Professional headshot of Mai Tanaka

Mai Tanaka

Superpower: Curiosity

I’m a multi-disciplinary researcher with postdoctoral experience working with high-dimensional time-series brain signals. I earned my PhD from the University of Tokyo in Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, investigating brain dynamics when people listen to a speaker in the presence of competing noise, or when they are imagining music. My main focus was on linear regression models, but I’ve also worked with reservoir computing models, a type of recurrent neural network where only the output weights are trained.

I have formal training in neural data analysis, electrical and software engineering, and kinesiology. My first coding languages were C and C++, but I used MATLAB extensively during my graduate years. I only started with Python after my post-doc, but learned quickly. All my projects on this website are based on Python.

My curiosity is my greatest strength. I immensely enjoy expanding the limits of my knowledge and capabilities. During my graduate years, I read fun scientific papers unrelated to my research to relax. Learning about the language of birds, photosynthesizing sea slugs, and sleeping jelly-fish satiated my thirst for knowledge and gave me fresh eyes for my own research. More recently, I ran my second full marathon in under 4.5 hours, walked the >1200 km Shikoku pilgrimage trail by myself, and of course, learned Python, Quarto, and many other tools to make this website. I tend to pursue topics that pique my interest to great depths, and have a kick out of the chase for new knowledge.

Much like how the swordfish and whale shark must keep swimming to breathe, I too, am driven to pursue knowledge. It is how I am made, how I click, and what adds life to my days.

I did not choose to “be curious”. But after years of satisfying my intellectual thirst, I looked back at the path I’d taken. Curiosity was undoubtedly the driving force.

Curious find, but trivial.

What has pushed me to where I am now, is insignificant compared to the road ahead. No harm done if enjoy the pursuit itself.

Education and Research Experience

  • The University of Tokyo | Tokyo (Komaba campus) and Chiba (Kashiwa campus), Japan
    • Postdoctoral Researcher | May 2024 - Mar 2025
    • PhD in Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies | Sept 2020 - Mar 2024
      • Thesis: “Investigation of brain dynamics during auditory attention and imagery using stimulus reconstruction models”
  • University of Calgary | Calgary, AB, Canada
    • MSc in Electrical Engineering | Sept 2017 - June 2020
      • Thesis: “New approaches to measuring and improving speech intelligibility”
    • BSc in Electrical Engineering (Biomedical specialization) | Sept 2013 - June 2017
      • Thesis: “Investigation of existing and novel methods to improve speech intelligibility in noise”
      • Capstone Project: “Romert: The anti-tremor device that helps seniours affected by essential tremor to regain fine motor control in their hands”
  • Queen’s University | Kingston, ON
    • BSc (Honours) in Kinesiology | Sept 2008 - June 2012
      • Thesis: “Effectiveness of four types of soccer cuts and moves executed from a frontal dribble”

Publications

  • M. Tanaka, M. Sugino, R. Otsuki, K. Shimba, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Investigation of cross-frequency coupling characteristics during attentive listening in a two-speaker paradigm,” Advanced Biomedical Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 89-100, 2025, doi: 10.14326/abe.14.89
  • M. Sugino, M. Tanaka, K. Shimba, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Distributed synaptic connection strength changes dynamics in a population firing rate model in response to continuous external stimuli,” Neural Computation, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 987-1009, doi: 10.1162/neco_a_01749
  • M. Sugino, M. Tanaka, K. Shimba, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Reservoir computing based on a firing rate model for magnetoencephalogram data analysis,” Advanced Biomedical Engineering, vol. 14, pp. 185-195, 2025, doi: 10.14326/abe.14.185
  • J. Senda, M. Tanaka, K. Iijima, M. Sugino, F. Mori, Y. Jimbo, M. Iwasaki, K. Kotani, “Auditory stimulus reconstruction from ECoG with DNN and self-attention modules,” Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, vol. 89, art. 105761, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.bspc.2023.105761
  • M. Tanaka, F. Mori, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Effects of transient levels in speech on auditory attention decoding performance in a two-speaker paradigm,” IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 722-729, 2023, doi: 10.1002/tee.23773
  • M. Sugino, F. Mori, M. Tanaka, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Augmented reality brain–computer interface with spatial awareness,” IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 1820-1822, 2022, doi: 10.1002/tee.23692
  • M. Smith, and M. Tanaka, “Murphy’s laws in the DSP world (Part 3): Future imperfect,” Circuit Cellar, September, p. 12-27, 2018.
  • M. Smith, M. Tanaka, and E. S. Farahani, “Murphy’s laws in the DSP world (Part 2): The next three laws,” Circuit Cellar, August, p. 14-27, 2018
  • M. Smith, E. S. Farahani, and M. Tanaka, “Murphy’s laws in the DSP world (Part 1): First six laws explained,” Circuit Cellar, June, p. 12-24, 2018.

Presentations

  • J. Senda (presenter), M. Tanaka, F. Mori, M. Sugino, R. Otsuki, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Auditory stimulus reconstruction with latent diffusion model from MEG signals,” oral presentation at 電気学会 電子・情報・システム部門大会[Electrical Conference; Electronics, Information and System Section], Hokkaido, Japan, Aug. 30, 2023.
  • M. Tanaka (presenter), M. Sugino, K. Kotani and Y. Jimbo, “Effect of correlation windows on auditory attention decoding performance,” poster presented at 45th International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Sydney, Australia, July 24-27, 2023.
  • M. Sugino (presenter), F. Mori, T. Zheng, M. Tanaka, K. Kotani, and Y. Jimbo, “Measuring non-linear and time-delayed activity in cortical visual cortex using code-modulated VEP,” poster presented at 45th International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Sydney, Australia, July 24-27, 2023.
  • J. Senda, M. Tanaka, K. Iijima, M. Sugino, F. Mori, Y. Jimbo, M. Iwasaki, and K. Kotani, “脳波からの聴覚刺激再構築に用いる特徴量の時間幅の影響 [The effects of temporal window size of features used in auditory stimulus reconstruction from EEG],” poster presented at 電気学会 電子・情報・システム部門大会 [Electrical Conference; Electronics, Information and System Section], Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 31, 2022.
  • M. Tanaka, and M. Smith (presenter), “Identifying appropriate dynamic time warping, DTW, metrics to evaluate the quality of vocoder time-stretched speech phrases,” poster presented at 40th International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Honolulu, Hawaii, July 17-21, 2018.
  • M. Tanaka (presenter), and M. Smith, “Investigating phase vocoder based speech time stretching as a speech perception aid for the hearing impaired,” poster presented at 17th Annual Alberta Biomedical Engineering Conference, Banff, Alberta, Oct. 21-23, 2016.
    • Won the Journal of Undergraduate Research in Alberta (JURA) Outstanding Poster Presentation
  • M. Tanaka (presenter), and M. Smith, “Preliminary investigation of a Matlab-based method for improving speech in the presence of noise,” oral presentation at the 2016 Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium, Calgary, Alberta, Aug. 16, 2016