Message from the Program Leader

Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute has been conducting research on brain science to develop a scientific understanding of the human mind since its predecessor, the Brain Science Research Center of the Tamagawa University Research Institute, was established. In 2002, the "Integrative Human Science Program" was selected for the 21st Century COE Program. Upon its completion in 2006, we successfully created an environment where a wide range of brain research from animal experiments to human brain imaging and infant behavior and development are consolidated. Based on the fact that is has been one of the nation's forest integrative brain science research enivornment, we have proposed a program titled, "Origins of the Social Mind", to conduct education and research on unprecedented sciences of the brain and mind. This program was awarded for the Global COE Program (interdisciplinary, combined fields, and new disciplines) in 2008.

To date, brain science research has mainly focused on elucidating the brain based on physiological and medical aspects. However, an integrated comprehension of humanities, social science and brain science is crucial to scientifically elucidate the rich mechanisms of the human mind. In particular, providing knowledge for the neuroscientific understanding of the mind in school and social education is an urgent need of modern society and an important task of Tamagawa University. In our program, we will cultivate researchers, who are capable of reconstructing conventional disciplines related to the understanding of the human mind through integrative research and education on basic neuroscience and interdisciplinary brain sciences such as neuroeconomics and neuroethics.

Furthermore, through partnership with California Institute of Technology, which is advancing the education and research of interdisciplinary brain sciences at the world's highest level, we aim to realize a research center, which envisions new education and research for the brain science with an international perspective.

Masamichi Sakagami, Ph.D.
Program Leader
Professor, Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute