaptive Learned Avoidance of Mental Effort.
Journal of Neuroscience, 38 (10), 2631-2651.
Akaishi, R. & Hoshi, E. Information seeking and simulation: Roles of attention inguiding a goal-directed behavior. Under Review (preprint in bioRxiv,
https://doi.org/10.1101/104091)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Undergraduate Level
Co-instructor in BCS 208, Lab in Perception and Cognition, at University of Rochester
Instructor in BCS/NSC248, Neuroeconomics, at University of Rochester
Graduate Level
Mentoring a graduate student (Marco Wittmann) for a project of reward-based decision
making at University of Oxford
RESENTATIONS
Oral Presentation
Akaishi, R., Morishima, Y., Rajeswaren, V. & Sakai, K. (2008) Effective Connectivity
during Task Set Reconfiguration (14th Annual Meeting of the Organisation for Human

Brain Mapping, Melbourne, Australia)
Akaishi, R., Mitsuto, A. & Sakai, K. (2009) Neural Basis of Decision Inertia (the 39thAnnual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, U.S.A.)
Akaishi, R. (2014) Active Mechanisms of Learning and Decision Making. (12thInternational Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Brisbane, Australia)
Akaishi, R. (2015). What visual fixations reveal about evidence accumulation during
decision making. (Departmental Seminar, Department of Experimental Psychology,
University of Oxford)
Poster Presentation
Akaishi, R. & Sakai, K. (2006). Previous experience of visually guided movement
influences body image during movement. (the 36th Annual Meeting of Society for
Neuroscience, Atlanta, U.S.A.).
Akaishi, R., Morishima, Y., Rajeswaren, V., Aoki, S. & Sakai, K. (2008). Transitional
Network State during Task Set Reconfiguration (the 31st Annual Meeting of theJapanese Neuroscience Society, Tokyo, Japan)
Akaishi, R., Morishima, Y., Rajeswaren, V. & Sakai, K. (2008). Effective connectivity
during task preparation reflects carry-over from a previous task. (the 38th Annual
Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, Washington, U.S.A.)
Akaishi, R., Mitsuto, A. & Sakai, K. (2009) Neural Correlate of Decision Inertia (the32nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Neuroscience Society, Tokyo, Japan)
Akaishi, R. & Sakai, K. (2010) Persistent influence of previous choices in perceptualdecision making (Gordon Research Conference, Neurobiology of Cognition, Waterville
Valley Resort, Waterville Valley, NH, U.S.A.)
Akaishi, R. & Hoshi, E. (2015) Attention and integration processes in gaze behavior (the38nth Annual Meeting of the Japanese Neuroscience Society, Kobe, Japan)
Akaishi, R. & Hoshi, E. (2015) Attention-accumulation process in gaze behavior duringmulti-cue decision making with manual response and free eye-movement (the 45thAnnual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, U.S.A.)
Akaishi, R. & Hayden B. (2016) Navigation and decision in a virtual foraging task formonkeys (the 46th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, U.S.A.)

Other academic activities
2006 Participation in the RIKEN Brain Science Institute summer school2010 Participation in Summer School of Cold Springs Harbor Asia: Computationaland Cognitive Neuroscience (organized by Xiao-Jing Wang, Zachary F Mainen)
2015 Participation in Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Interdisciplinary)
RESEARCH INTEREST
I study learning and decision making from ecological perspectives. When an animalengages with its environment, it is an active agent in its interaction with thesurroundings. It actively explores with clear ideas of consequences in mind. Similarideas have been put forward by philosophers and psychologists. However, the neuralbases of these mechanisms remain elusive. My studies tackle these problems byapplying the computational ideas inspired by ecological views to neural systems.