On Wednesday 13 January, Kyoto University's Tokyo Office hosted the first installment of its 20th Tokyo de Manabu Kyodai no Chi ("Learning in Tokyo from the Knowledge coming out of Kyoto University") public lecture series. The series was titled "Investigating 'Communication'", and the talk, delivered by Professor Nobuo Masataka of the Primate Research Institute, addressed the question of "How abilities to understand each other have evolved".
Prof Masataka argued that, as far as humans are concerned, the main rewards for learning are recognition and attention from others. He noted that this focus on attention appears to have grown to unprecedented levels in contemporary society, with an ever greater emphasis being placed on interpersonal communication. The primatologist also delved into the causes of what he defined as "communication disorders" in terms of the brain's structure and information-processing process. Other topics covered by this wide-ranging lecture included activities on social media and other familiar phenomena, as well as comparisons between humans and other primates.
Professor Masataka
Lecture venue
