2020/12/02
Keio University
Kochi University of Technology
In a joint study, Daiki Tanaka, a graduate student at the time of the research in the Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University (who completed a master's program in the Graduate School of Science and Technology in 2019), and Associate Professor Koji Jimura, along with Professor Kiyoshi Nakahara, Project Professor Masami Takeda, and Assistant Professor Ryuta Aoki (at the time of the research) of Kochi University of Technology, and Associate Professor Shinsuke Suzuki of the University of Melbourne, discovered that the human prefrontal cortex is associated with the expectation of favorable future events that have not been experienced before. They also found that this mechanism is enhanced in individuals who are better at making self-controlled decisions based on their own experiences. These results suggest that in inexperienced and uncertain situations, it is possible to select long-term optimal actions by having expectations for the future. They also suggest that the prefrontal cortex mechanism related to future expectations is involved in psychopathologies such as drug and alcohol addiction. This research was published in the early release edition of The Journal of Neuroscience on November 13, issued by the Society for Neuroscience.
For the full press release, please see below.