RIKEN BRAIN SCIENCE INSTITUTE (RIKEN BSI)

Faculty Detail / 研究室詳細

Keiji Tanaka, Ph.D.

- Our goal is to reveal mechanisms of higher brain functions such as visual object recognition and goal-directed behavior.

Cognitive Brain Mapping

Senior Team Leader

Visual object recognition, Goal-directed behavior

Keiji Tanaka

Research Area

To reveal mechanisms of higher brain functions such as recognition and decision making, we are conducting experiments with non-human primates and functional MRI with a 4T system on normal human subjects. In the research with non-human primates, the animals are trained with various behavioral paradigms, and effects of functional blocage of particular brain sites or connections are examined and single-cell recordings are conducted during the task performance. We are focusing on the mechanisms of visual object recognition in the inferotemporal cortex and those of goal-directed behavior in the prefrontal cortex. To relate research results in human subjects with those in experimental animals, we are also making efforts to increase the spatial resolution of fMRI with human subjects.

fMRI imaging of the ocular dominance column of the human primary visual cortex. Results of functional imaging are shown by colors on the grey anatomical images. The regions with greater signals during visual stimulation to the left eye than the right-eye stimulation are colored in yellow, and those with greater signals during right-eye stimulation in blue. The results of the first measurement are shown in the upper half, and those of the second measurement in the lower half. The two patterns well overlapped with each other, which proved the reliability of the imaged pattern.

Selected Publications View All

  1. 1

    Wan X., Cheng K., and Tanaka K.: "Neural Encoding of Opposing Strategy Values in Anterior and Posterior Cingulate Cortex.", Nature Neuroscience, 18: 752-759 (2015)

  2. 2

    Wan X, Nakatani H, Ueno K, Asamizuya T, Cheng K, and Tanaka K: "The neural basis of intuitive best next-move generation in board game experts.", Science, 331(6015), 341-6 (2011)

  3. 3

    Buckley MJ, Mansouri FA, Hoda H, Mahboubi M, Browning PG, Kwok SC, Phillips A, and Tanaka K: "Dissociable components of rule-guided behavior depend on distinct medial and prefrontal regions.", Science, 325(5936), 1952-8 (2009)

  4. 4

    Mansouri FA, Buckley MJ, and Tanaka K: "Mnemonic function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in conflict-induced behavioral adjustment.", Science, 318(5852), 987-90 (2007)

  5. 5

    Matsumoto M, Matsumoto K, Abe H, and Tanaka K: "Medial prefrontal cell activity signaling prediction errors of action values.", Nat Neurosci, 10(5), 647-56 (2007)

  6. 6

    Wang G., Obama S., Yamashita W., Sugihara T., and Tanaka K.: "View-invariant object recognition without experience of object rotations.", Nature Neuroscience, 8, 1568-1575 (2005)

  7. 7

    Gardner JL, Sun P, Waggoner RA, Ueno K, Tanaka K, and Cheng K: "Contrast adaptation and representation in human early visual cortex.", Neuron, 47(4), 607-20 (2005)

  8. 8

    Matsumoto K, Suzuki W, and Tanaka K: "Neuronal correlates of goal-based motor selection in the prefrontal cortex.", Science, 301(5630), 229-32 (2003)

  9. 9

    Cheng K, Waggoner RA, and Tanaka K: "Human ocular dominance columns as revealed by high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging.", Neuron, 32(2), 359-74 (2001)

Press Releases View All

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