Attention and working memory (WM) are ones of the most fundamental key cognitive functions in our daily life. They are sometimes (or most of times) considered separately; however, the interrelations of these core functions underly our phenomenological experiences (Machizawa & Driver, 2010, Neuropsychologia). Contrary to our expectations, the functions are severely limited due to neurophysiological (Vogel & Machizawa, 2004, Nature; Vogel, McCollough & Machizawa, 2005 Nature) and neuroanatomical causes (Machizawa, Driver & Watanabe, 2020, Cerebral Cortex). The willful manipulation of these pivotal cognitive functions (Machizawa, Goh & Driver, 2012 Psychological Sciences) is a root for our efficient conscious experiences. We study the neural correlates of these functions as well as the mean to maintain and boost this ability for better quality of life and work.

As one of neural correlates of visual working memory, contralateral delay activity (CDA, or sustained posterior contralateral negativity) is a long-lasting (~5 sec) event-related potential (ERP) component that quantifies the amount of visual mental representation. The paper (Vogel & Machizawa, 2004) is the most cited ERP marker in the world (Pavlov et al., 2020).

Our preferences and willful decisions reflect our reactions to the situations based up on previous experiences and innate talents. Such transient mental states are consisted of interactions between both affective and cognitive sub-processes. KANSEI is such an integrated mental representations of affective and cognitive processes, the heart of our conscious experiences. As a part of 9-year long project, "Center of KANSEI Innovation", we aim to establish a neuroscientific models of KANSEI and develop means to quantify KANSEI by combining various neuroimaging and physiological monitoring techniques.

We are all the same human being, yet our innate nature is substantially different in many ways. Intertwined composite of experience and our inherent cognitive and affective traits make us unique individuals with variable senses of values and abilities. One of our principal aims is to elucidate neural underpinnings of the individual differences in cognitive and affective functions: "how we are different to each other? How our brain such inter-individual differences?".
    Here are some of our research focusing on individual differences: 

1. how our WM capacity can be assessed neurophysiologically using EEGs (Vogel & Machizawa, 2004 Nature) and neuroanatomically using MRI (Machizawa, Driver & Watanabe, 2020 Cereb. Cortex).

2. how our ability to modulate attention (so-called top-down control) impact on the working memory capacity (Vogel, McCollough & Machizawa, 2005 Nature); 

3. how individual differences in separable components of attention & working memory interact (Machizawa & Driver, 2011 Neuropsychologia).

4. how personality differences impact on our mental model of feeling (Machizawa et al., 2021 SAS Conference) and neural correlates of affective and cognitive responses (Machizawa et al. 2021 Nature Conferences Technologies for Neuroengineering).  

We have developed a Brain Emotion Interface (BEI), which is an extension of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) that quantifies KANSEI with a multi-dimensional model (Machizawa, et al., 2020, Journal Neural Engineering; Patent JP6590411). We coined the device as "KANSEI Meter® (YouTube)". We are developing an automated system (one may call it as an "AI") to quantify one's mental states of our feelings in real-time. We know people are different. In order to overcome such variations amongst people, we have developed an optimization model that evaluates and applies the most suited model on both psychological and neurophysiological models in accord with individuals' trait (Patent JP6916527) and that automatically learns and adaptively improves its sensitivity based on ones fluctuating neural states (Patent JP7122730).
  We are extending its applicability in different populations, such as developmental disorder patients autistic spectrum disorders, in collaboration with pediatric and rehabilitation departments (Grant-in-aid supported by CAINZ Digital Innovation Foundation, 2020). 

We are developing an EEG Cloud service using Sinet5 (https://www.sinet.ad.jp/), Science Information NETwork, in collaboration with in National Institute of Informatics (NII) as well as using JGN Testbed (https://testbed.nict.go.jp/jgn/index.html) provided by National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). The research is partially funded by JST Center of Innovation program and Young Collaborative Research Fund Digital Collaboration (JST COI JPMJCE1311 R02WD04).
The EEG Cloud project is in development and will be publicly available in the near future. To be announced.

We are a part of the Moonshot project Goal 9 ("Realization of a mentally healthy and dynamic society by increasing peace of mind and vitality by 2050"). Maro is one of PIs on a R&D project, "Innovation for "Mental Capital" by Awareness Music(Japanese only)", managed by Prof  Shigeto Yamawaki at the BMK Center.
We aim for an innovation on psychological capital based on cutting-edge brain-tech using sound and music.

Maro also takes part in Moonshot project Goal 1's NeuroTech Evidence Book as an Evidence Evaluation Committee.