Colloquia/Seminars
Time: 4:00pm, Dec. 5, 2024
Venue: Lecture Hall, Shanghai Brain Center
Speaker: Dr. Kentaro Miyamoto
Team leader, Laboratory for lmagination and Executive Functions, RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS)
Biography:
Completed Ph.D. Course at The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2014. Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Tokyo (2014-2017) and at Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford (2017-2021).Team Leader (principal investigator) at RIKEN Center for Brain Science since 2021.
Abstract:
In this talk, I will present our recent research that uncovers the mechanism by which macaque monkeys make metacognitive judgments prior to perceptual decisions. This was achieved by combining a newly developed behavioral paradigm, functional brain mapping via fMRI, and brain activity modulation using transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS). Previously, we identified a crucial role for the anterior lateral prefrontal cortex (alPFC; area 47) in human prospective metacognition. However, this region is evolutionarily novel and particularly well-developed in humans. For the first time, we have revealed how macaques, in which the anatomical counterpart to the human alPFC lacks, are able to engage in prospective metacognition. The accumulation of evidence predicting future success, as reflected by neural signals in the ventral prefrontal cortex and lateral orbitofrontal cortex, proved critical. Our findings offer new insights into the evolutionary origins of introspection, an ability that is notably prominent in humans.