Details of the Researcher

PHOTO

Cheng Miao
Section
Research Institute of Electrical Communication
Job title
Specially Appointed Associate Professor(Research)

Research History 4

  • 2026/08 - Present
    Tohoku University, Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Interdisciplinary ICT Research Center for Cyber and Real Spaces　Specially Appointed Associate Professor

  • 2021 - 2026
    Tohoku University　Research Institute of Electrical Communication; Interdisciplinary ICT Research Center for Cyber and Real Spaces　Assistant Professor

  • 2018 - 2021
    NTT Communication Science Laboratories

  • 2013 - 2018
    University of Hong Kong　Department of Psychology　PhD

Committee Memberships 4

  • The 32nd ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST'26)　Local Arrangement Chair

    2026 -

  • The 20th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG'26)　Publication Chair

    2026 -

  • MMAC Challenge @The 14th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII'26)　Organizer

    2026 -

  • Multilingual and Multimodal Affective Computing (MMAC) Workshop @The 13th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII'25)　Organizer

    2025 -

Professional Memberships 3

  • IEEE

    2025 - Present

  • Japanese Psychological Association

    2021 - Present

  • Japanese Psychonomic Society

    2019 - Present

Research Areas 4

  • Informatics / Human interfaces and interactions /

  • Life sciences / Cognitive neuroscience /

  • Humanities & social sciences / Social psychology /

  • Humanities & social sciences / Cognitive sciences /

Papers 18

  1. HanaARrange: Designing an Augmented Reality Support System for Daily Ikebana Practice and Well-being

    Xiyue Wang, Zeynep Eda Altintop, Derek Kirschbaum, Miao Cheng, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Chiahuei Tseng

    Proceedings of the 2026 Designing Interactive Systems Conference　809-831　2026/06/12

    Publisher: ACM

    DOI： 10.1145/3800645.3812940 　

  2. Friend or Foe? Benchmarking Human Perception and ST-GCN Decoding of Embodied Social Intention

    Miao Cheng, Zhan Dai, Victor Schneider, Kanta Ozawa, Yangyang Cai, Ken Fujiwara, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Chia-Huei Tseng

    2026 IEEE 20th International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG)　1-9　2026/05/25

    Publisher: IEEE

    DOI： 10.1109/fg67764.2026.11557029 　

  3. Large Language Models as Perceivers of Dynamic Full-Body Expressions of Emotion

    Huakun Liu, Miao Cheng, Xin Wei, Felix Dollack, Victor Schneider, Hideaki Uchiyama, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Kiyoshi Kiyokawa, Monica Perusquia-Hernandez

    Companion Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction　7-11　2025/10/12

    Publisher: ACM

    DOI： 10.1145/3747327.3763032 　

  4. Culture Matters in Humanness Recognition for Human Body Motion

    Xiaoyue Yang, Miao Cheng, Ken Fujiwara, Yangyang Cai, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Chiahuei Tseng

    Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems　1-8　2025/04/25

    Publisher: ACM

    DOI： 10.1145/3706599.3719872 　

  5. Toward an Asian-based bodily movement database for emotional communication

    Chia-huei Tseng, Ken Fujiwara, Shoi Higashiyama, Abby Weng, Yoshifumi Kitamura

    Behavior Research Methods　2024/12/10

    DOI： 10.3758/s13428-024-02558-2 　

    ISSN： 1554-3528

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    <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Most current databases for bodily emotion expression are created in Western countries, resulting in culturally skewed representations. To address the obvious risk this bias poses to academic comprehension, we attempted to expand the current repertoire of human bodily emotions by recruiting Asian professional performers to wear whole-body suits with 57 retroreflective markers attached to major joints and body segments, and express seven basic emotions with whole-body movements in a motion-capture lab. For each emotion, actors performed three self-created scenarios that covered a broad range of real-life events to elicit the target emotion within 2–5 seconds. Subsequently, a separate group of participants was invited to judge the perceived emotional category from the extracted biological motions (point-light displays with 18 or 57 markers). The results demonstrated that the emotion discrimination accuracy was comparable to Western databases containing standardized performance scenarios. The results provide a significant step toward establishing a database using a novel emotional induction approach based on personalized scenarios. This database will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of emotional expression across diverse contexts.</jats:p>

  6. What Makes a Movement Human‐Like?

    Xiaoyue Yang, Miao Cheng, Ken Fujiwara, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Satoshi Shioiri, Chiahuei Tseng

    Japanese Psychological Research　66　(4)　473-492　2024/08/09

    Publisher: Wiley

    DOI： 10.1111/jpr.12542 　

    ISSN： 0021-5368

    eISSN： 1468-5884

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    Abstract With the advancement of AI‐generated human motion, it is of increasing importance to think about how we distinguish real human motion from machine‐generated movements. In this study, we recruited professional performers to use the whole body to make a short movement to inform potential observers that they are real humans (instead of machines). Their movements were captured with a motion capture system (Vicon) and later reduced to dynamic point‐like displays (biological motion). They were interviewed after the recording to provide their acting strategies. Naive observers who did not participate in the motion data collection were recruited to watch these videos and judge whether the biological motions looked human‐like or not (YES/NO), as well as to report their judging criteria. The major factors extracted from these reports include kinematics, context, body mechanics, and principles of physical laws. We discuss the impact of these criteria and how they may possibly help improve the future generation of human‐like motions.

  7. 人の感情を理解し，人に寄り添うAI：5．身体動作から感情を読み取る -動作ユニットAIの構築に向けて-

    健 藤原, 苗 程, 加蕙 曽, 喜文 北村

    情報処理　2023/01/15

    DOI： 10.20729/00223441 　

  8. E-Motion: a database of bodily expression of basic and social emotions in The 44th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) 2022, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Perception　51　(1_suppl)　1-207　2022/12/21

    Publisher: SAGE Publications

    DOI： 10.1177/03010066221141167 　

    ISSN： 0301-0066

    eISSN： 1468-4233

  9. Social affiliation is sufficient to provoke the partner-advantage

    Chia-huei Tseng, Li Jingling, Miao Cheng

    Scientific Reports　12　(1)　2022/12/09

    Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

    DOI： 10.1038/s41598-022-25052-1 　

    ISSN： 2045-2322

    eISSN： 2045-2322

  10. Perceptions sociales du « Ma » et de « l’être ensemble »

    Chia-huei Tseng, Miao Cheng, Hassan Matout, Kazuyuki Fujita, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Satoshi Shioiri, Asaf Bachrach

    Techniques &amp; culture　(76)　116-125　2021/12/08

    Publisher: {OpenEdition}

    DOI： 10.4000/tc.16619 　

    ISSN： 0248-6016 1952-420X

  11. Team Flow Is a Unique Brain State Associated with Enhanced Information Integration and Interbrain Synchrony

    Mohammad Shehata, Miao Cheng, Angus Leung, Naotsugu Tsuchiya, Daw-An Wu, Chia-huei Tseng, Shigeki Nakauchi, Shinsuke Shimojo

    eneuro　8　(5)　2021/09

    DOI： 10.1523/ENEURO.0133-21.2021 　

    ISSN： 2373-2822

  12. MA and Togetherness (Ittaikan) in the Narratives of Dancers and Spectators: Sharing an Uncertain Space

    Chiahuei Tseng, Miao Cheng, Hassan Matout, Kazuyuki Fujita, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Satoshi Shioiri, I-Lien Ho, Asaf Bachrach

    Japanese Psychological Research　63　(4)　421-433　2021/03/19

    Publisher: Wiley

    DOI： 10.1111/jpr.12330 　

    ISSN： 0021-5368 1468-5884

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    <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The Japanese concept/character <jats:italic>MA</jats:italic> (間), commonly translated as “gap, interval, or the in between,” partakes in many forms of Japanese arts and daily‐life practices. In this article, we report the results of a qualitative research on the meaning or experience of <jats:italic>MA</jats:italic> and its relation with the feeling of togetherness in the context of contemporary dance improvisation. We interviewed performers and spectators (all professional dancers) while they watched the videotaped and reduced stick‐figure versions of short dance improvisations created in a laboratory installed with motion‐capture sensors. Based on the individual narratives, and inspired by Japanese and occidental aesthetic writings, we elaborate a specific understanding of <jats:italic>MA</jats:italic> as attending to the event's preacceleration, and how this experience causally relates to the feeling of togetherness (一体感, <jats:italic>ittaikan</jats:italic>). We propose that <jats:italic>MA</jats:italic>, understood not extensionally (as an empty space or a silent gap), but intentionally/internally as a certain quality of attention or perceptual mode, is fertile ground for serendipity. <jats:italic>MA</jats:italic> as an interpersonal ethical construct suggests a transsubjective difference as a foundation for a collective coming together.</jats:p>

  13. Instant Saliency: Identity Referential Advantage towards a Newly Met Partner

    Miao Cheng, Jingling Li, Chia-huei Tseng

    The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association　85　PI-093　2021

    Publisher: The Japanese Psychological Association

    DOI： 10.4992/pacjpa.85.0_pi-093 　

    ISSN： 2433-7609

    eISSN： 2433-7609

  14. MA and Togetherness in Joint Dance Improvisation

    Chiahuei Tseng, Miao Cheng, Hassan Matout, Kazuyuki Fujita, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Satoshi Shioiri, Asaf Bachrach

    The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association　85　PI-092　2021/01

    Publisher: The Japanese Psychological Association

    DOI： 10.4992/pacjpa.85.0_pi-092 　

    ISSN： 2433-7609

  15. Paired walkers with better first impression synchronize better

    Miao Cheng, Masaharu Kato, Jeffrey Allen Saunders, Chia-huei Tseng

    PLOS ONE　15　(2)　e0227880-e0227880　2020/02/21

    Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)

    DOI： 10.1371/journal.pone.0227880 　

    ISSN： 1932-6203

    eISSN： 1932-6203

  16. Saliency at first sight: instant identity referential advantage toward a newly met partner.

    Miao Cheng

    Cognitive research: principles and implications　4　(1)　2019/11/04

    DOI： 10.1186/s41235-019-0186-z 　

    ISSN： 2365-7464

  17. Gender and autistic traits modulate implicit motor synchrony.

    Miao Cheng

    PloS one　12　(9)　2017/09/05

    DOI： 10.1371/journal.pone.0184083 　

    ISSN： 1932-6203

  18. Collinear masking effect in visual search is independent of perceptual salience.

    Miao Cheng

    Attention, perception & psychophysics　79　(5)　2017/07/01

    DOI： 10.3758/s13414-017-1308-7 　

    ISSN： 1943-393X 1943-3921

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Misc. 1

  1. Team flow is a unique brain state associated with enhanced information integration and neural synchrony International-journal International-coauthorship

    Mohammad Shehata, Miao Cheng, Angus Leung, Naotsugu Tsuchiya, Daw-An Wu, Chia-huei Tseng, Shigeki Nakauchi, Shinsuke Shimojo

    bioRxiv　2020/06/19

    Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

    DOI： 10.1101/2020.06.17.157990 　

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    <title>ABSTRACT</title>Team flow occurs when a group of people reaches high task engagement while sharing a common goal as in sports teams and music bands. While team flow is a superior enjoyable experience to individuals experiencing flow or regular socialization, the neural basis for such superiority is still unclear. Here, we addressed this question utilizing a music rhythm task and electroencephalogram hyper-scanning. Experimental manipulations held the motor task constant while disrupted the hedonic musical correspondence to blocking flow or occluded the partner’s body and task feedback to block social interaction. The manipulations’ effectiveness was confirmed using psychometric ratings and an objective measure for the depth of flow experience through the inhibition of the auditory-evoked potential to a task-irrelevant stimulus. Spectral power analysis revealed higher beta/gamma power specific to team flow at the left temporal cortex. Causal interaction analysis revealed that the left temporal cortex receives information from areas encoding individual flow or socialization. The left temporal cortex was also significantly involved in integrated information at both the intra- and inter-brains levels. Moreover, team flow resulted in enhanced global inter-brain integrated information and neural synchrony. Thus, our report presents neural evidence that team flow results in a distinct brain state and suggests a neurocognitive mechanism by which the brain creates this unique experience. <sec><title>Data Availability</title>All data and analysis codes used in the preparation of this article are available at <ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://osf.io/3b4hp">https://osf.io/3b4hp</ext-link>. </sec>