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Sekine Lab
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A lab that investigates the aspects and mechanisms of multimodal communication.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding how people communicate through words and gestures.
The Sekine Lab focuses on the fact that people communicate using not only words but also gestures, gaze, facial expressions, and posture.
The lab studies the mechanisms of this multimodal communication, along with its development and cultural differences.
Focusing in particular on the relationship between gestures and spoken language, the lab clarifies the processes by which they are produced and understood.
The lab combines multiple methods, including behavioral experiments, eye tracking, and brain measurement.
Key terms
- Multimodal communication
- Communicating by using multiple cues at the same time, such as gestures, gaze, and facial expressions, in addition to words
- Self-touch
- The movement of involuntarily touching one's own face, hair, arms, and so on while speaking or thinking
- Eye tracking
- A method that records eye movements with a device to investigate where and for how long a person looked
NewsLab news
A paper by Associate Professor Sekine and colleagues was published in Cognitive Development
Research by students received the Research Meeting Excellence Award from the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence
A paper from the lab was published in Frontiers in Communication
A paper from the lab was published in PLOS ONE
A paper from the lab was published in Acta Psychologica
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates how gestures and spoken language combine to make communication work. It approaches this from several angles: child development, brain function, and cultural differences.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding words and gestures by combining them
The lab investigates when and how children come to combine two cues, spoken language and gestures, in what they receive. Using behavioral experiments, eye tracking, and EEG measurement, it traces the developmental path.
*Illustrative imageHow the brain produces gestures
The lab investigates how the brain plans and executes the gestures that accompany speech. Using MEG, fMRI, and EEG, it examines how the language and motor systems work together.
*Illustrative imageGestures depicted in pictures
The lab compares, across cultures, how movement, emotion, and interaction are depicted in static images such as manga, picture books, and paintings. It also investigates how readers interpret them.
*Illustrative imageMovements that touch one's own body
The lab studies self-touch, the involuntary touching of one's own face, hair, or arms, as a cue that reflects mental state. Because it increases when people are stuck on a thought or nervous, the lab examines its relationship to attention and emotion regulation.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Sekine Lab consist of faculty members (the principal investigator and a lecturer), master's students, and fourth-year and third-year undergraduates.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorKazuki Sekine
VoicesStudent voices
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Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Sekine Lab
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Nomura LabSchool of Human Sciences, Department of Human Information ScienceCognitive scienceThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Bunraku Sanbaso puppet” 氏子 / CC0 (cropped)
- Understanding words and gestures by combining them: “Four Awasegai shells for Hachikakukaioke in Nabeshima Saga Prefectural Museum” Pekachu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- How the brain produces gestures: “Frontal lobe - superior view” Anatomography / CC BY-SA 2.1 jp (cropped)
- Gestures depicted in pictures: “Chouju 1st scroll-05” Toba Sōjō? / Public domain (cropped)
- Movements that touch one's own body: “I Don't Know ANY of This!” Lourdes S. / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sugimori Lab): “Red jigsaw puzzle piece on green pieces” Profpcde / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Miura Lab): “Russian ballet pointe shoes, 1997, silk - Bata Shoe Museum - DSC00244” Daderot / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kawasaki Lab): “Oppstilling-2” Oslo police / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Nomura Lab): “Empty theatre auditorium before the performance. Centre Sant Pere 1892” JJxFile / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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