Chapters authored
Simultaneous Smelling an Incense Outdoor and Putting the Hands Together Activate Specific Brain Areas
Mirror neurons are involved in imitation of habitual behaviors. To increase understanding of the theory of mirror neurons and the default mode network, brain activation was explored in 11 healthy adult volunteers who did or did not have a habit of putting their hands together as if praying. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) data were recorded while the participants simultaneously smelled an odor in two kinds of incenses outdoor and/or while they moved to putting their hands together. A magnetoencephalographic contour map of the recorded findings was drawn and an estimated current dipole (ECD) was set. Regardless of a habit of putting their hands together or not, the inner lobe of the frontal area, anterior area in the temporal lobe, and F5 language area in the left frontal lobe and so on were specifically activated. We used cortisol value as an index of the stress state measured in every state (before and after smelling two different incenses outdoor). These experiments suggest that simultaneous smelling an incense outdoor and the behavior of putting their hands together increased the activity of these specific areas in the human brain due to mutual interactions and enhanced interactions.
Part of the book: Neuroimaging