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Hirai Lab
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A developmental cognitive neuroscience lab that explores how we understand others, from the perspectives of the brain and the body.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring how we understand others, through the brain and body.
The Hirai Lab studies, from the standpoint of developmental cognitive neuroscience, how people understand others and act within society.
Focusing on the interaction among body, brain, and environment, the lab aims to clarify the mechanisms underlying the development of social cognition, individual differences, and neurodiversity.
Its research so far has centered on understanding others' movements, infant learning, perspective-taking, and comparisons between autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome.
Currently, the lab aims to build a unified theory of human social cognition from the perspectives of predictive coding and embodiment.
Key terms
- Predictive coding
- The idea that the brain first makes predictions and then updates them based on the mismatch (prediction error) between those predictions and the actual input
- Biological motion
- Visual information, such as the movement of light points attached to the body, from which another person's actions and intentions can be read even with very limited motion cues
- Autism spectrum disorder
- A developmental condition characterized by distinctive ways of engaging in social interaction and experiencing sensory input
- Williams syndrome
- A developmental syndrome whose social characteristics are said to appear in contrast to those of autism spectrum disorder
NewsLab news
Joint research with Durham University in the UK accepted by the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research
A paper by a doctoral student published in Scientific Reports
A doctoral student received the Young Investigator Encouragement Award (Excellence Award) at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Emotion Studies
A paper reviewing the electrophysiological mechanisms of biological motion perception accepted by Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
A paper examining theories of social motivation accepted by the Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates how people understand others and act within society, focusing on the interaction among body, brain, and environment. Building on its previous work, it aims to develop a theory that explains social cognition in a unified way from the perspectives of predictive coding and embodiment.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding Others' Movements and Biological Motion Perception
From very limited motion information, humans can read other people's actions, emotions, and intentions. Using point-light displays, the lab examines the neural mechanisms behind this ability and how it develops, through EEG and magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements and behavioral experiments.
*Illustrative imageInfant Social Learning and Predictive Coding
Babies may learn about the world from others' actions and update their own predictions as they do so. Using eye tracking and EEG measurements, the lab investigates which kinds of actions infants learn from and from what age they take another person's perspective.
*Illustrative imageEmbodied Perspective-Taking
The world that I see and the world that another person sees are different. The lab holds that taking another person's perspective depends strongly on the process of updating one's own internal body representation, and studies this through behavioral experiments, brain function measurements, and developmental research.
*Illustrative imageComparing ASD and Williams Syndrome
By comparing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome, whose social characteristics appear to be in contrast, the lab seeks to understand the mechanisms of social cognition. In joint research between Japan and the UK, it examines face perception, gaze behavior, sensory characteristics, and more.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Hirai Lab consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and a technical assistant (secretary).As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorMasahiro Hirai
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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: “A group of children playing baloons, Ismailia, Egypt” Husseingallery / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Understanding Others' Movements and Biological Motion Perception: “Body Motion Capture” Raíssa Ruschel / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Infant Social Learning and Predictive Coding: “Child Development Center reopens at Ramstein, brings fresh start for little learners (9486021)” U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Paden Henry / Public domain (cropped)
- Embodied Perspective-Taking: “PerspectiveTaking” TimaYekta / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Comparing ASD and Williams Syndrome: “روانشناسی رشد کودک - دختر بچه Developmental psychology 10” Mostafameraji / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ohira Lab): “Brain-computer interface experiment” Laurens R. Krol / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Takano Lab): “Stanford CCRMA Computer Lab” Visnu Pitiyanuvath / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kitagami Lab): “Institut of Psychology Szeged EEG Laboratory 2” Csaba Segesvári camera-man at Délmagyarország lapcom Kft. / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Isomura Lab): “Reaction time stages” Emily Willoughby / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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