• Changing how we "see" the world by understanding "touch"

      Welcome to NTU Touch lab

    • News

      We are looking for a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow

      NTU touch lab is seeking a graduate student and postdocs who is interested in psychophysics, simulation, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation.

      We are conducting conduct a variety of studies that are ranged from touch to social cognition.

      (1) graduate student

      There are several (competitive) scholarships available.

      http://gc.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/IGP/Pages/Interdisciplinary-Graduate-Programme-Scholarship.aspx

      https://admissions.ntu.edu.sg/graduate/scholarships/pages/default.aspx

      (2) postdoctoral fellow

      There is competitive fellowship available at NTU

      https://www.ntu.edu.sg/tracs/ppf/Pages/home_PPF

      Papers in press or published in 2019-2020

      Social Neuroscience

      * indicates the corresponding author

      1. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Tanabe HC, Sasaki AT, Kochiyama T, Yahata N, Sadato N (in press) The extrastriate body area is involved in reciprocal imitation of hand gestures, vocalizations, and facial expressions: a univariate and multivariate fMRI study

      2. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Kochiyama T, Naruse H, Makita K, Miyahara M, Okazawa H and Kosaka H* (2020) Visual Body Part Representation in the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex in Children/Adolescents and Adults. Cerebral Cortex Communications 1: 1-13

      3. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Seki A, Yanaka H; Kochiyama T; Koeda T (2020) Differences between children and adults in functional connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus and extrastriate body area for gestural interaction. Social Neuroscience 15: 311-323

      4. Suvilehto JT, Nummenmaa L, Harada T, Dunbar RIM, Hari R, Turner R, Sadato N, Kitada R* (2019) Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286(1901):20190467

      5. Ito K*, Chew Wei O, Kitada R* (2019) Emotional Tears Communicate Sadness But Not Excessive Emotions Without Other Contextual Knowledge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 878

      Touch

      1. Kitada R, Kwon J, Doizaki R, Nakagawa E, Tanigawa T, Kochiyama T, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N (in press) Brain networks underlying the processing of sound symbolism related to tactile softness perception: a functional MRI study. Scientific Reports
      2. Pasqualotto A, Ng MHS, Tan ZY, Kitada R* (2020) Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness. Scientific Reports 10: 11189
      3. Pasqualotto A*, Jia Yin C, Ohka M, Kitada R* (2020) The effect of object compliance on the velvet hand illusion IEEE Transactions on Haptics 13: 571-577
      4. Kanayama N*, Hara M, Watanabe J, Kitada R, Sakamoto M, Yamawaki S (2019) Controlled emotional tactile stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging and Electroencephalography Journal of Neuroscience Methods 327:108393
      5. Kitada R*, Doizaki R, Kwon J, Nakagawa E, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N (2019) Brain networks underlying tactile softness perception: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study NeuroImage 197, 156-166.
      6. Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, Zheng Z* (2019) Affective judgment of social touch on a hand modulated by hand embodiment Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72, 2408-2422

      Papers under review or in preparation

      1. Kitada, R, Ng, M, Tan, ZE, Lee XR, Kochiyama T (under review) Physical correlates of human-like softness elicit high tactile pleasantness

      2. Kitada, R, Yoshihara K, Sasaki AT, Kochiyama T and Sadato N (in preparation) Supramodal and vision-dependent functional connectivity patterns in the extrastriate body area.

      3. Kitada R, Kawamichi H, Hamano Y, Nakagawa E, Saito R, Kochiyama T, Sadato N (in preparation) Brain networks underlying social interaction via touch.3. Wong LS, Sakamoto M, Kitada R (in preparation) Cross-cultural similarity in the impression of material-related sound symbolism

      4. Tan ZE, Choo CM, Lin Y, Ho HN, Kitada R (in preparation) The effect of temperature on tactile softness perception

      And more !

      Conference Presentation in 2017-2019

      1. Kitada R (2021 May 25th) “Functional relevance of the lateral occipito-temporal cortex in body recognition” The 14th Human Brain Science Seminar (Imperial college-LKC neuroscience workshop, online).
      2. Kitada R (2021 May 7th) “Interpersonal tactile communication - from social networks to neural substrates” The 14th Human Brain Science Seminar (IDAC, Tohoku University, online).
      3. Kitada R (2020 Aug 7th) “Neural correlates of tactile object recognition” Neuroscience Seminar (LKC medicine, Nanyang Technological University).

      4. Pasqualotto A**, Ng MHS**, Kitada R (2019 July 11th) Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness. IEEE World Haptics Conference (Tokyo, Japan).

      5. Kitada R (2018 July 28th) The role of the extrastriate body area in social cognition: from body recognition to contingency detection The Annual meeting at the Japan Neuroscience Society (Kobe, Japan).

      6. Kitada R (2018 June 19th) The effect of congenital blindness on body-sensitivity in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex. The Annual meeting of Human Brain Mapping 2018 (Singapore).

      7. Kitada R, Doizaki R, Kwon J, Nakagawa E, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N (2018 June 19th-21st) Brain network underlying tactile estimation of object stiffness - an fMRI study. The Annual meeting of Human Brain Mapping 2018 (Singapore).

      8. Yoshimoto T, Chikazoe J, Okazaki S, Sumiya M, Takahashi H.K., Nakagawa E, Koike T, Kitada R, Okamoto S, Nakata M, Kosaka H, Yada T, Sadato N (2017 November 4th) Abstractness of value representation in orbitofrontal cortex. Society for Neuroscience 2017 (Washington,D.C., USA).

      9. Suvilehto JT, Kitada R, Dunbar RIM, Turner R, Sadato N, Nummenmaa L Cultural Universalism in Social Touch. (2017 September 3rd) Poster and Data Blitz talk at 2nd Congress of the International Association for the Study of Affective Touch. Liverpool, UK.

       

    • Missions and Goals

      Finding something solid, but new, different and exciting

      Aiming to hit between the eyes of others.

      Connecting scientific findings with applications

      Linking the findings in cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology with things that can help society

      Training our skills and mind through cutting-edge researches

      Through working on cutting-edge researches together, we learn not only skills of cognitive neuroscience, but also way of thinking.

    • Projects

      How Touch works? (Touch and its relation with other senses)

      Ongoing projects

      1. Neural mechanisms of "Material perception and Onomatopia" (with Prof. Sakamoto and Kajimoto, Dr. Doizaki and Dr. Kwon (UEC) and Prof. Sadato and Nakagawa (NIPS Japan) 
      2. Neural mechanisms of "Softness perception" (with Prof. Sakamoto, Prof. Kajimoto, Dr. Doizaki and Dr. Kwon (UEC), with Prof. Miyaoka (SIST) and Prof. Sadato (NIPS))
      3. Neural representation of "Tactile spatial patterns" (with Prof. Miyawaki (UEC)) 
      4. "Softness perception" and its relationship with affective touch  
      5. Cultural difference of "Social touch" (with Prof. Turner ( Max Plank), Prof. Nummenmaa (Turku Univ), Dr. Suvilehto at (Aalto Univ), Prof. Sadato (NIPS Japan)).
      6. Neural mechanisms of "Social touch"(with Dr. Kawamichi (Gunmma Univ.), Prof. Sadato, Sugawara and Nakagawa and Ms. Hamano and Mr. Saito (NIPS)).
      And more !

      Cognitive and Social neuroscience

      Ongoing projects

      1. The influence of Blindness on cognitive processing (from touch to social cognition) (with Prof. Miyawaki (UEC) and Prof. Fukunaga and Sadato (NIPS) )
      2. The pathophysiology of ASD (with Dr. Okamoto (ATR-BAIC), Prof. Kosaka (Fukui Univ.))
      3. Differences of brain organization between different types of athletes (e.g., swimmer vs. footballer) (with Prof. Aramaki (Chukyo Univ.))

    • Principal Investigator

      Ryo Kitada,

      Nanyang Associate Professor NTU

      Associate Professor Kobe University

      I am a cognitive neuroscientist who has been fascinated by many questions on mind and brain, such as how our mind and brain work, how they develop and how they become atypical.

       

      I completed my Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Kyoto University (under the supervision of late Prof. Michikazu Matsumura) and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate under the supervision of Dr. Susan J. Lederman. After spending 9 years as an assistant professor at National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS) Japan, I started this lab in January 2017.

       

       

    • Member

      Current members

      Hicret Atilgan (Ph.D student)

      Tan Zheng Yee (Project Officer)

       

      Wong Li Shan (URECA-FYP student)

      Megan Ng (URECA-FYP student)

      Ern Wong (URECA-FYP student)

      Leong Utek (FYP student)

      Cameron Mavericks Choo (URECA student)

      Mica Yap (URECA student)

      Lee Xue Er (URECA student)

      Alumni

      Research fellow

      Achille Pasqualotto (Assoc Prof, University of Nottingham, Malaysia)

       

      URECA/FYP students 2019-2020

      Janice Koi (URECA-FYP student)

      Ching Siaw Ting Christine (FYP student)

      Lin Youneng (FYP student)

      Wong Li Shan (URECA student)

       

      URECA/FYP students 2018-2019

      Leong Utek

      Ng Hui Si Megan

      Wong Ern

      Janice Koi Jue Xin

       

      URECA/FYP students 2017-2018

      Chai Jia Yin Cindy

      Lu Hui Ying

      Lek Zhi Wei

      Zhang Xinyi

      Teo Juat Yi Freda

    • Publications

      Articles (English only)

      *indicates the corresponding author

      1. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Tanabe HC, Sasaki AT, Kochiyama T, Yahata N, Sadato N (in press) The extrastriate body area is involved in reciprocal imitation of hand gestures, vocalizations, and facial expressions: a univariate and multivariate fMRI study
      2. Kitada R, Kwon J, Doizaki R, Nakagawa E, Tanigawa T, Kochiyama T, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N (in press) Brain networks underlying the processing of sound symbolism related to tactile softness perception: a functional MRI study. Scientific Reports
      3. Pasqualotto A, Ng MHS, Tan ZY, Kitada R* (2020) Tactile perception of pleasantness in relation to perceived softness. Scientific Reports 10: 11189
      4. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Kochiyama T, Naruse H, Makita K, Miyahara M, Okazawa H and Kosaka H* (2020) Visual Body Part Representation in the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex in Children/Adolescents and Adults. Cerebral Cortex Communications 1: 1-13  
      5. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Seki A, Yanaka H; Kochiyama T; Koeda T (2020) Differences between children and adults in functional connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus and extrastriate body area for gestural interaction. Social Neuroscience 15: 311-323 
      6. Pasqualotto A*, Jia Yin C, Ohka M, Kitada R* (2020) The effect of object compliance on the velvet hand illusion IEEE Transactions on Haptics 13: 571-577
      7. Kanayama N*, Hara M, Watanabe J, Kitada R, Sakamoto M, Yamawaki S (2019) Controlled emotional tactile stimulation during functional magnetic resonance imaging and Electroencephalography Journal of Neuroscience Methods 327: 108393
      8. Kitada R*, Doizaki R, Kwon J, Nakagawa E, Kajimoto H, Sakamoto M, Sadato N (2019) Brain networks underlying tactile softness perception: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study NeuroImage 197, 156-166.
      9. Ito K*, Chew Wei O, Kitada R* (2019) Emotional Tears Communicate Sadness But Not Excessive Emotions Without Other Contextual Knowledge. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 878
      10. Suvilehto JT, Nummenmaa L, Harada T, Dunbar RIM, Hari R, Turner R, Sadato N, Kitada R* (2019) Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286(1901):20190467
      11. Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, Zheng Z* (2019) Affective judgment of social touch on a hand modulated by hand embodiment Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72, 2408-2422 
      12. Sasaki AT, Okamoto Y, Kochiyama T, Kitada R*, Sadato N (2018) Distinct sensitivities of the lateral prefrontal cortex and extrastriate body area to contingency between executed and observed actions Cortex, 108, 234-251.
      13. Rajaei N, Aoki N, Takahashi HK, Miyaoka T, Kochiyama T, Ohka M, Sadato N, Kitada R* (2018) The brain networks underlying conscious tactile perception of textures revealed by the Velvet Hand Illusion Human Brain Mapping, 39, 4787-4801
      14. Okamoto Y*, Kitada R, Miyahara M, Kochiyama T, Naruse H, Sadato N, Okazawa H, Kosaka H (2018) Altered perspective-dependent brain activationfor viewing hands and associated imitation difficulties for individuals with ASD NeuroImage: Clinical, 19, 384-395 
      15. Kawamichi H*, Sugawara SK, Hamano YH, Kitada R, Nakagawa E, Kochiyama T, Sadato N (2018) Neural correlates underlying change in state self-esteem Scientific Reports 8,  1798
      16. Fujimoto S, Tanaka S, Laakso I, Yamaguchi T, Kon N, Nakayama T, Kondo K and Kitada R* (2017) The Effect of Dual-Hemisphere Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Parietal Operculum on Tactile Orientation Discrimination. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 11:173.
      17. Sumiya M, Koike T, Okazaki S, Kitada R* & Sadato N* (2017) Brain networks of social action-outcome contingency: the role of the ventral striatum in integrating signals from the sensory cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience Research 123, 43-54
      18. Okamoto Y*, Kosaka H, Kitada R, Seki A, Tanabe HC, Hayashi MJ, Kochiyama T, Saito DN, Yanaka HT, Munesue T, Ishitobi M, Omori M, Wada Y, Okazawa H, Koeda T, Sadato N (2017) Age-dependent atypicalities in body- and face-sensitive activation of the EBA and FFA in individuals with ASD. Neuroscience Research 119, 38-52
      19. Yang J, Kitada R*, Kochiyama T, Yu Y, Makita K, Araki Y, Wu J* and Sadato N (2017) Brain networks involved in tactile speed classification of moving dot patterns: the effects of speed and dot periodicity Scientific Reports, 7, 40931
      20. Tanaka SC*, Yamada K*, Kitada R, Tanaka S, Sugawara SK, Ohtake F and Sadato N* (2016) Overstatement in happiness reporting with ordinal, bounded scale. Scientific Reports, 6, 21321.
      21. Takahashi HK, Kitada R*, Sasaki AT, Kawamichi H, Okazaki S, Kochiyama T and Sadato N* (2015) Brain networks of affective mentalizing revealed by the tear effect: the integrative role of the medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus. Neuroscience Research, 101, pp. 32-43. 
      22. Kawamichi H*, Kitada R*, Yoshihara K, Takahashi H and Sadato N (2015) Interpersonal Touch Suppresses Visual Processing of Aversive Stimuli.   Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 164 (1st and 2nd authors equally contributed to the study)
      23. Okamoto Y, Kitada R, Tanabe HC, Hayashi MJ, Kochiyiama T, Munesue T, Ishitobi M, Saito DN, Yanaka HT, Omori M, Wada Y, Okazawa H, Sasaki AT, Morita T, Itakura S, Kosaka H and Sadato N*(2014) Attenuation of the contingency detection effect in the extrastriate body area in autism spectrum disorder. Neuroscience Research, 87, pp. 66-76
      24. Kitada R*, Sasaki AT, Okamoto Y, Kochiyama T and Sadato N (2014) Role of the precuneus in the detection of incongruency between tactile and visual texture information: A functional MRI study. Neuropsychologia, 64, pp.252–262
      25. Kitada R*, Yoshihara K, Sasaki AT, Hashiguchi M, Kochiyama T and Sadato N (2014) The brain network underlying the recognition of hand gestures in the blind: the supramodal role of the extrastriate body area. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34, pp. 10096-10108
      26. Miyahara M*, Kitada R*, Sasaki AT, Okamoto Y, Tanabe HC and Sadato N (2013) From gestures to words: spontaneous verbal labeling of complex sequential hand movements reduces fMRI activation of the imitation-related regions. Neuroscience Research, 75, pp. 228-238
      27. Kitada R*, Okamoto Y, Sasaki AT, Kochiyama T, Miyahara M, Lederman SJ and Sadato N (2013) Early visual experience and the recognition of basic facial expressions: involvement of the middle temporal and inferior frontal gyri during haptic identification by the early blind. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 7
      28. Kitada R*, Sadato N and Lederman SJ (2012) Tactile perception of nonpainful unpleasantness in relation to perceived roughness: Effects of inter-element spacing and speed of relative motion of rigid 2-D raised-dot patterns at two body loci, Perception, 41, pp. 204-229
      29. Pawluk D*, Kitada R, Abramowicz A, Hamilton C and Lederman SJ (2011) Figure/Ground Segmentation via a Haptic Glance: Attributing Initial Finger Contacts to Objects or Their Supporting Surfaces. IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 4, pp. 2-13
      30. Kitada R*, Johnsrude IS, Kochiyama T and Lederman SJ (2010) Brain networks involved in haptic and visual identification of facial expressions of emotion: an fMRI study. NeuroImage, 49, pp. 1677-1689
      31. Kitada R*, Dijkerman HC, Soo G and Lederman SJ (2010) Representing human hands haptically or visually from first-person versus third-person perspectives. Perception, 39, pp. 236-254
      32. Kitada R*, Johnsrude IS, Kochiyama T and Lederman SJ (2009) Functional specialization and convergence in the occipito-temporal cortex supporting haptic and visual identification of human faces and body parts: an fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, pp. 2027-2045
      33. Lederman SJ*, Klatzky RL, Abramowicz A, Salsman K, Kitada R and Hamilton C (2007) Haptic recognition of static and dynamic expressions of emotion in the live face. Psychological Science, 18, pp. 158-164
      34. Lawrence MA, Kitada R, Klatzky RL and Lederman SJ* (2007) Haptic roughness perception of linear gratings via bare finger or rigid probe. Perception, 36, pp. 547-557
      35. Kitada R, Kito T, Saito DN, Kochiyama T, Matsumura M, Sadato N* and Lederman SJ (2006) Multisensory activation of the intraparietal area when classifying grating orientation: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. The Journal of neuroscience, 26, pp. 7491-7501
      36. Kilgour AR, Kitada R, Servos P, James TW and Lederman SJ* (2005) Haptic face identification activates ventral occipital and temporal areas: an fMRI study Brain and Cognition, 59, pp. 246-257---PDF
      37. Kitada R, Hashimoto T, Kochiyama T, Kito T, Okada T, Matsumura M, Lederman SJ and Sadato N* (2005) Tactile estimation of the roughness of gratings yields a graded response in the human brain: an fMRI study. NeuroImage, 25, pp. 90-100
      38. Kitada R, Kochiyama T, Hashimoto T, Naito E and Matsumura M* (2003) Moving tactile stimuli of fingers are integrated in the intraparietal and inferior parietal cortices. Neuroreport, 14, pp. 719-724
      39. Naito E, Kochiyama T, Kitada R, Nakamura S, Matsumura M, Yonekura Y and Sadato N* (2002) Internally simulated movement sensations during motor imagery activate cortical motor areas and the cerebellum. The Journal of Neuroscience, 22, pp. 3683-3691---PDF
      40. Kitada R, Naito E, and Matsumura M* (2002) Perceptual changes in illusory wrist flexion angles resulting from motor imagery of the same wrist movements. Neuroscience, 109, pp. 701-707

      Review, Book Chapter and Conference Papers (English only)

      1. Kitada R (2016) THE BRAIN NETWORK FOR HAPTIC OBJECT RECOGNITON. In H. Kajimoto, S. Saga & M. Konyo (eds). Pervasive haptics, pp. 22-37. Springer Japan
      2. Pawluk DTV, Adams RJ, Kitada R (2015) Review: Behavioral Research, Technology Development and Applications in Assistive Technology for Individuals Who are Blind or Vision Impaired Using Haptics. IEEE transactions on haptics, 8, pp. 258-278
      3. Kawamichi H*, Yoshihara K, Kitada R, Matsunaga M, Sasaki AT, Yoshida Y, Takahashi HC, Sadato N. (2014). Sense of Acceptance: Key Factor of Social Learning. In Akazawa T, Ogihara N, C Tanabe H and Terashima H (Eds), Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans (Vol.2: pp217-220). Tokyo: Springer Japan
      4. Lederman SJ*, Kitada R, Pawluk D(2010) Haptic perception. Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology (4th edition), 2, pp. 750-752, John Wiley & Sons.
      5. Kitada R*, Pawluk D (2010) Tactile sensation. Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology (4th edition), 4, pp. 1751-1752, John Wiley & Sons.
      6. Lederman SJ*, Klatzky RL, Kitada R (2010) Haptic face processing and its relation to vision. In J. Kaiser & M. Naumer (eds). Multsensory Object Perception in the Primate Brain. Springer Verlag pp. 273-300
      7. Pawluk D*, Kitada R, Abramowicz A, Hamilton C, Lederman SJ (2010) Haptic figure-ground differentiation via a haptic glance. Proceedings of the Annual Haptics Symposium on Teleoperator and Virtual-Environment Systems, IEEE Haptics Symposium, 25-26 March, Waltham Massachusetts, USA, pp. 63-66
      8. Lederman SJ*, Kilgour AR, Kitada R, Klatzky RL, Hamilton C (2007) Haptic face processing. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 61, pp. 230-241

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