According to Lashley (1951), a sequence is the logical and orderly arrangement of thought and action. Does that sound difficult? To put it simply, sequences can be found every day. Language, for example, is a sequence of words that allows you to communicate with other people or express your ideas. You also make your coffee in a specific sequence. You play the piano by following the musical note sequence. When crossing the street, you follow the traffic light sequence: green-yellow-red. Similarly, successful sequential processing is necessary for our daily lives. In our lab, we study how human brains learn new sequences, process them, and transfer them to a new environment.

We explore various linguistic abilities, such as the processing of syntax and the comprehension of metaphors, as well as their connections to executive functions. We also investigate the interactions between the hierarchical systems of language and non-linguistic domains such as mathematics, visuo-spatial features, and cognitive control.

MRI and TMS allow us to investigate the basic principles of the brain's anatomical and functional architectures and the causal relationships between different brain regions. In addition, multi-modal neuroimaging techniques can provide a deeper comprehension of the cognitive functions of humans. We should take practical neuroimaging approaches to extract meaningful information from the human brain and behavioral data. Therefore, we are interested in advancing neuroimaging analytic techniques.

Time plays a vital role in how people see, think, and act because it is important to process, understand, and, estimate time-related information for daily life and survival. For example, based on how fast a car is coming, you can guess how long it will be until it gets close to you. Sometimes, you try to estimate how much time has passed since you started playing a video game. Most of the time, you feel like you've spent less than 30 minutes, but in reality, you've spent more than three hours (or sometimes, you stayed up all night). You can think of the opposite situation. You are in a boring class, feeling that you've already spent one hour, but actually, only ten minutes have passed (sad but true). Isn't this weird? Why does the passage of time vary depending on several factors? We are curious about this: Why do you think time passes more quickly or more slowly than it actually does?

Experts always dazzle us with their exceptional performance. People have strived to discover the underlying mechanism of their superb capability. How are experts’ brains systematized for efficient cognitive processes compared with nonexperts? How do experts obtain an outstanding level of expertise, and what are the underlying mechanisms in the brain? We investigated whether and how varying levels of expertise in cognitive functions are reflected in the functional connectivity, functional specificity, and anatomical connectivity among various brain areas.

We introduce various methods that we have actively used in our lab (fMRI, TMS, etc. )