Global Research Center for Logic and Sensitivity (SU)

Center Director: Mitsuhiro Okada (Professor, Faculty of Letters)

Campus: Mita

Keio University has been conducting the 21st Century COE Program "Formation of an Integrated Methodology for Understanding the Mind" since 2002. Since 2007, the Graduate School of Human Relations, Graduate School of Letters, and Graduate School of Media and Governance have jointly implemented the Global COE Program "Formation of a Center for Advanced Education and Research in Logic and Sensitivity." This center aims to serve as a startup for establishing a new global research center for logic and sensitivity based on these achievements. Through the previous COE and GCOE programs, there have been two major advancements. The first is the development of interdisciplinary education and research between the Graduate School of Human Relations and the Graduate School of Letters. The second is the globalization of research and education. The GCOE currently has agreements with seven overseas bases. Furthermore, the "Center for Human Intellect Research," launched in 2011, is a broad, interdisciplinary center encompassing fields from medical sciences and science and technology to the humanities and social sciences, and the environment for interdisciplinary research at Keio University is well-established. Therefore, to further advance research on logic and sensitivity in human judgment, this center aims to 1) conduct cross-disciplinary research and 2) establish and maintain the research center as a global hub.

Interdisciplinary education and research, global hub, logic and sensitivity

■ Implementation Details, Research Results, and Degree of Achievement Relative to the Fiscal Year Plan

Progress was made as planned, and sufficient results were achieved. We were able to advance interdisciplinary research on human logic and sensitivity. We analyzed the relationship between the logical/cognitive aspects and personality aspects of human behavioral judgment, using not only standard behavioral data but also behavioral genetic data from the twin method. We investigated how differences between graphical and linguistic representations affect logical reasoning and preference judgments. We also advanced comparative cognitive science research on logic and sensitivity, including the cognitive development of infants, young children, and animals. The effectiveness of combining physiological data with neuroscience research on decision-making was demonstrated. Starting this fiscal year, we also began new research on the psychiatric science basis of "empathy." We also conducted multi-layered research on aesthetic evaluation. In addition to conducting numerous research exchanges with our international partner institutions, this fiscal year we advanced plans for collaborative cooperation with the headquarters of the CNRS Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences in France. At the year-end symposium, we invited guest speakers from partner institutions on other campuses, such as the Faculty of Science and Technology, SFC, and the School of Medicine, as well as from research institutions outside the university. We discussed the center's research themes and planned collaborations for the next fiscal year.

As for individual studies, we continued our research from the previous fiscal year on the relationship between decision-making in the Allais paradox, logical reasoning abilities such as IQ, and personality, obtaining new findings. Our research on "empathy" using experimental animals such as pigeons and crows can be considered pioneering. We obtained multi-layered results regarding behavioral judgments, including those in infants and young children. We also achieved logical and philosophical results on the foundations of logical judgment. Furthermore, we investigated whether differences between graphical and linguistic representations lead to differences in reasoning and judgment, and achieved positive results. These findings have either been published or are scheduled for publication soon.