The Science of Flexible Human Potential Throughout the Lifespan

Midori Takayama (Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Liberal Arts)

Do our minds and bodies simply decline as we age? Not at all. Our minds and bodies change flexibly with age, continuing to develop throughout our lives.

Take the brain, for example. For a long time, it was thought that brain cells only die off. However, it has recently been discovered that brain cells not only die off but can also regenerate, and that brain function depends less on the number of cells and more on how individual brain cells are connected. We now understand that these connections are enriched as we age and gain experience.

Naturally, human intellectual abilities, emotions, and personalities, which are deeply connected to brain function, also change and enrich with age. Does intelligence peak at age 20? Do people become stubborn and grumpy as they get older? No, that's not true at all. For example, we have learned that certain types of human intellectual abilities continue to grow and enrich from birth until we approach old age. Furthermore, the power of human wisdom has the potential to mature even after old age through encounters with many people and various experiences. Perhaps people are more flexible and resilient than we think.

However, much about the processes and mechanisms of the lifelong development of various human abilities remains unknown. I am engaged in research to scientifically elucidate this human potential—flexible, expansive, sometimes adapting to the environment and sometimes acting upon it—from the perspectives of intellectual ability, emotion, wisdom, and human relationships.

With students taking Human Relations I.

To cultivate global thinking, deep insight, and a rich sense of humanity, the Faculty of Science and Technology offers approximately 160 liberal arts courses. Human Relations I, one of these courses offered at the Yagami Campus, is also taken by many students.

The liberal arts courses at the Faculty of Science and Technology also include psychology-related subjects. A diverse range of lectures is available, including "Psychology I," which covers the lifelong development of emotions, personality, and interpersonal relationships; "Psychology I," which explores the mechanisms of cognition; and "Human Relations I & II," which teaches the theory and practice of communication skills. (As of 2006)

This is a developmental psychology textbook for high school students. Associate Professor Takayama is also one of its authors.