Shimpei Ishiyama, postdoc in Michael Brecht's lab, has successfully applied for a Freigeist Fellowship (VW Stiftung). He will receive 1 Mio Euro to continue his research on positive emotions like ticklishness and their corresponding neuronal processes in the brain.

While neuroscientists have been immensely working on diseases and emotional disturbances, positive emotions such as fun, laughter and happiness are poorly studied. Tickling is an interesting form of social touch that has intrigued great thinkers for more than two millennia.

^{Dr. Shimpei Ishiyama}

Which processes in the brain cause us to have positive emotions? How can you stimulate yourself? And what do touches have to do with it? These are some of the questions the research team around Dr. Shimpei Ishiyama and ECN-Member Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht wanted to sort out.In spring 2019 he will move to the Institute for Pathophysiology, University Hospital of the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, to establish his group.

Relevant Publication

Ishiyama S, Brecht M (2016) Neural correlates of ticklishness in the rat somatosensory cortex. Science 354(6313):757-760.

Research

Why are we ticklish?

Shimpei Ishiyama produced the movie and composed the movie's music.