Project representative:
Yoshifumi Mori(Guest postdoctoral researcher/Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging)

Collaborating researchers and co-researchers:
・Yasuo Deguchi(Professor/Graduate School of Letters/Kyoto University)
・Yosuke Yamamoto(Professor/Graduate School of Medicine/Kyoto University)

Introducing this project

Whereas modern Western perspectives tend to consider “I” to be the agent of action, Dr. Deguchi Yasuo proposes a brand-new Eastern self-view of “Self-as-WE.” For example, when you play football, you do it with your teammates, opponents, and referees; in a broader sense, even when you eat something, this cannot be materialized without those who cook it, wash dishes, and process garbage. Neural networks produce Self-as-WE, and so we tried to investigate it using functional MRI.

Playing a role in drama is a representative case that makes you more aware of Self-as-WE. We asked participants to read lines in an MRI scanner and subsequently to tell how much they identified with (= were absorbed in) the characters on a seven-point scale from 1 to 7. Indeed, we did not get significant results in the main point, but at least we found that the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex is correlated with the degree of identification. To generalize this result, we will continue to test brain activity in naturalistic situations as well as specific ones to see what neural mechanism gives us subconscious awareness of Self-as-WE in daily life.