Akira Midorikawa

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Verified

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• Ph. D.
• Professor (Full) at Chuo University

Problem gambling has been associated with attentional biases toward gambling-related stimuli, but less is known about how problem gamblers distribute their visual attention during gambling tasks. This eye-tracking study investigated differences in sustained visual attention between problem gamblers (PGs; n = 22) and non-problem gamblers (NPGs; n =...

This study aims to reveal the characteristics of auditory hypersensitivity among Japanese university students with a particular focus on two elements of auditory hypersensitivity: hyperacusis and misophonia. We conducted an investigation of the prevalence and interrelationship of these conditions in a non-clinical sample of 439 individuals using se...

As a countermeasure to the increased loneliness induced by the COVID‐19 pandemic‐related university closures, universities provided students with online interaction opportunities. However, whether these opportunities contributed to reducing loneliness during the university closures remains unclear, as previous studies have produced contradictory fi...

Under the dual impact of the government’ s proactive acceptance policy and the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of Chinese international students in Japan̶who comprise nearly half of the international student population in the country̶has become a significant concern. This study aimed to investigate the current state of mental health among pre-...

Background Several studies have shown that the retrieval of positive memories may play a role in emotional regulation. However, it is unclear whether the effects of neutral and positive autobiographical memories differ. It is necessary to confirm whether genuinely neutral autobiographical memories can be retrieved without bias when prompted to reca...

Background: Anecdotal evidence indicates that some patients with dementia exhibit novel or increased positive behaviors, such as painting or singing, after the disease onset. Due to the lack of objective measures, however, the frequency and nature of these changes has not been formally investigated. Objective: This study aimed to systematically ide...

Auditory hallucinations (AH) are phenomena perceived without external stimuli and are commonly associated with schizophrenia (Schneider, 1959). Notably, AH has also been observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Ribolsi et al., 2022). Recent studies indicate that AH occurrences in the general population range from 3.1% to 19.5% (...

Background: This study aimed to delineate the interplay between depression, hopelessness, and episodic future thinking (EFT), focusing on cognitive biases towards negative future thinking that are central to depressive symptomatically. Methods: A Japanese university student was utilized to scrutinize divergences in EFT across groups stratified by v...

Background Several studies have shown that the retrieval of positive memories may play a role in emotional regulation. However, it is unclear whether the effects of neutral and positive autobiographical memories differ. There is a need to confirm that genuinely neutral autobiographical memories can be retrieved without bias in response to a prompt...

高次脳機能障害支援モデル事業は，2001年に一部の地域を対象に発足した．その対象とならなかった地域は時間差で導入が進められた．この時間的なずれに起因する支援状況の地域差が指摘されているが，本研究では，高次脳機能障害の支援の一翼を担う介護支援専門員（ケアマネジャー）を対象に比較検討を行った．東京都と東北地域（秋田県，青森県）の居宅介護支援事業所に所属するケアマネジャーに対してアンケートを送付し，認知症や高次脳機能障害の認知度，経験頻度について294人から回答を得た．その結果，認知度に地域差はみられなかった一方で，経験頻度では，高次脳機能障害について，東北地域に比べ東京都において高頻度で経験されていることが明らかとなった．

Longitudinal studies using neuropsychological tests have reported that cognitive changes may be observed up to 20 years before diagnosis of dementia. These findings suggest that neuropsychological tests may serve as potential screening tools during the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease. However, routine cognitive screening tests show limited...

Developmental disabilities (DDs) among the elderly have received a good deal of attention from dementia researchers, but carers' knowledge thereof has seldom been explored. We evaluated carers' understanding of, and experience with, DDs. Questionnaires were sent to local managers of elderly care. We explored their knowledge of dementia (Alzheimer's...

Carers of patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) have a greater burden than carers of patients with dementia, but no Japanese studies have directly compared these two groups of carers. The present study examined the burden and need for psychological support of carers of patients with ABI or dementia in the home. Carers of ABI and dementia patien...

近年導入された意思疎通支援者事業では，障害者に対する言語的な意思の疎通の支援が中心に置かれているが，認知機能障害を主徴とする高次脳機能障害や認知症を記述する際の疎通性と支援事業との共通性は報告されていない。本研究では高次脳機能障害および認知症に関する文献において，本邦での「疎通性」の用いられ方について明らかにすることを目的とする。医中誌で検索された文献について，「言語的運用」，「非言語的運用」，「言語的・非言語的運用」の3 つのカテゴリに分類し，最終的に224件の文献を解析対象とした。その結果，高次脳機能障害と認知症の双方で，「疎通性」の言語的運用がなされているものが80％程度を占めていた一方，「非言語的運用」と併存する形で運用されている文献も確認され，認知症の方ではより多様な表現が用いられ...

Objectives Hyper- and hyposensitivity in multiple modalities have been well-documented in subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) but not in subjects with acquired brain injury (ABI). The purpose of this study was to determine whether subjects with ABI experience altered sensory processing in multiple sensory modalities, and to examine the r...

Gambling disorder and problem gambling are characterized by persistent and repetitive problematic gambling behavior. Attentional bias toward gambling-related stimuli such as casino chips, dice, roulette, etc. have been observed in problem gamblers (PGs), but it remains unclear whether stimuli in gambling tasks elicit greater attention and pupillary...

Gambling disorder and problem gambling are characterized by persistent and repetitive problematic gambling behavior. Attentional bias toward gambling-related stimuli such as casino chips, dice, roulette, etc. have been observed in problem gamblers, but it remains unclear whether stimuli in gambling tasks elicit greater attention and pupillary respo...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disorder in which individuals experience a difficulty in maintaining event memory for when, where, who, and what. However, verbal deficiency, one of the other symptoms of AD, may prevent a precise diagnosis of event memory because existing tests are based on verbal instructions by the tester and verbal response from pa...

Background As with cognitive function, the ability to recognize emotions changes with age. In the literature regarding the relationship between recognition of emotion and cognitive function during aging, the effects of predictors such as aging, emotional state, and cognitive domains on emotion recognition are unclear. This study was performed to cl...

Background Tumors trigger both depression and anxiety about death because they can be terminal. However, the relationship between depression and time perspective in patients with life-threatening diseases remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of depression on time perspective in patients with brain tumors using a projective method...

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are believed to involve brain regions that are innervated by the dopaminergic pathway. Although dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain deteriorate in Parkinson’s disease (PD), it remains unclear whether intrinsic motivation is impaired in PD patients. To address this issue, we investigated intrinsic motivation...

Oshikuramanju is a simple Japanese, competitive game and we adapted the name to describe "competition" between different brain functions related to Savant syndrome. We also show that Savant-like ability exists in animals other than humans and describe three types of Savant syndrome: autistic, acquired, and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

An out‐of‐body experience (OBE) is a phenomenon whereby an individual views his/her body and the world from a location outside the physical body. Previous studies have suggested that the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), the brain region responsible for integrating multisensory signals, is responsible for OBE development. Here, however, we first pres...

We report on the case of an extraordinary orangutan who spontaneously produced over a thousand drawings in 5 years. This female orangutan, Molly, started drawing when she was estimated to be 50 years old. Although it has been established that great apes spontaneously draw without training, she produced an enormous number of paintings in her old age...

Lesion studies have shown that the right temporal lobe is crucial for recognition of facial expressions, particularly fear expressions. However, in previous studies, premorbid abilities of the patients were unknown and the effects of epileptic discharge could not be excluded. Herein, we report a case of a patient who underwent assessments of facial...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents certain hallmark features associated with cognitive and social functions, however, the ability to estimate self-generated distance and duration in individuals with ASD are unclear. We compared the performance of 20 ASD individuals with 20 typical developments (TDs) with respect to two tasks: (1) the drawing o...

The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror is known as self-recognition, whereas delayed self-recognition is the ability to recognize the relationship between current self and past actions. While 3-year-old human children have self-recognition without the ability for delayed self-recognition, 4-year-old human children demonstrate the capability f...

Background Preservation of cranial nerve function in patients with benign tumors such as meningiomas and vestibular schwannomas remains difficult following microsurgery. Methods In this study, awake surgery was performed in 22 consecutive patients with meningiomas or vestibular schwannomas that compressed cranial nerves (I–XII). Improved, unchange...

Recently, researchers have focused on the embodied sense of self (ESS), which consists of the minimal and narrative selves. Although a study demonstrated that the ESS is related to brain dysfunction empirically, the subjective aspects of the ESS, and a systematic approach to it, have not yet been examined in brain-damaged patients. To examine this,...

We discuss creativity as a product of cerebral functional heterogeneity. To understand the pathophysiology of acquired savant syndrome, we propose an "Oshikura Manju" hypothesis, named after a Japanese game for children. We also briefly explore the mechanisms of healing and nostalgia.

Figure S1 Patient's fixed time schedule.

Figure S3 Weekly timetable.

Video S2 Patient showed mistakes in estimating the passage of time and disorientation in present time.

Figure S4 A hypothetical functional mechanism of topographical orientation in medial parietal lobes.

Video S1 Patient interview about mental time impairment and daily life.

Figure S2 A sketch of the rooms layout.

Video S3 Patient narrated the layout of his house as he walked around it.

Lesions of the medio-parietal lobes are linked with topographical and temporal disorientation and of interest to understanding mental time. We examined a 39-year-old man who worked as a driving instructor before cerebral hemorrhage, and followed his case for eight years including neuropsychological testing and brain imaging. The patient had mild an...

The psychological present is a diverse psychological phenomenon, including the perception and evaluation of time, which has been studied from different perspectives. The experience of the psychological present is known to differ according to psychological state and cognitive processes, such as attention. Neuropsychological studies focused on brain-...

Background: Hearing preservation in patients with vestibular schwannomas remains difficult by microsurgery or radiosurgery. Method: In this study, awake surgery via the retrosigmoid approach was performed for vestibular schwannomas (volume, 11.6 ± 11.2 ml; range, 1.3-26.4 ml) in eight consecutive patients with preoperative quartering of pure ton...

Background/aims: Although some patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) exhibit novel or improved skills after the onset of dementia, these changes have yet to be quantified. Therefore, this study systematically explored and identified the emergence of positive behaviours after dementia onset. Methods: This study included 48 carers of pat...

Introduction We analyzed factors associated with worsened paresis at 1-month follow-up in patients with brain tumors located in the primary motor area (M1) to establish protocols for safe awake craniotomy for M1 lesions. Methods Patients with M1 brain tumors who underwent awake surgery in our hospital (n = 61) were evaluated before, during, and imm...

Previous research has explored whether the Japanese concept of Indecisiveness is different from western cultures. The aim of the study was to develop a questionnaire scale to measure the concept of Japanese Indecisiveness (Yujufudan). In the first study, a factor analysis was carried out using data from 255 college students. Four different factors,...

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) have been reported in patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders. According to these reports, the patients looked down on their body from overhead. Based on this phenomenon, we adopted a downward perspective in an experimentally induced OBE paradigm and compared responses to an OBE questionnaire (sensations o...

Although wandering is a common behavioral problem in patients with dementia, information about wandering in patients with severe dementia is scarce. This study analyzed data about the wandering behavior of a 77-year-old woman with severe frontotemporal dementia. Due to severe atrophy of the anterior cortex, she was totally unable to act spontaneous...

Background: Autobiographical memory is a form of episodic memory characterized by a sense of time and consciousness that enables an individual to subjectively re-experience his or her past. As part of this mental re-enactment, the past is recognized relative to the present. Dysfunction of this memory system may lead to confusion regarding the pres...

Background Picture agnosia has become more significant as a symptom in diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is no standardized test for picture agnosia. Aim To design a picture test for picture agnosia and better understand related 3‐D visual perception. Methods A total of 10 Alzheimer's disease patients and 10 healthy older adul...

Objective: An awake craniotomy is a safe neurological surgical technique that minimizes the risk of brain damage. During the course of this surgery, the patient is asked to perform motor or cognitive tasks, but some patients exhibit severe sleepiness. Thus, the present study investigated the predictive value of a patient's preoperative neuropsycho...

This article reviews the relationship between developmental disorders and dementia with ageing. Persons with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are vulnerable to life events, even in their old age. In certain cases, senile persons with undiagnosed ASD, who developed maladaptive behaviors after negative life events, were considered as having a behavio...

Background In patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), executive deficits are known to correlate with motor dysfunctions such as gait and postural instability. However executive deficits are sometimes difficult to detect using common frontal assessment batteries. Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) includes 6 subtests to evaluate d...

This study investigated the usefulness of using an iPad to provide cognitive enrichment to a Sumatran orangutan, Pongo abelli, at the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens. An iPad covered with an acrylic plate was set up on a grid in a combined rest room and indoor enclosure. Using the iPad, we presented the orangutan with the applications for dra...

As dementia progresses, cognitive functions decline in patients, and caregivers and other support staff gradually lose the means to communicate with them. However, some caregivers believe that patients can still recognize their surroundings even when they show akinesis with mutism. In this study, we observed eye movements (preferential-looking para...

As dementia progresses, cognitive functions decline in patients, and caregivers and other support staff gradually lose the means to communicate with them. However, some caregivers believe that patients can still recognize their surroundings even when they show akinesis with mutism. In this study, we observed eye movements (preferential-looking para...

In this study, the case of a patient who developed artistic ability following a traumatic brain injury is reported. The subject was a 49-year-old male who suffered brain injury at the age of 44 due to an accidental fall. At age 48, he began drawing with great enthusiasm and quickly developed a personal style with his own biomorphic iconography. At...

Many social animals can discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar faces. Orangutans, however, lead a semi-solitary life and spend much of the day alone. As such, they may be less adept at recognizing conspecifics and are a good model for determining how social structure influences the evolution of social cognition such as facial recognition. The...

We analyzed factors associated with worsened paresis in a large series of patients with brain lesions located within or near the primary motor area (M1) to establish protocols for safe, awake craniotomy of eloquent lesions. We studied patients with brain lesions involving M1, the premotor area (PMA) and the primary sensory area (S1), who underwent...

AimCorrelations between motor function and frontal-executive function in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been examined previously, but correlations with other cognitive domains remain unknown. We examined the correlation between motor dysfunction and cognitive impairment with regard to their precise domains. Methods Motor and cognitive functions were...

Abstract Mental time is the cognitive conscious perception of past, present, and future. In this review we examine the novel research field of the neuropsychology of mental time in five ways. First, we review the mental time of amnesic patients. Second, we review reports of "Chronognosia". Third, we review confabulation associated with disturbance...

AimAlthough a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study showed that the fusiform and parahippocampal gyri respond differentially to faces of the same versus different races, it is not clear whether the cortical regions are involved in perception of race. We examined whether two brain-damaged patients with bilateral fusiform and parahippo...

AimDiagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson's disease (PD; PD-MCI) can be difficult. We examined whether the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J) and the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (COGNISTAT-J) were suitable to screen PD-MCI. MethodsA total of 50 patients with PD and PD with dementia, to...

Abstract Acquired higher brain dysfunction is for the most part due to cerebral vascular disease, but epilepsy may also be a cause. In this study with five patients, we discuss the advantages of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) for persistent higher brain dysfunction. The patients showed chronic amnesia or acute aphasia, with associated symptoms like pe...

Recent investigation suggests that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in the interplay between cognition and emotion. The present study described three patients who underwent removal of brain tumors just above the right dorsal ACC. These patients had residual tumor following surgery and showed anxiety disorder (AD) both before a...

ABSTRACT The anatomic localization of brain functions can be characterized via diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients with brain tumors and neurologic symptoms. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the function of the ventral, arcuate fasciculus (AF) and the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF)-related language pathways using these t...