Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Tempo, rhythm, or speed is a central characteristic of human behaviors. It is expressed through specific motor-related actions such as walking, exercising, or speaking, and less specific activities such as thinking, learning, or deciding. For each dimension, we may function with our own natural/internal tempo, that is the speed we prefer most and at which we are best able to process incoming information spontaneously without much effort. Such natural tempo preference may reflect our ongoing spontaneous thoughts or minds, cardiorespiratory fitness, intrinsic brain functioning, physical or mental health; however, the scientific evidence is still lacking, while the functional meaning and the brain sources responsible for it remain unclear. In this program, we are aiming to facilitate the theoretical understanding of natural tempo generation and representation across dimensions with unique combinations of self-designed online behavioral experiments, surveys, hand-made engineering device, and state-of-the-art high density electrophysiological (i.e., EEG) and brain imaging (i.e., fMRI) techniques.