Updated on 2024/05/01

写真a

 
OJIMA, Shiro
 
Affiliation
Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Creative Science and Engineering
Job title
Professor

Research Experience

  • 2023.04
    -
    Now

    Waseda University   Faculty of Science and Engineering, CELESE

  • 2021.04
    -
    2023.03

    Yokohama National University   College of Education

  • 2019.10
    -
    2023.03

    Tokyo Gakugei University

  • 2017.04
    -
    2021.03

    Yokohama National University   College of Education

  • 2015.04
    -
    2017.03

    Shiga University

  • 2014.04
    -
    2015.03

    Shiga University

  • 2012.04
    -
    2014.03

    University of Tokyo

  • 2011.04
    -
    2012.03

    Keio University

  • 2010.04
    -
    2011.03

    Keio University

  • 2005.04
    -
    2010.03

    Tokyo Metropolitan University

  • 2005.04
    -
    2010.03

    Japan Science and Technology Agency   Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society

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Education Background

  • 2001.10
    -
    2005.03

    自然科学研究機構 生理学研究所   感覚運動調節研究部門 特別協力研究員  

  • 1999.04
    -
    2005.01

    University of Essex   Graduate School, Department of Language & Linguistics   PhD by Supervised Research  

  • 1998.03
    -
    1998.12

    University of Melbourne   Faculty of Arts   Department of Linguistics & Applied Linguistics (B.A. with Honours)  

  • 1994.04
    -
    1998.03

    Okayama University   Faculty of Education  

Research Areas

  • Foreign language education

Research Interests

  • Second Language Acquisition

  • Early English Education

  • Neuroscience of Language

Awards

  • ベストティーチャー賞

    2020.07   横浜国立大学  

  • YNU研究貢献賞

    2020.07   横浜国立大学  

  • 特別優秀発表賞

    2018.09   日本心理学会第82回大会   英語のNatural Speechに対する脳波反応への習熟効果

    Winner： 松本敦, 片山順一, 尾島司郎, 成瀬康, 井原綾

  • Overseas Research Students Award

    2000.07   Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom  

 

Papers

  • Prediction of Second Language Proficiency Based on Electroencephalographic Signals Measured While Listening to Natural Speech.

    Aya S Ihara, Atsushi Matsumoto, Shiro Ojima, Jun'ichi Katayama, Keita Nakamura, Yusuke Yokota, Hiroki Watanabe, Yasushi Naruse

    Frontiers in human neuroscience   15   665809 - 665809  2021  [Refereed]  [International journal]

    　View Summary

    This study had two goals: to clarify the relationship between electroencephalographic (EEG) features estimated while non-native speakers listened to a second language (L2) and their proficiency in L2 determined by a conventional paper test and to provide a predictive model for L2 proficiency based on EEG features. We measured EEG signals from 205 native Japanese speakers, who varied widely in English proficiency while they listened to natural speech in English. Following the EEG measurement, they completed a conventional English listening test for Japanese speakers. We estimated multivariate temporal response functions separately for word class, speech rate, word position, and parts of speech. We found significant negative correlations between listening score and 17 EEG features, which included peak latency of early components (corresponding to N1 and P2) for both open and closed class words and peak latency and amplitude of a late component (corresponding to N400) for open class words. On the basis of the EEG features, we generated a predictive model for Japanese speakers' English listening proficiency. The correlation coefficient between the true and predicted listening scores was 0.51. Our results suggest that L2 or foreign language ability can be assessed using neural signatures measured while listening to natural speech, without the need of a conventional paper test.

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    7
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Children's Learning of a Semantics-Free Artificial Grammar with Center Embedding

    Shiro Ojima, Kazuo Okanoya

    BIOLINGUISTICS   14   21 - 48  2020  [Refereed]

    　View Summary

    Whether non-human animals have an ability to learn and process center embedding, a core property of human language syntax, is still debated. Artificial-grammar learning (AGL) has been used to compare humans and animals in the learning of center embedding. However, up until now, human participants have only included adults, and data on children, who are the key players of natural language acquisition, are lacking. We created a novel game-like experimental paradigm combining the go/no-go procedure often used in animal research with the stepwise learning methods found effective in human adults' center-embedding learning. Here we report that some children succeeded in learning a semantics-free artificial grammar with center embedding (A(2)B(2) grammar) in the auditory modality. Although their success rate was lower than adults', the successful children looked as efficient learners as adults. Where children struggled, their memory capacity seemed to have limited their AGL performance.

  • Effects of sex and proficiency in second language processing as revealed by a large-scale fNIRS study of school-aged children

    Sugiura L, Ojima S, Matsuba-Kurita H, Dan I, Tsuzuki D, Katura T, Hagiwara H

    Human Brain Mapping   36   3890-911  2015.10  [Refereed]

    DOI

    Scopus

    11
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Common Neural Processes Underlying Language and Mathematics

    OJIMA Shiro

    Reports of the Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies   46   125-44  2015.03

    Authorship：Lead author

    CiNii

  • The learning of an A2 B2 artificial grammar by adults and children in a go/no-go paradigm

    Ojima S, Okanoya K

    IEICE Technical Report   114 ( 176 ) 43-48  2014.08

    Authorship：Lead author

    CiNii

  • The integration hypothesis of human language evolution and the nature of contemporary languages

    Miyagawa S, Ojima S, Berwick RC, Okanoya K

    Frontiers in Psychology   5   Article564, P1-6  2014.06  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

  • The non-hierarchical nature of the Chomsky hierarchy-driven artificial-grammar learning

    Ojima S, Okanoya K

    Biolinguistics   8   163-80  2014.05  [Refereed]

  • 人間以外の動物に「文法」は使えるのか？

    尾島司郎, 宮川繁, 岡ノ谷一夫, 成田広樹, 飯島和樹, 酒井邦嘉

    神経研究の進歩   66 ( 3 ) 273-281  2014.03  [Invited]

    CiNii

  • Proficient foreign-language users show faster symbol processing

    Ojima S, Nagai A, Taya F, Otsu Y, Watanabe S

    CARLS Series of Advanced Study of Logic and Sensibility   5   163-80  2012.03

    Authorship：Lead author

  • Sound to language: different cortical processing for first and second languages in elementary school children as revealed by a large-scale study using fNIRS

    Sugiura L, Ojima S, Matsuba-Kurita H, Dan I, Tsuzuki D, Katura T, Hagiwara H

    Cerebral Cortex   21 ( 10 ) 2374-2393  2011.09  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    49
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Age and amount of exposure to a foreign language during childhood: behavioral and ERP data on the semantic comprehension of spoken English by Japanese children

    Ojima S, Matsuba-Kurita H, Nakamura N, Hoshino T, Hagiwara H

    Neuroscience Research   70 ( 2 ) 197-205  2011.06  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    37
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • An event-related potential investigation of lexical pitch-accent processing in auditory Japanese

    Koso A, Ojima S, Hagiwara H

    Brain Research   1385   217-228  2011.04  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    8
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • The acceleration of spoken-word processing in children's native-language acquisition: an ERP cohort study

    Ojima S, Matsuba-Kurita H, Nakamura N, Hagiwara H

    Neuropsychologia   49 ( 5 ) 790-799  2011.04  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    13
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Effects of foreign-language learning on the mother tongue

    Ojima S, Nagai A, Taya F, Otsu Y

    CARLS Series of Advanced Study of Logic and Sensibility   4   259-264  2011.03

    Authorship：Lead author

  • Neural correlates of foreign-language learning in childhood: a 3-year longitudinal ERP study

    Ojima S, Nakamura N, Matsuba-Kurita H, Hoshino T, Hagiwara H

    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience   23 ( 1 ) 183–199  2011.01  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    17
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • An ERP study of second language learning after childhood: effects of proficiency

    Ojima S, Nakata H, Kakigi R

    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience   17 ( 8 ) 1212-1228  2005.08  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    160
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Cognitive processes in two-point discrimination: an ERP study

    Tamura Y, Hoshiyama M, Inui K, Nakata H, Wasaka T, Ojima S, Inoue K, Kakigi R

    Clinical Neurophysiology   115 ( 8 ) 1875–1884  2004.08  [Refereed]

    DOI PubMed

    Scopus

    18
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Pain processing within the primary somatosensory cortex in humans

    Inui K, Wang X, Qiu Y, Nguyen BT, Ojima S, Tamura Y, Nakata H, Wasaka T, Tran TD, Kakigi R

    European Journal of Neuroscience   18 ( 10 ) 2859–2866  2003.11  [Refereed]

    DOI

    Scopus

    78
    Citation
    (Scopus)

  • Interpretation of English tense morphophonology by advanced L2 speakers

    Al-Hamad M, Al-Malki E, Casillas G, Franceschina F, Hawkins R, Hawthorne J, Karadzovska D, Kato K, Liszka S, Lozano C, Ojima S, Okuwaki N, Thomas E

    Eurosla Yearbook   2 ( 1 ) 49–69  2002.11  [Refereed]

    DOI

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Books and Other Publications

  • しゃべるヒト : ことばの不思議を科学する

    菊澤, 律子, 吉岡, 乾, 国立民族学博物館

    文理閣  2023.04 ISBN: 9784892599248

  • 第二言語習得研究の科学3 人間の能力

    大瀧, 綾乃, 須田, 孝司, 中川, 右也, 横田, 秀樹

    くろしお出版  2023.03 ISBN: 9784874249383

  • 言語研究の世界 : 生成文法からのアプローチ

    杉崎, 鉱司, 稲田, 俊一郎, 磯部, 美和, 大津, 由紀雄, 今西, 典子, 池内, 正幸, 水光, 雅則

    研究社  2022.02 ISBN: 9784327401771

  • 第二言語習得論と英語教育の新展開

    尾島, 司郎, 藤原, 康弘

    金星堂  2020.03 ISBN: 9784764711990

  • 言語習得研究の応用可能性 : 理論から指導・脳科学へ

    白畑, 知彦, 須田, 孝司, 鈴木, 一徳, 平川, 眞規子, 近藤, 隆子, 横田, 秀樹, 松村, 昌紀, 奥脇, 奈津美, 中川, 右也, 尾島, 司郎

    くろしお出版  2019.06 ISBN: 9784874248065

  • 理論言語学史

    畠山 雄二( Part： Contributor)

    開拓社  2017.09 ISBN: 9784758922470

  • Future Trends in the Biology of Language

    ( Part： Contributor)

    Keio University Press  2012.03

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Research Projects

  • Cognitive brain science of early foreign-language learning

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Project Year :

    2019.04
    -
    2024.03
     

  • A biolinguistic approach to multicompetence

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Project Year :

    2018.04
    -
    2020.03
     

  • Integrative studies on the development of native Japanese speakers' speaking skills in English from elementary school years onward

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Project Year :

    2016.04
    -
    2020.03
     

    Ojima Shiro

    　View Summary

    This study investigated the effects of the onset age of English learning and the total amount of English learing on the English-speaking ability of native Japanese speakers. Japanese-speaking children attending elementary school or junior high school who had high English proficiency took part. Linguistic analyses of their English-speaking data suggested their superiority to Japanese university students in fluency and the amount of speech produced. The key to their high speaking performance seemed to be both the early onset of learning and the massive amount of exposure to English at home obtained through learning materials.

  • How does grammar emerge in the human brain?: An insight from the East Asian comparative cognitive neuroscience of language

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Project Year :

    2015.04
    -
    2020.03
     

    Sakai Hiromu

    　View Summary

    The question why languages in the world have their own grammar has been addressed among researchers on historical changes in language and biological evolution of human being. The present study approaches this problem from the cognitive neuroscience perspective. This approach aims to answer the question how the mechanisms for real-time language processing comes to be integrated into the functions of human brain. As a result of this study, we revealed the characteristics of phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic processing of language through a series of experiment measuring brain activities during language comprehension or production. Furthermore, we conducted a study on building a computational model of language learning and examined its validity in light of experimental data. The result showed that models that incorporate direction of the rules are more effective than previous models without such consideration.

  • Behavioral and neural changes induced by the learning of a miniature artificial language

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

    Project Year :

    2011.04
    -
    2017.03
     

    Ojima Shiro

    　View Summary

    A miniature artificial language typically consists of a small set of grammatical rules and vocabulary items. One advantage of using an artificial language is that learners can acquire it in a much shorter time compared to a natural human language. This research aimed to study humans’ language learning abilities using an artificial language learning paradigm. In particular, we focused on the learnability of so-called center embedding, one of the core characteristics of human language. Our research suggests that an artificial language equipped with center embedding is difficult for human adults to acquire, requiring a number of conditions to be met. It has also been suggested that human children’s acquisition of this type of artificial language is more likely to fail and is slower compared to adults.

Industrial Property Rights

  • 脳活動を利用した語学能力評価装置、及び語学能力評価システム

    特許第7125042号

    松本 敦, 井原 綾, 成瀬 康, 尾島 司郎, 片山 順一

    Patent

    J-GLOBAL

 

Syllabus

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Sub-affiliation

  • Faculty of Science and Engineering   Graduate School of Fundamental Science and Engineering

Research Institute

  • 2023
    -
    2024

    Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering   Concurrent Researcher

Internal Special Research Projects

  • 早期英語学習の認知脳科学的研究：　研究基盤形成と発展を目指して

    2023  

    　View Summary

    本課題の研究代表者は2023年4月に早稲田大学に着任したため、まずは本予算を用いて研究環境の整備を実施した。これと同時に、2023年度は研究代表者を務める科研費基盤B課題「早期英語学習の認知脳科学的研究」の最終年度であったため、次の科研費申請に向けた研究基盤の形成を目指した。この課題では、早期英語学習の認知脳科学的研究における国内最高の研究拠点の形成、および、研究成果の発信による教育や子育てへの社会的貢献を目指しており、これまでの科研費研究期間の中で多くのデータが取得できている。この科研費課題を補完する形で23年度は脳機能計測や言語・心理学的実験による追加データの取得および取得済データの分析、成果の発表を行った。このプロセスの中で、本学において長く研究を行っていくために十分な実験環境の構築（脳波計測に必要な施設の移設など）や、脳機能計測を実施できる研究アシスタントの新たな育成なども行った。研究成果については、国内の主要な言語学の学会における特別公開シンポジウムで社会に向けて広く発信し（YouTubeで公開）、大きな反響を得た。また、バイリンガル研究会の基調講演や海外の学会での発表なども行った。本研究課題においては特にインターナショナルスクールに通う児童からの言語データ・脳機能データを多く取得できたが、これらの分析については、来年度以降に持ち越しとなる。来年度に向けて既に新たな科研費および特定課題研究が採択されており、今年度よりもさらに規模を大きくして研究を進めていきたい。