Perspective of the Kansei brain function research

In order to provide a mature definition of Kansei, we introduced a concept from system control theory to arrange the function of the “brain as a system that controls the higher animal behavior”. Based on our view of behavior control hierarchy resulting from a brain function, we would like to advance our definition from the one previously proposed by us as the working hypothesis. Kansei is a general term for the function of the brain that is due to the nervous system, that projects to the higher brain from the brainstem, and which contains positive emotions such as beauty, amenity, interest and pleasure as essential elements. We also consider that the “Kansei brain” consists of the brainstem, which is an organ centrally responsible for the basic life activity and pleasure, and medial forebrain bundle (MFB), which is a neural network that incorporates various regions of the brain from the brainstem and controls their activity. We further consider that Kansei produced by such a brain function is positioned in the higher hierarchy than reason in human behavior control. Kansei is a control circuit that functions to orient the total brain activity organically in order to ultimately actualize the instructions from the brainstem. We introduce the outline of an actual research example of Kansei brain function research, and discuss perspectives resulting from this new research approach to Kansei