Research

Lab Overview

The Tsuyoshi Okamoto Laboratory was founded in October 2013 as a research group led by Tsuyoshi Okamoto and grounded in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and data science. Our research focuses on the human brain and has expanded from sensory neuroscience (such as vision and olfaction) to biosignal measurements in real-world environments and intervention studies using neurofeedback. Through this work, our research has developed through a continuous interplay between fundamental science and real-world implementation.

In recent years, our engagement with Future Design has deepened, and neuroscience research connected to future-oriented approaches has become a central pillar of the laboratory. To clarify this direction, since February 2026 we have defined our research field as Future Brain Science.

Research Questions

Our central question is: How do people think, what motivates them, and how do they deepen their ideas?

The brain underlies human activity and forms the foundation of scholarship and culture, yet many of its mechanisms remain unresolved. We use sensory responses—such as vision, olfaction, and thermal perception—as entry points, connecting them to higher-level functions including thinking and motivation in order to advance our understanding of information processing in the brain.

At the same time, we investigate approaches that enhance motivation and idea generation. Beyond understanding the brain itself, our research also seeks to identify the conditions that actually elicit thinking and creativity.

Research Approach

Our research approach includes experimental design and implementation, data analysis and statistical analysis, as well as interpretation and modeling. In addition to carefully observing experimental outcomes, we place strong emphasis on building frameworks that explain why certain phenomena occur.

Research topics and approaches evolve flexibly depending on students’ interests and the development of collaborative projects. We welcome students who wish to challenge themselves in experiments, data analysis, and theoretical work.

Future Brain Science

The laboratory integrates Field Neuroscience—the measurement of brain activity in real-world environments—with Future Design, an approach that re-examines present decision-making and institutional design from the standpoint of the future.

Alongside rigorous laboratory experiments, we have pursued Field Neuroscience by measuring EEG and other biosignals under conditions close to everyday life. We examine how real-world experiences—such as thermal environments, spatial materials, scents, and even bonfires—affect thinking and emotion through measurements in naturalistic settings.

Through collaborations with companies and local governments, we develop evaluation metrics and verify effects based on real-world needs. At the same time, we incorporate Future Design into research and education, exploring ways to introduce a future perspective into present decision-making and to reconsider the framework of thinking itself.

Our interest is not simply to measure decision outcomes. Rather, we aim to understand how thinking deepens and how intrinsic motivation emerges and grows, and to explore ways to support and enhance those processes.

By integrating empirical research in Field Neuroscience with a future-oriented framework of thinking, we aim to understand the neural basis of thinking and motivation and to systematize methods for enhancing them. We define this integrated effort as “Future Brain Science.”

For Prospective Members and Collaborators

We welcome students who are interested in both fundamental and applied research and who wish to challenge themselves in experiments, analysis, and theory. While steadily building solid foundations through careful work, we hope to explore the frontiers of brain science together.

We also welcome inquiries from researchers, companies, and local governments interested in collaborative projects. We design studies flexibly—including real-world measurements, development of evaluation frameworks, and exploration of intervention methods— according to the goals and constraints of each project. If you are interested, please contact us via Contact.