Research Center for Language, Brain and Genetics
Academic background
Promoting language and mental neuroscience research projects for next generation human resource development in integrated language, brain and genetics research
Professor Taku OKABE
Department of
Behavioral Social Sciences,
Graduate School of Humanities
Language is one of the higher order cognitive functions found only in humans and is an attribute regulated genetically. Research into language functions has achieved dramatic development in recent year. Research themes are no longer limited to conventional theoretical linguistics, but continue to spread rapidly, engaging other related fields such as linguistic neuroscience, biolinguistics and genomics. Research exchanges and close cooperation among a variety of associated fields have become essential for research into language function from now on.
This research center, which was established in response to such circumstances, is made up of five groups, with the Adolescent Cohort Research Group run in collaboration with the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science added to four teams comprising mainly university members in linguistic theory research, brain function measurement research, genetic research and cognitive / learning research. This research center has become a unique research base, the first in the world handling language, the brain and genetics in an integrated manner within a life sciences framework, and in terms of both size and research results, operating at an internationally high level.