Background

I'm a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Faculty of Medical Sciences and a principal investigator of the Laboratory of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience at Newcastle University. I obtained my PhD in behavioural neuroscience in Japan and took a post-doc training under the mentorship of Dr Mortimer Mishkin at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology, NIMH/NIH in the USA.

I have +25 years of experience in primate work across four countries (USA, UK, Germany, Japan) and use a variety of neuroscience approaches combined with electrophysiology, fMRI, optogenetics, neuroanatomy, genomics and computational modelling to understand the neural circuits of auditory cognition, aiming to advance treatment and intervention options for mental health and neurological disorders. 

I am a British-Asian scientist from a minority ethnic background and am also a strong advocate for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). I actively contribute to outreach events towards greater equality and bringing new possibilities and potentials among typically under-represented people.

Google Scholar

Research Gate

VACANCIES

• Recruiting several PhD/RA positions at Newcastle University Medical School (Vacancies)

Research

SCIENTIFIC FOCUS

• Neurobiology and Neural Circuits of Cognition: Advancing Treatment and Interventions for Neurological and Mental Health Disorders

RESEARCH FUNDING

• 2023-2026 Principal Investigator on MRC Programme grant. “Neuronal circuits for perceptual inference” 
• 2017-2023    Collaborator on ERC Consolidator Grant 
• 2015-2021    Collaborator on Wellcome Trust Enhancement Grant
• 2011-2015   Principal Investigator on National Institute of Mental Health/NIH Professional Service Contract. “Neuroimaging and neurophysiology of auditory and visual sequence learning in humans and monkeys”
• 2007-2011 Principal Investigator on National Institute of Mental Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication, NIH Professional Service Contract. “Neural processing of complex sounds”
• 2002-2004 JSPS Overseas Fellowship. “Higher auditory cognitive functions revealed by electrophysiological recordings and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in primates”
• 1999-2002   JSPS PhD fellowship (incl. research grant). “Neural mechanisms of domain-specific and domain-general working memory systems”

RESEARCH EXPERIENCES

• 2019-2020 Guest Researcher. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Health (NIH), USA
• 2007-2011 Georgetown University, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, USA
• 2007 Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany
• 2002-2011 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Health (NIH), USA

Teaching

• MMB8019 Sensory Systems (Module Leader)
• BNS 3013 Disorders of the Nervous System
• PSC 3008 Physiology of the Nervous System

2018 Associate Fellow of the Graduate School, FMS, Newcastle University

Postgraduate and undergraduate project students (>30)

PhD. Supervisor (Biosciences, FMS)

Selected media:

• The work in 2017 was selected in the Biggest Media - PLOS Biology in the Media in 2017 with over 12,000 views and also featured in Scientific American: The Brain Has Its Own “Autofill” Function for Speech. The neural version of a texting app anticipates what comes next when we hear speech
• Newcastle University Press release: What’s coming next? Scientists identify how the brain predicts speech

Selected outreach events and lectures:

• 2024 Holmes Memorial Lecture: Lecture 1: Humans: Can you learn to train your brain? (17 January, 2024)
• Scent & Science Festival 2023 (1 July, 2023, Featherstone Castle at Haltwhistle, UK, FMS Research Excellence FMS Research Excellence Development Awards (REDA) funded public engagement event)
• "Gene, Brain and Behaviour: Power of Prediction and Autism Spectrum Disorders" Enrichment Seminars in Psychology, Newcastle University (March 2021)
• BBC Radio 3: Music Matters: Music in the Time of Our Lives (17-18 March, 2017)
• Meet the Neuroscientist: Great Exhibition of the North (Great North Museum, 24 August, 2018)
• Brain Awareness Week: Palace of Science (Wylam Brewery, 12 March, 2019)
• European Researchers Night: Supported by the European Commission as a part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme (Great North Museum, 28 September, 2018)
• "Rhythmic Brain. How rhythms can help our perception and learning?": Joseph Cowen Lifelong Learning Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (June 2017)
• "Music, Language, Syntax? Sequence Learning and Neurological Disorders": Joseph Cowen Lifelong Learning Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (Dec 2016)
• "Rhythms of your brain. Keys to train your brain through sounds": Joseph Cowen Lifelong Learning Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (January 2016)
• "Is Music Just for Us? Searching for the origins of musicality through neural symphony": Joseph Cowen Lifelong Learning Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (May - June 2016)
• "Interaction between cortical responses and natural sounds in the primate auditory system using MRI-guided electrophysiology'': Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany (June 2013)
• "Human Brain Function and Behaviour": Kyoto University, Graduate School of Engineering, Japan. Neuroscience, Mental Health (Summer course, 2013)

Publications

• Articles

  • Kikuchi Y, Uddin M, Veltman JA, Wells S, Morris C, Woodbury-Smith M. Evolutionary constrained genes associated with autism spectrum disorder across 2,054 nonhuman primate genomes. Molecular Autism 2025, 16, 5.
  • Kocsis Z, Jenison RL, Taylor PN, Calmus RM, McMurray B, Rhone AE, Sarrett MCE, Deifelt Streese C, Kikuchi Y, Gander PE, Berger JI, Kovach CK, Choi I, Greenlee JD, Kawasaki H, Cope TE, Griffiths TD, Howard MA, Petkov CI. Immediate neural impact and incomplete compensation after semantic hub disconnection. Nature Communications 2023, 14(1), 6264.
  • Kim S-G, Overath T, Sedley W, Kumar S, Teki S, Kikuchi Y, Patterson R, Griffiths TD. MEG correlates of temporal regularity relevant to pitch perception in human auditory cortex. NeuroImage 2022, 249, 118879.
  • Balezeau F, Nacef J, Kikuchi Y, Schneider F, Rocchi F, Muers RS, Fernandez-Palacios O'Connor R, Blau C, Wilson B, Saunders RC, Howard M, Thiele A, Griffiths TD, Petkov CI, Murphy K. MRI monitoring of macaque monkeys in neuroscience: Case studies, resource and normative data comparisons. NeuroImage 2021, 230, 117778.
  • Rocchi F, Oya H, Balezeau F, Billig AJ, Kocsis Z, Jenison RL, Nourski KV, Kovach CK, Steinschneider M, Kikuchi Y, Rhone AE, Dlouhy BJ, Kawasaki H, Adolphs R, Greenlee JDW, Griffiths TD, Howard MA, Petkov CI. Common fronto-temporal effective connectivity in humans and monkeys. Neuron 2021, 109(5), 852-868.e8.
  • Kikuchi Y, Kumar S, Baumann S, Overath T, Gander PE, Sedley W, Patterson RD, Petkov CI, Griffiths TD. The distribution and nature of responses to broadband sounds associated with pitch in the macaque auditory cortex. Cortex 2019, 120, 340-352.
  • Calmus R, Wilson B, Kikuchi Y, Petkov CI. Structured sequence processing and combinatorial binding: neurobiologically and computationally informed hypotheses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 2019, 375(1791), 20190304.
  • Kikuchi Y, Ip J, Lagier G, Mossom JC, Kumar S, Petkov CI, Barraclough NE, Vuong QC. Interactions between conscious and subconscious signals: Selective attention under feature-based competition increases neural selectivity during brain adaptation. The Journal of Neuroscience 2019, 39(28), 5506-5516.
  • Banerjee A, Kikuchi Y, Mishkin M, Rauschecker JP, Horwitz B. Chronometry on Spike-LFP Responses Reveals the Functional Neural Circuitry of Early Auditory Cortex Underlying Sound Processing and Discrimination. eNeuro 2018, 6.
  • Schneider F, Dheerendra P, Balezeau F, Ortiz-Rios M, Kikuchi Y, Petkov CI, Thiele A, Griffiths TD. Auditory figure-ground analysis in rostral belt and parabelt of the macaque monkey. Scientific Reports 2018, 8, 17948.
  • Scott BH, Saleem KS, Kikuchi Y, Fukushima M, Mishkin M, Saunders RC. Thalamic connections of the core auditory cortex and rostral supratemporal plane in the macaque monkey. Journal of Comparative Neurology 2017, 525(16), 3488-3513.
  • Kikuchi Y, Attaheri A, Wilson B, Rhone AE, Nourski KV, Gander PE, Kovach CK, Kawasaki H, Griffiths TD, Howard MA, Petkov CI. Sequence learning modulates neural responses and oscillatory coupling in human and monkey auditory cortex. PLoS Biology 2017, 15(4), e2000219.
  • Scott BH, Leccese PA, Saleem KS, Kikuchi Y, Mullarkey MP, Fukushima M, Mishkin M, Saunders RC. Intrinsic Connections of the Core Auditory Cortical Regions and Rostral Supratemporal Plane in the Macaque Monkey. Cerebral Cortex 2017, 27(1), 809-840.
  • Attaheri A, Kikuchi Y, Milne AE, Wilson B, Alter K, Petkov CI. EEG potentials associated with artificial grammar learning in the primate brain. Brain and Language 2015, 148, 74-80.
  • Petkov CI, Kikuchi Y, Milne AE, Mishkin M, Rauschecker JP, Logothetis NK. Different forms of effective connectivity in primate frontotemporal pathways. Nature Communications 2015, 6, 6000.
  • Wilson B, Kikuchi Y, Sun L, Hunter D, Dick F, Smith K, Thiele A, Griffiths TD, Marslen-Wilson WD, Petkov CI. Auditory sequence processing reveals evolutionarily conserved regions of frontal cortex in macaques and humans. Nature Communications 2015, 6, 8901.
  • Kikuchi Y, Horwitz B, Mishkin M, Rauschecker JP. Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2014, 82, 204.
  • Wilson B, Slater H, Kikuchi Y, Milne A, Marslen-Wilson W, Smith K, Petkov CI. Auditory Artificial Grammar Learning in Macaque and Marmoset Monkeys. Journal of Neuroscience 2013, 33(48), 18825-18835.
  • Kikuchi Y, Horwitz B, Mishkin M. Hierarchical auditory processing directed rostrally along the monkey’s supratemporal plane. Journal of Neuroscience 2010, 30(39), 13021-13030.
  • Kikuchi Y, Sawaguchi T, Miyauchi S. Cognitive neuroscience and functional MRI. Journal of Diagnostic Imaging 2002, 27(5), 475-482.
  • Kikuchi-Yorioka Y, Sawaguchi T. Parallel visuospatial and audiospatial working memory processes in the monkey dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience 2000, 3(11), 1075-1076.
  • Sawaguchi T, Kikuchi Y. Noradrenergic effects on activity of prefrontal cortical neurons in behaving monkeys. Adv. Pharmacol 1998, 42, 759-763.

• Book Chapters

  • Hoeschele M, Merchant H, Kikuchi Y, Hattori Y, ten Cate CJ. Searching for the origins of musicality across species. In: Henkjan Honing, ed. The Origins of Musicality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018, pp.149-170.
  • Sawaguchi T, Iba M, Kikuchi-Yorioka Y, Fukushi T. Working memory and prefrontal cortex. In: Tanji, J., Yoshizawa, S, ed. Higher Brain Function. Tokyo: Asakura Publishing, 2001, pp.251-269.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Slater B, Howett D, Nacef J, Easton A, Petkov CI, Kikuchi Y. Transcranial ultrasound stimulation of primate hippocampus and prefrontal cortex modulates context-guided sequence learning. In: Society for Neuroscience meeting. 2022. Submitted.
  • The PRIMatE Data and Resource Exchange (PRIME-DRE) Global Collaboration Workshop and Consortium, Poirier C, Petkov C, Kikuchi Y. Toward next-generation primate neuroscience: A collaboration-based strategic plan for integrative neuroimaging. In: The PRIMatE Data and Resource Exchange (PRIME-DRE) Global Collaboration Workshop and Consortium. 2022, Virtual: Elsevier.
  • Woodbury-Smith M, Kikuchi Y. Patterns of intolerance to mutation in genes implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders among 2,054 rhesus macaques. In: American Society of Human Genetics. 2022. Submitted.
  • Woodbury-Smith M, Massey D, Slater B, Witham C, Wells S, Kikuchi Y. A translational primate model of autism spectrum disorder: phenotypic traits in social and predictive behaviour and patterns of intolerance to mutation in macaque genome. In: Society for Neuroscience meeting. 2022. Submitted.
  • Vuong QC, Kikuchi Y, Ip J, Mossom JC, Barraclough N, Petkov CI. Attentional modulation of responses in human face- and voice-sensitive cortex. In: Scottish Vision Group. 2016, Carnoustie, Scotland: Sage Publications Ltd.
  • Kikuchi Y, Kumar S, Baumann S, Overath T, Griffiths T, Petkov C. Neuronal Representation of Temporal Regularity Associated with Pitch Perception in Macaque Auditory Cortex. In: Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting. 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
  • Petkov CI, Kikuchi Y, Augath M, Mishkin M, Rauschecker J, Logothetis NK. Voice region connectivity in the monkey assessed with microstimulation and functional imaging. In: 6th APAN Satellite Meeting to Society for Neuroscience. 2008, Washington DC Convention Center.
  • Kikuchi Y, Rauschecker JP, Mishkin M, Augath M, Logothetis NK, Petkov CI. Voice region connectivity in the monkey assessed with microstimulation and functional imaging. In: Society for Neuroscience. 2008, Washington DC, USA.

• Editorial

  • Munoz-Lopez M, Kikuchi Y. Editorial: The Functional Organization of the Auditory System. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2016, 10, 290.

• Note

  • Kocsis Z, Jenison RL, Taylor PN, Calmus RM, McMurray B, Rhone AE, Sarrett MCE, Deifelt Streese C, Kikuchi Y, Gander PE, Berger JI, Kovach CK, Choi I, Greenlee JD, Kawasaki H, Cope TE, Griffiths TD, Howard MA, Petkov CI. Author Correction: Immediate neural impact and incomplete compensation after semantic hub disconnection (Nature Communications, (2023), 14, 1, (6264), 10.1038/s41467-023-42088-7). Nature Communications 2023, 14(1), 8029.

• Reviews

  • Kikuchi Y, Sedley W, Griffiths TD, Petkov CI. Evolutionarily conserved neural signatures involved in sequencing predictions and their relevance for language. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2018, 21, 145-153.
  • Hoeschele M, Merchant H, Kikuchi Y, Hattori Y, ten Cate C. Searching for the origins of musicality across species. Philosophical Transactions B 2015, 370(1664), 20140094.