SOCIALLY ADAPTIVE BRAIN AND BEHAVIOUR LAB
Dr. Mitsuhiko Ishikawa @Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan
Research Projects
Gaze effects on social cognition and behaviour
Gaze behaviour such as gaze following is one of the earliest emerging social interactive behaviours. We investigate how another's gaze affects cognitive processing and behaviour from the perspective of adaptation to micro-social contexts.
e.g.
・Ishikawa, M., & Itakura, S. (2019). Physiological arousal predicts gaze following in infants. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1896), 20182746.
・Ishikawa, M., & Itakura, S. (2022). Pupil dilation predicts modulation of direct gaze on action value calculations. Biological Psychology, 171, 108340.
Robots as social partners
Robots have been gradually applied to human society. How do humans perform social cognition and interaction with robots? How can we turn robots into social partners for humans? Currently, we are working on how experiences of social interaction with robots modulate social cognition.
e.g.
・Manzi, F., Ishikawa, M., Di Dio, C., Itakura, S., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Massaro, D., & Marchetti, A. (2020). The understanding of congruent and incongruent referential gaze in 17-month-old infants: an eye-tracking study comparing human and robot. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-10.
・Manzi, F., Ishikawa, M., Di Dio, C., Itakura, S., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Massaro, D., & Marchetti, A. (2022). Infants’ Prediction of Humanoid Robot’s Goal-Directed Action. International Journal of Social Robotics, 1-11.
Adaptations of cognition and behaviour to cultures
Adapting to the social environment is essential for humans. Culture is an environmental factor shaping adaptive social cognition and behaviour. We investigate cultural differences in social cognition and behaviour from the perspective of adaptation to macro-social contexts.
e.g.
・Haensel, J. X., Danvers, M., Ishikawa, M., Itakura, S., Tucciarelli, R., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2020). Culture modulates face scanning during dyadic social interactions. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-11.
・Haensel, J. X., Ishikawa, M., Itakura, S., Smith, T. J., & Senju, A. (2020). Cultural influences on face scanning are consistent across infancy and adulthood. Infant Behavior and Development, 61, 101503.