CIA-RDP96-00792R000400330005-3

www wa tually swarai-
ait to the field. The human
brain has suddenly become one
of the most enticing scientific
frontiers for ambitious scholars
and researchers.
What, then, is the present
state of brain studies? The
Nihon Reizai Shimbun team of
reporters working on this
"frontier" series has inter-
viewed those working in the on-
going studies and has been
greatly impressed by their live-
liness and immense variety.
The following is only a sam-
pling of a great many highly in-
triguing theories.
"Face cell" theory
Up until recently, the brain
was believed to analyze the in-
formation transmitted from the
eyes and form entire images by
putting together fragments of
information perceived by dif-
ferent brain cells. For example,
a cell responding to the concept
of "roundness" gets linked with
that responding to the idea of
"redness" to produce the entire
image of a "round, red apple."
In the "face cell" theory, how-
ever, a single cell or a small
group of cells is believed to re-
ceive information from the
eyes and instantly form entire
images on the basis of the in-
formation. This theory was ad-
vanced last fall by E.T. Rolls,
professor at Oxford University.
This theory became a topic of
a meeting of a group of a dozen
or so scholars, including Shun-
ichi Amari, a University of To-
kyo professor, held last January
at a ski resort in Niigata Pre-
fecture.
"If we are to believe the face
cell' theory," one scholar sug-
gested at the meeting, "the bits
of information handled by the
human brain will be limited to
14 billion, as that is the number
of cells contained in the human
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fliisis begin paying attention to
long-shunned parapsychological research
Tadahiro Sekimoto, presi-
dent of NEC Corp., has a pet
research theme which he is
hoping to sce taken up by his
company's researchers. Seki-
moto himself brought up the
theme some 20 years ago,
when he was a senior en -.
gincer, and had it flatly
turned down. The theme is to
somehow explain scientifical-
ly phenomena which are
referred to as the "sixth
sense" or "telepathy."
"The study of the sixth
sense and telepathy will cer-
tainly prove a cornerstone of
future modes of communica-
tions," declares Sekimoto.
Unknown energy
.
Telecommunications en-
gineering at present depends
on electromagnetic energies
and sound vibration energies.
Sekimoto believes that-there
is unknown energy in "the
world of the sixth sense" that
can be used for telecom-
munications and that dis-
covery of this unknown
energy may very well re-
voluntionalize . telecom-
munications systems in their
entirety.
"Science today does not
fully explain what the electric
wave really is," declares
Hiroo Yuhara, advisor to the
Telecommunications gear
maker Uniden Corp., and
Tormer head of the Posts and
Telecommunications Min-
istry's
Radio
Research
Laboratories, the most ad-
vanced of Japan's research
organizations in this field.
"What we know is that we can
make wonderful communica-
tions equipment if we build it
on the theories of electric
wave engineering. There are
many basic matters that re-
quire, scientific explana-
tions."
Yuhara has for several
years been engrossed in
studying phenomena defying
scientific explanation. llc
conducted a simple experi-
ment for an NKS reporter. He
first placed some name cards
and small pieces of paper
with names written on them
on a table and then brought a
bar magnet hanging from a
string. When the magnet was
placed above the name cards,
il started swinging right and
left depending upon the name
cards. Yuhara claimed that
when the name card is that of
a dead man, the magnet
swings to the left.
To explain this strange phe-
nomenon, Yuhara formulated
the following
hypothesis:
"The human body bas a
secret sensor in it and the
sensor transmits the informa-
tion about the state (dead or
alive) of the man whose name
is on the card to the bar
magnet."
"In Japan, psychic phe-
nomena and the discipline of
parapsychology are yet to be
recognized," stales Soji
Ohtani, professor at the
Delense College and president
of the Japan Parapsychology
Association. "We, therefore,
are conducting, our research
on the subjects completely on
our own."
:
Even among big business
employees, there are some
who are secretly engaged in
telepathy in the belief that the
days when the worth of such
studies is fully appreciated
are not that far away.
One such person is Masa-
michi Rokusha, an engineer
belonging to Hitachi, Ltd,'s
patent section. Rokusha has
recently devised, with the use
of a personal computer, a
system to greatly improve the
efficiency of studies of the
sixth sense.
Rokusha makes the com-
puter memorize the figures
one and zero 100 times at
random and has a control to
call out the figures before the
machine flashes them on
screen every two seconds. The
"beep" sound is sometimes
added to test what effects the
sound will have on the con-
trol's score.
A computer analysis of vast
amounts of data collected
show that the scores become
poor after the beep sound and
that the best scores are con-
centrated just before the beep
sound. Rokusha explains
these two phenomena by con-
sidering
that the controls
somehow sense that the beep
sound disrupts their intuition
so some mysterious power.
works and improves their
scores before the beep sound.
"The day will certainly
come sooner or later when
studies of psychic phenomena
become legitimate," Rokusha
says. "I am building up the
necessary data and informa-
tion for such an eventuality."
National project
Hajime Karatsu, technical
adviser to Matsushita Elec-
tric Industrial Co., speaks of
the importance of studies of
psychic phenomena in a dif-
ferent manner. . "Develop-
ment of future computers
hinges on a full explanation
of brain functions," says
Karatsu. "In brain studies,
phenomena so far unex-
plained by conventional
sciences should also be taken
up."
The state also has started
moving into the field. The
Science and Technology
Agency has recently decided
to take up man's spiritual ac-
tivities as a study theme of its
Creative Science and Tech-
nology Promotion Program
as from fiscal 1987.
Although there are many
words in the Japanese lan-
guage smacking of the super-
natural, no scientific studies
have as yet been undertaken
on the phenomena implied by
the words. Studies of such
phenomena may very well
have wide-ranging practical
applications, ranging from
cures for illnesses to new
communications modes.
Sir Isaac Newton, formu-
lator of the theory of gravity,
became engrossed in studies .
of the supernatural in his
later years, while Brian D.
Josephson, a British physicist
known as the creator of the
Josephson junction theory, is
now fully committed to
studies of man's spiritual ac-
tivities.
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2 april 85
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