THEIST Announcement:

THEIST 9th Lecture on 2nd April 2009

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 18:01:24 +0900

Date: 2nd April 2009
Time: 16:30 - 18:00
Location: 1st Conference Hall, Enreiso
Speaker: Dr. Hideki Tarumoto

Title: Sovereignty Game, Asylum Policy
and Healthy Being in Japan

Abstract:

Not available

THEIST Trio Symposium on 30th March 2009

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:41:09 +0900

Date: 30th March 2009
Time: 16:30 - 18:30
Location: W-308
Speakers: Dr. Yuko Yamasaki
Dr. Midori Shibata
Dr. Akira Toyomura

Dr. Yamasaki’s Talk
Title: Towards A Healthier Judicial System:
Can the new Japanese jury system incorporate
the opinions of lay persons into criminal trials?
Abstract:
The new Japanese jury system involving citizen participation begins in 2009. In this system, six lay judges and three professional judges will work together to reach a decision, and if a conviction is reached, then they will administer appropriate punishment under deliberation. The purpose of this jury system is to incorporate, in criminal trials, the opinions of lay judges as well as professional judges.
One potential problem with this system is that lay judges may not be able to express their own opinions freely. In trial, they will hear a lot of legal terms and concepts that might not be in daily use. The existence of such terms and concepts, even if the explanation of them is added, might become too heavy a cognitive load for lay judges and may adversely influence their understanding of the trial and their subsequent verdict. As a result, they might tune their opinion to the professional judge's one.
I report this problem in my study with an experimental psychology technique.

Dr. Shibata’s Talk
Title: How does a human brain comprehend figurative
language? From the perspective of Metaphor and
Irony comprehension
Abstract:
In daily communication, we often use figurative language (like metaphor and irony) to convey a non-literal meaning. In this talk, I will present how human brain comprehends figurative language such as metaphor and irony. First, I shall show a brief review of the neuropsychological studies with patients who fail to understand the figurative meanings. Second, I will show some results from neuroimaging studies which investigated the neural substrates involved in the literal and non-literal sentence comprehension. Based on these results, I indicate how our brain comprehends the figurative language (like metaphor and irony), and also discuss that a healthy mind is important for our daily communication.

Dr. Toyomura’s Talk
Title: External stimuli enhance movement performance:
Gait and speech
Abstract:
When the internally triggered movement is blocked due to an insufficient function in motor-related regions, external stimuli such as sound or stripe pattern have empirically known to enhance the movement performance. For instance, such stimuli are used for gait rehabilitation in patients with Parkinson’s disease, or speech therapy for people who stutter (metronome-timed speech). In this presentation I will discuss the effect on external stimuli to the movement enhancement and the corresponding neural circuits, in the field of gait and speech.

THEIST 8th Lecture on 4th March 2009

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:07:06 +0900

Date: 4th March 2009
Time: 17:00 - 18:30
Location: 1st Conference Hall, Enreiso
Speaker: Dr. Makiko Naka

Title: What a cognitive psychologist can do about child protection: Research & training of forensic child interview

Abstract:

Many of cognitive psychologists stay in laboratory. But here is a way a psychologist can work with children and professionals in the real world at the same time conducting academic research in laboratory. I am going to present some research into child testimony and case studies and show the problems related to child testimony. Then I will talk about a training program that I am working on right now with professionals so as to obtain more accurate and reliable information from children.

THEIST 7th Lecture on 4th March 2009

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:13:01 +0900

Date: 4th March 2009
Time: 15:15 - 16:45
Location: 1st Conference Hall, Enreiso
Speaker: Dr. Mayumi Adachi

Title: Music and Well-being: A Preliminary Exploration

Abstract:

Music possesses multifacet roles in various contexts of human life. Many of us enjoy music either by playing or by listening to favorite pieces. Some appreciate an artistic endever, communicating aesthetic or ideological messages between the performer and the audience. In many cultures, physical labor generates work songs that may later become evolved into a specific genre (e.g., folk song, blues). Stores, restaurants, and even doctors’ offices play music to manipulate customers’ behaviors or patients’ mood. In NICU, pre-term babies can be released sooner if they are exposed to music. At home, music helps pregnant women reduce their anxiety and enhance positive attitudes toward upcoming labor and caregiving. Parents sing lullabies and play songs to soothe or to arouse their babies; they also use singing-like voice--“motherese” or “infant-directed speech”--while talking to their babies. When those babies grow up to adolescents, they manage their identity crisis by associating themselves with a particular kind of music. Once they enter a university, they select music to achieve a goal in a particular context. In addition to such personal or inter-personal roles, music can serve as a political or a social messenger. In this talk, I will explore my preliminary thoughts on how human pursuit for well-being in personal, inter-personal, social, commercial, and political realms determines ecological values of music.

For THEIST Book Contributors

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:03:10 +0900

Dear THEIST book contributers

In order to integrate all the chapters into a book with a common theme, we would like each book
contributor to write his/her chapter by taking the following questions into account:

(1) Do you agree with the following definition of “healthy being”?
The term “healthy being” is basically used to refer to the well-being of a positive state that goes beyond
freedom from disease or deprivation, but it also refers to the wholeness and well-being, of happiness
and contentment, of equity and justice.

(2) If you do not, what do you think is/are missing from the above definition? Explain why they are
important.

(3) Why do you think that a healthy (mind/society/environment) is important for understanding a
healthy being? Explain with some examples from your research area.

The following are some general guidelines to help you write your chapter:

(i) Number of pages: a minimum of 20 pages per chapter, including figures and references.

(ii) Font type & size (body): Times New Roman (regular), size 11

(iii) Font type & size (section title): Times New Roman (bold), size 14

(iv) Font type & size (chapter title): Times New Roman (bold), size 18

(v) Space between lines: Double

(vi) Footnotes: Footnotes are sorted by consecutive numbers of small roman number such as '1, 2, 3, ....'
Each number should be put at upper-right of the noted term or sentence in the text.

(vii) Font type & size (footnotes): Times New Roman (regular), size 10