Tomoya Nakai
Ph.D
2025/06-
Post-doc
CNRS
Tomoya is a researcher leading the ERC Starting Grant project [MathDevCCN]. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo (Japan), he continued his research at the Center for Information and Neural Networks (Osaka, Japan) and the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, and launched his own project at LaPsyDÉ in 2025. His research focuses on higher-order cognitive functions in humans, particularly language, mathematics, and music. Using fMRI, he has investigated the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying syntactic processing shared across these domains. He later applied machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to the analysis of brain data, reporting similarities between artificial neural networks and brain activity during calculation. He currently seeks to predict the developmental trajectory and neural basis of children’s symbolic number processing and arithmetic through computational modeling.
PUBLICATIONS
Tomoya Nakai, Rieko Kubo, Shinji Nishimoto. Cortical representational geometry of diverse tasks reveals subject-specific and subject-invariant cognitive structures. Communications Biology, Vol. 8, 713, May 2025. | |
Charlotte Constant-Varlet, Tomoya Nakai, Léa Longo, Honorine Bouchet, & Jérôme Prado. Familial transmission of neural representations for mental arithmetic across two generations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 122, e2421528122, August 2025. | |
Tomoya Nakai. (Japanese) How the brain creates mathematics, Iwanami Science Library, 2025. | |
Charlotte Constant-Varlet, Tomoya Nakai, Jérôme Prado. Intergenerational transmission of brain structure and function in humans: a narrative review of designs, methods, and findings. Brain Structure and Function, Vol. 229, pp. 1327–1348, May 2024. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Charlotte Constant-Varle, Jérôme Prado. Encoding models for developmental cognitive computational neuroscience: Promise, challenges, and potential. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 70, 101470, November 2024. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Coumarane Tirou, Jérôme Prado. From brain to education through machine learning: Predicting literacy and numeracy skills from neuroimaging data. Imaging Neuroscience, Vol. 2, pp. 1–24, June 2024. | |
Toshiki Okumura, Ikuhiro Kida, Atsushi Yokoi, Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto, Kazushige Touhara, Masako Okamoto. Semantic context‐dependent neural representations of odors in the human piriform cortex revealed by 7T MRI. Human Brain Mapping, Vol. 45, April 2024. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Artificial neural network modelling of the neural population code underlying mathematical operations. NeuroImage, Vol. 270, 119980. February 2023. | |
Daiki Matsumoto, Tomoya Nakai. Syntactic theory of mathematical expressions. Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 146, 101606. September 2023. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Laura Rachman, Pablo Arias Sarah, Kazuo Okanoya, Jean-Julien Aucouturier. Algorithmic voice transformations reveal the phonological basis of language-familiarity effects in cross-cultural emotion judgments. PLOS ONE, Vol. 18, e0285028, May 2023. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Quantitative modelling demonstrates format‐invariant representations of mathematical problems in the brain. European Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 57, pp. 1003–1017, January 2023. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Cléa Girard, Léa Longo, Hanna Chesnokova, Jérôme Prado. Cortical representations of numbers and non-symbolic quantities expand and segregate in children from 5 to 8 years of age. PLOS Biology, Vol. 21, e3001935, January 2023. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Naoko Koide-Majima, Shinji Nishimoto. Music genre neuroimaging dataset. Data in Brief, Vol. 40, 107675, February 2022. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Representations and decodability of diverse cognitive functions are preserved across the human cortex, cerebellum, and subcortex. Communications Biology, Vol. 5, 1245, November 2022. | |
Dror Cohen, Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Brain networks are decoupled from external stimuli during internal cognition. NeuroImage, Vol. 256, 119230, August 2022. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Naoko Koide‐Majima, Shinji Nishimoto. Correspondence of categorical and feature‐based representations of music in the human brain. Brain and Behavior, Vol. 11, e01936, January 2021. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Hiroto Q Yamaguchi, Shinji Nishimoto. Convergence of modality invariance and attention selectivity in the cortical semantic circuit. Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 31, bhab125, October 2021. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Quantitative models reveal the organization of diverse cognitive functions in the brain. Nature Communications, Vol. 11, March 2020. | |
Hironori Nakatani, Yulri Nonaka, Sera Muto, Michiko Asano, Tomomi Fujimura, Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya. Trait respect is linked to reduced gray matter volume in the anterior temporal lobe. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Vol. 14, 344, August 2020. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya. Cortical collateralization induced by language and arithmetic in non-right-handers. Cortex, Vol. 124, pp. 154–160, March 2020. | |
Naoko Koide-Majima, Tomoya Nakai, Shinji Nishimoto. Distinct dimensions of emotion in the human brain and their representation on the cortical surface. NeuroImage, Vol. 222, 117258, November 2020. | |
Shoko Yuki, Hironori Nakatani, Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya, Ryosuke O. Tachibana. Regulation of action selection based on metacognition in humans via a ventral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortical network. Cortex, Vol. 119, pp. 336–349, October 2019. | |
Hironori Nakatani, Sera Muto, Yulri Nonaka, Tomoya Nakai, Tomomi Fujimura, Kazuo Okanoya. Respect and admiration differentially activate the anterior temporal lobe. Neuroscience Research, Vol. 144, pp. 40–47, July 2019. | |
Hiroaki Maeshima, Chihiro Hosoda, Kazuo Okanoya, Tomoya Nakai. Reduced γ-aminobutyric acid in the superior temporal gyrus is associated with absolute pitch. NeuroReport, Vol. 29, pp. 1487–1491, December 2018. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya. Neural evidence of cross-domain structural interaction between language and arithmetic. Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, 12873, August 2018. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Naoko Koide-Majima, Shinji Nishimoto. Encoding and decoding of music-genre representations in the human brain. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp. 584–589, October 2018. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Hironori Nakatani, Chihiro Hosoda, Yulri Nonaka, Kazuo Okanoya. Sense of accomplishment is modulated by a proper level of instruction and represented in the brain reward system. PLOS ONE, Vol. 12, e0168661, January 2017. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya. Individual variability in verbal fluency correlates with γ-aminobutyric acid concentration in the left inferior frontal gyrus. NeuroReport, Vol. 27, pp. 987–991, September 2016. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya. Shared basis for language and mathematics revealed by cross-domain syntactic priming. The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11), Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/163.html, March 2016. | |
Tomoya Nakai, Kuniyoshi L. Sakai. Neural mechanisms underlying the computation of hierarchical tree structures in mathematics. PLOS ONE, Vol. 9, e111439, November 2014. |