Hikaru Takeuchi

Working memory is the limited capacity storage system involved in the maintenance and manipulation of information over short periods of time. Individual capacity of working memory is associated with the integrity of white matter in the frontoparietal regions. It is unknown to what extent the integrity of white matter underlying the working memory system is plastic. Using voxel-based analysis (VBA) of fractional anisotropy (FA) measures of fiber tracts, we investigated the effect of working memor

The analysis of functional connectivity at rest (rFC) enables us to know how brain regions within and between networks interact. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and a creativity test of divergent thinking (DT) to investigate the relationship between creativity measured by DT and rFC. We took the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to be the seed region and investigated correlations across subjects between the score of the DT test and the strength of rFC bet

Training working memory (WM) improves performance on untrained cognitive tasks and alters functional activity. However, WM training's effects on gray matter morphology and a wide range of cognitive tasks are still unknown. We investigated this issue using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), various psychological measures, such as non-trained WM tasks and a creativity task, and intensive adaptive training of WM using mental calculations (IATWMMC), all of which are typical WM tasks. IATWMMC was associa

Processing speed (PS) training improves performance on untrained PS tasks in the elderly. However, PS training's effects on the PS of young adults and on neural mechanisms are still unknown. In humans, we investigated this issue using psychological measures, voxel-based morphometry, the n-back task [a typical task for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with conditions of 0-back (simple cognitive processes) and 2-back tasks (working memory; WM)], resting-state fMRI for the analy

Television (TV) viewing is known to affect children's verbal abilities and other physical, cognitive, and emotional development in psychological studies. However, the brain structural development associated with TV viewing has never been investigated. Here we examined cross-sectional correlations between the duration of TV viewing and regional gray/white matter volume (rGMV/rWMV) among 133 boys and 143 girls as well as correlations between the duration of TV viewing and longitudinal changes that

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions and the ability to use the gathered information to guide one's thinking and action. EI is thought to be important for social life making it a popular subject of research. However, despite the existence of previous functional imaging studies on EI, the relationship between regional gray matter morphology and EI has never been investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and a questionnaire (Emotional Intel

Achievement motivation can be defined as a recurrent need to improve one's past performance. Despite previous functional imaging studies on motivation-related functional activation, the relationship between regional gray matter (rGM) morphology and achievement motivation has never been investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry and a questionnaire (achievement motivation scale) to measure individual achievement motivation and investigated the association between rGM density (rGMD) and achieve

Executive functions involve control processes such as goal-oriented planning, flexible strategy generation, sustaining set maintenance, self-monitoring, and inhibition. Executive functions during everyday events (EFEEs) are distinct from those measured under laboratory settings; the former can be severely impaired while the latter remain intact. Non-routine everyday problems due to executive dysfunctions affect individual functioning in everyday life and are of great clinical interest. Despite t

Excessive internet use is shown to be cross sectionally associated with lower cognitive functioning and reduced volume of several brain areas. However, the effects of daily internet use on the development of verbal intelligence and brain structures have not been investigated. Here, we cross sectionally examined the effects of the frequency of internet use on regional gray/white matter volume (rGMV/rWMV) and verbal intelligence as well as their longitudinal changes after 3.0 ± 0.3 (standard devia

Empathizing is the drive to identify the mental status of other individuals and respond to it with an appropriate emotion; systemizing is the drive to analyze a system. Previously, we have shown that structures associated with the default mode network (DMN) and external attention system (EAS) are associated with empathizing and systemizing, respectively. Here we investigated the association between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and empathizing/systemizing in 248 healthy young adul