Research results of Professor Masami Yamaguchi (Faculty of Letters) and Ms. Megumi Kobayashi (student in the Doctoral Program of the Graduate School of Letters, Research Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Research Associate at the Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University) were introduced on an NHK Special series Humans, why we became humans. Over a four part series, this program explains recent research in archaeology, anthropology, zoology, neuroscience and psychology, etc and how characteristics not found in other animals but that are unique to humans evolved.

Part 1: The Journey Began in Africa, shown on January 22, detailed an experiment on facial recognition in newborns conducted by Yamaguchi Laboratory. Works of visual illusion using Arcimboldo, where the pictures might depict a box of fruit and vegetables or a person's face depending on one's viewpoint were used in this experiment. The research by Yamaguchi and her colleagues demonstrated that it is possible for even children as young as 7 to 8 months old to recognize the images as faces.

This program is scheduled to air as follows.
Time: January 26th (Thu) 12:05 am - 1:09 am (25th midnight)
Channel: NHK GTV

Results came from collaborative research with the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, which held a press release on September 26, 2011.

Please see the following links for more information.

• Link: Press release materials Babies understand Arcimboldo's facial illusions (pdf:400KB)
• Link: Psychology - Masami Yamaguchi's Laboratory