Ryutaro Uchiyama
Assistant Professor of Social and Cognitive Sciences
Singapore University of Technology and Design
Bio
I am an assistant professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), where I teach cognitive and behavioral sciences to engineering students. My scholarly training is an untidy blend of evolutionary biology, experimental psychology, and cognitive/computational neuroscience, with influences from philosophy and design. Prior to joining SUTD, I conducted postdoctoral research at the Tübingen AI Center in Germany and in a joint position between Nanyang Technological University and Cambridge University’s Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES). I obtained a Ph.D. (Psychological and Behavioural Science) from the London School of Economics with Michael Muthukrishna, an M.A. (Behavioral and Evolutionary Neuroscience) from Cornell University, and a B.Sc. (Psychology) from the University of Lethbridge, Canada. Before these degrees, I trained as a spatial designer and worked in the creative and healthcare sectors in Tokyo, Japan. Some artwork I made during this earlier phase of life is here.
I am currently developing research projects in the domains of education, healthcare, human-centered AI, and creativity research, drawing upon computational, biological, and cultural evolutionary insights. I am also investigating the functional relationship between open-ended learning, embodiment, and the cultural shaping of learning environments — which (I argue) jointly explain multiple species-unique aspects of human behavior.
I enjoy discovering good electronic music, meeting new friends, karaoke, traveling, and urban navigation. In Japanese, my name is written 内山隆太郎
News
Sep 2025
Awarded an SMU–SUTD joint grant (SGD 400k) for the project, “Modeling the effect of exploration-inducing phenotypes on age-related deficits in urban spatial cognition” (PIs: Thivya Kandappu and Ryutaro Uchiyama)
Sep 2025
Delivering a keynote talk for Cultural Evolution of Planet X: Emergent Creativity and Wisdom of the Crowds (7 Oct, 2025) – a workshop for the International Conference on Artificial Life (ALife) in Kyoto, Japan.
Sep 2025
Jordan Lee has joined the lab for his Master's of Engineering thesis (co-supervised with Soh Gim Song)
Sep 2025
Loh Shao Cong has joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant
Sep 2025
Webpage launch!
July 2025
Invited talk, Asian Cultural Evolution Seminar Series. Online, 29 July 2025
Human Cognitive Ecology Lab
Understanding (1) the flexibility of the human mind together with (2) the structure of its (sensorimotor, artifactual, cultural, communicative) environment — and (3) the reciprocal construction between the two
Publications
(Buttons trigger PDF download or external links)
Model-based assimilation transmits and recombines world models
Ryutaro Uchiyama, Claudio Tennie, Charley Wu
Proceedings of the Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2023.
Hidden differences in phenomenal experience
Gary Lupyan, Ryutaro Uchiyama, Bill Thompson, Daniel Casasanto
Cognitive Science. 2023.
Study protocol: How does cognitive flexibility relate to other executive functions and learning in healthy young adults?
Ke Tong, Yuan Ni Chan, Xiaoqin Cheng, Bobby Cheon, Michelle Ellefson, Restria Fauziana, Shengchuang Feng, Nastassja Fischer, Balázs Gulyás, Natalie Hoo, David Hung, Kastoori Kalaivanan, Christelle Langley, Kean Mun Lee, Li Ling Lee, Timothy Lee, Irene Melani, Nadhilla Melia, Jia Ying Pei, Lisha Raghani, Yoke Loo Sam, Peter Seow, John Suckling, Yan Fen Tan, Chew Lee Teo, Ryutaro Uchiyama, Hui Shan Yap, Georgios Christopoulos, Henriette Hendriks, Annabel Chen, Trevor Robbins, Barbara Sahakian, Zoe Kourtzi, Victoria Leong, CLIC Phase 1 Consortium
PLoS ONE. 2023.
Cultural evolutionary neuroscience
Ryutaro Uchiyama, Michael Muthukrishna
Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience and Global Mental Health. 2022.
Cultural evolution of genetic heritability [Target article]
Ryutaro Uchiyama, Rachel Spicer, Michael Muthukrishna
Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2022.
Integrating cultural evolution and behavioral genetics [Reply to commentaries]
Ryutaro Uchiyama, Rachel Spicer, Michael Muthukrishna
Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2022.
The timing of brain maturation, early experience, and the human social niche
Barbara L. Finlay, Ryutaro Uchiyama
Evolutionary Neuroscience, Second Edition. 2020.
Archetypes are a poor primitive for a theory of mental representations
Ryutaro Uchiyama, Michael Muthukrishna
Psychological Inquiry. 2019.
Developmental mechanisms channeling cortical evolution
Barbara L. Finlay, Ryutaro Uchiyama
Trends in Neurosciences. 2015.
(Buttons trigger PDF download or external links)
Vision to Value Transformation Along the Brain's Principal Gradient
Pham, T.Q., Yoshimoto, T., Niwa, H., Takahashi, H., Uchiyama, R., Anderson, A.K., Sadato, N., & Chikazoe, J.
Under Review
Cultural variation in the structure of internal representations
Uchiyama, R.
Under Review
Broadening the construct of cognitive flexibility and its relevance to academic achievement and creativity
Tong, K., Uchiyama, R., L. Fischer, N. L., Langley, C., Cheng, X., Kalaivanan, K., Melia, N., Feng, S., Marzuki, A. A., Talwar, A., Chan, Y. N., Fauziana, R., Hoo, N., Lee, K. M., Lee, L. L., Lee, T., Melani, I., Pei, J. Y., Raghani, L., Sam, Y. L., Tan, Y. F., Yap, H. S., Cheon, B., Gulyás, B., Hung, D., Seow, P., Suckling, J., Teo, C. L., CLIC Consortium, Christopoulos, G., Hendriks, H., Kourtzi, Z., Ellefson, M. R., Chen, S. H. A., Sahakian, B. J., Robbins, T. W., Leong, V.
Under Review
Cognitive Flexibility Influences Divergent Thinking in Adolescence
Fischer, N., Kalaivanan, K., Tong, K., Uchiyama, R., Fu, P., Leong, V., Robbins, T., Sahakian, B., Seow, P., Lee, T., Hung, D., Ellefson, M.
Under Review
Teaching
I teach the following courses at SUTD:
- Introduction to Psychology
- Collective Behavior
- Social Science: Understanding Behaviour, Culture & Society (group instruction)
Curriculum Vitae
Download CV as PDF
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SUTD 2024 - currentAssistant Professor of Social and Cognitive Sciences
Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Cluster
PI, Human Cognitive Ecology Lab
Singapore -
Tübingen AI Center 2023 - 2024Postdoctoral Fellow
Topic: AI modeling of cultural transmission
Advised by Charley M. Wu and Claudio Tennie Germany -
Nanyang Technological University 2021 - 2023Research Fellow
NTU–Cambridge CLIC
Joint position with Cambridge CARES, CREATE
Topic: Cognitive modeling for educational neuroscience
Singapore -
London School of Economics 2017 – 2021Ph.D.
Psychological and Behavioural Science
Topic: Cultural evolution of cognitive variation
Advised by Michael Muthukrishna
UK -
National Institute for Physiological Sciences 2017Scientific Programmer
Section of Brain Function Information
Topic: Deep neural network modeling of cortical function
Advised by Junichi Chikazoe
Japan -
Cornell University 2013 – 2017M.A.
Psychology - Behavioral and Evolutionary Neuroscience
Topic: Evolution and development of the mammalian brain
Advised by Barbara Finlay and Shimon Edelman
USA -
University of Lethbridge 2011 – 2013B.Sc. with Greatest Honors
Psychology
Topics: neuroscience, primate ecology
Canada -
Creative and Healthcare Sectors 2006 – 2011Industry Positions
Interior design | translation/editing of art publications | psychiatric nursing
Tokyo, Japan -
Kuwasawa Design School 2004 - 2006Diploma in Spatial Design
Tokyo, Japan