This is actually a peculiar phenomenon which emerges in the process of gradual edition of the memory that the brain stores in temporal lobe since birth. In general, when we remember something, a 'feeling of knowing', which I mentioned above, emerges in the frontal lobe. Based on this feeling that occurs in the frontal lobe, dormant memory stored in the temporal lobe is brought to the frontal lobe and becomes activated memory. If this process fails, there is 'momentary forgetfulness'. In fact, this is what is meant by Penrose's hypothesis that to remember something is similar to the process of creating. Creativity tends to be mystified, but there is no way that something can be created from nothing. If we observe the structure of the brain in detail, creativity is probably something that emerges from the archive of memory in the temporal lobe transformed in some way. If that is the case, the act of creating becomes very similar to the act of remembering. In other words, in the case of act of remembering, memories of the past simply emerge as they are, but in the case of creativity, past memories emerge after being transformed, connected differently and edited. For example, when Mozart composed a symphony, there was an enormous archive of melodies in his brain and he was able to compose so many symphonies based on this. So to have an archive of memory inside the brain does not hinder creativity, and the more you have the more creative you become. Let me say in passing that therefore we can say that those of us who are middle aged and beyond have greater chances since we have greater archives. This also explains the good creativity yield of the brain. The yield rate of the human brain is overwhelming if we compare it to the case of creating different characters using a computer. The yield rate is great simply because the brain is an emotional system which creates what it wants (values) out of the archive of memories. It is thought that the system of emotions sets a target of what it wants and creates accordingly by combining things from the archive of memories.

 The section on memory ends here so I would like to take some questions.

Kiyotani: In Africa there are people who very accurately pass down in words stories of their tribes over a long period of time even though they have no writing. Are their brains developed in ways like savant children?

 There is a theory that the difference between the Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens Sapiens is the ability to create symbols and mechanical ability to perceive things as they are. What are the differences in their brains?

Mogi: That's a good point. That might be the case, but I do not remember any studies regarding this point. The difference between the brains of the Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens Sapiens, to put it very roughly, is that between the left side of the brain and the right side. Homo Sapiens Sapiens thinks about symbolic things in the left side of the brain. There is an interesting example in which people whose function of the front part of the temporal lobe has deteriorated due to senile dementia suddenly exposes drawing ability like savants. There is a theory that this kind of ability emerges as the right side of the brain goes out of control, so to speak, as the suppression of the left temporal lobe over the right side of the brain disappears. There are several reports of such cases in America and I think this seems to be a matter of balance of brain functioning.

Kamata: Is 'scale error' an error in the process of abstraction by human beings?

Mogi: The cases have just been reported and the studies have not advanced to that extent. There are no examples around us normally, and in fact we have come to understand the phenomenon considerably through the development of home video cameras. Studies of micro-slip phenomenon, which Sasaki Masato knows a great deal about, have increased considerably in recent years. According to previous studies, it was said that even as we are here now, we can actually see subtle flickerings, falterings and strange tracks and an ordinary person experiences a micro-slip approximately once a day, but now it is said that everyone experiences it once every one minute. This kind of phenomenon is easily missed. It only appears for a moment, and though everyone might be experiencing it, it is difficult to observe or understand.

Kamata: I think 'scale error' has some parts that are common to us to a certain extent. I don't think I tried sitting in such a small chair, but did have an urge to get on to a small tricycle or truck and to play house until I was about ten years old. Is it different to that kind of thing?

Mogi: That's a very important point. What you have told us is about playing an ordinary game called 'pretending game' and that is fundamentally different from scale error. That is to say, in a word, these children are serious. What is fundamentally different is that they are not pretending and are really trying to get inside the car. Of course, this has the possibility of being treated as a different category. As you have pointed out, these children are seriously doing this and playing. It might be that we are doing the same things as these children but we tell ourselves that we are playing a pretending game. This is a very interesting point.

Makino: Most manga artists are adults who can have the sense of playing pretending games for a moment and then come back to the world of reality. That is to say, they think, 'I am drawing a piece of work as a job, I am doing it to make profit', but there is a possibility that they get into the world they are drawing and indulge in the world of sex and violence. A momentary movement or change in consciousness cannot be measured, but such things happen on a daily basis from the point of view of clinical experience we have with these manga artists. Unless we take such a view, we cannot explain the actions of the students in the manga department of Kyoto Seika University. If the steering goes wrong, there is a possibility of getting into a terrible world, and it is very frightening. On the other hand, it works as a deterrent and we instinctively know that if games and mangas did not exist, people could get into an even more terrible world. When abnormal crimes occur in society, some people easily blame the extreme representations in mangas and games, but I see it from the viewpoint of the producer, so I feel that worse situations could have come about under normal circumstances and drawing manga acts as a restraint. People just see the phenomena. When I listen to Professor Mogi's talk about why these things happen, many things become clearly related. I learn the scientific proofs and examples here. In a sense, I think it is inevitable that many phenomena such as scale errors and micro-slips appear. A child who wants to get on to a toy car and the author of Alice in Wonderland actually have that kind of perception. It is not a matter of him entertaining children by writing a fantasy story at the level of the left side of the brain, but he depicts those kinds of things at the level of the right side of the brain because he really has that kind of sense as an individual preceding his existence as an author.

　

 I am glad that Professor Makino has mentioned this. I want to present some examples to illustrate that the question of emotion is very important for characters. As you know, Japanese traditional characters in Yoshitsune senbon zakura and Onna koroshi abura no jigoku are very emotional and many of them truly behave at the edge of human existence. There is a performance called The Vagina Monologues by a French author Eve Ensler featuring Monique Wilson. The performance pierces a painful part of emotion and the facial expressions that appear in this performance seem to be very close to the facial expressions found in Japanese manga. It is a high culture type performance with facial dance and facial sculpture, but the facial expressions are really very much like the characters of manga at the center of the world of subculture.

 I think how to deal with emotions is indeed crucial. The most important system for emotion is a system which produces a neurotransmission substance called dopamine. In particular, there are many very interesting studies on what is called A10 nerve which brings about pleasant feelings. A10 emerges when there is a pleasant feeling for things that are necessary for survival, for example, sex and food. A10 also emerges in people who like to smoke or drink, and a recent case from Montreal reports that A10 emerged as a student of classical music listened to his favorite classical music. In fact, the active part of the brain is the same during sex and listening to classical music. This seems very strange, since classical music is a pleasant feeling brought about by a rather abstract arrangement of notes, which is not necessary for maintaining life, but, as far as brain activity goes, it is the same as the sense of pleasure that is the most primitive and indispensable for living beings. In old brain science, emotion was considered to be a primitive and low-grade phenomenon made in the old cortex of the so-called reptilian brain part and the cerebral cortex controlled this by reason. But it seems that this view must be rectified. In other words, the view that emotion is primitive, low-grade and inferior to reason is wrong. Experiments in the old days were simple. They stimulated the neural cells that secreted dopamine in rats, and the rats developed symptoms of poisoning and died. On the basis of this, it was believed that emotion was primitive and low-grade phenomenon. There was a renaissance ten years ago, and it was discovered that emotions pierce and enter the workings of reason. It was discovered that emotions enter and function in certain important ways even in cases when rational decisions are made, for example, when a mathematician thinks about a theorem, or a chairman of a foundation thinks about the way of world peace. The story of the 'first penguin' is a typical example. 'Emotion is an adaptation against uncertainty' is becoming the standard view in present day brain science which represents the fact that emotion is important for living beings. In other words, the environment in which a living being has evolved involves uncertainty. Everything is uncertain, including where to go to find food, where to go to meet a female, where to come across an enemy. In the end, creatures are made to judge, decide and act under conditions where there are no correct answers and it is being discovered that the system of emotion functions fully in such conditions. When we see penguins on the shore, it seems as if they cannot easily decide to jump in and so they line up and try to let others go first. There is food in the water, but at the same time there are predators such as seals, so it is safer to jump in later if possible. The problem remains unsolved if none jumps in, so one penguin decides to jump in first. The one which jumps in first is called the 'first penguin'. In the English speaking world, it means someone who has the courage to challenge in a new field. What functions at the time of this decision cannot be logic or knowledge. It is the working of emotion which functions in a context where there is no correct answer.