I am pleased to announce that the 15th World Congress of the International Society of Brain
Electromagnetic Topography (ISBET) will be held in Urayasu, Japan from April 11th to 14th, 2004.
During the past fifteen years and especially during the 1990s, which was designated the "Decade of
the Brain" -we members of ISBET have witnessed remarkable progress in the advancement of brain
function measurement technologies.
We have arrived at the current state of brain research through efforts in two areas. One is technical
innovation, at the pure physics and engineering levels, in the areas of both hardware and software used
in the visualization of human brain functions. The other is the clarification and estimation of mechanisms
measured by the application of these technologies, including cognitive functions such as memory
and attention; the mechanisms of sensations related to emotions; auditory, visual, somatosensory, and other
physiological phenomenon; and pathophysiologies such as those of cerebrovascular disorders and dementia.

Much research still remains to be done in regard to functions related to the specifically human capabilities
of language and cognition. Thanks to remarkable innovations in measurement technologies, we have
passed from an age of research based on a single method such as EEG, MEG, or PET to an age in
which the same phenomenon can be evaluated from various angles, including the application of new
methods such as NIRS and f-MRI.
Innovations in analysis technologies offer hope that brain function measurements made using different
methods can be compared in a common arena. The establishment of a physiological paradigm that can
withstand the comparison of multiple measurement methods could also be considered a topic for future
brain research. While we can look forward to the continued development of various measurement
methods, to advance our research we also need to conduct a broad-based, comprehensive investigation
of the degree to which these different methods can be used in combination to elucidate the higher-order
brain functions.

New developments are also expected in fields such as oral and masticatory science, in which
measurement and estimation have been considered complicated due to problems caused by motion
artifacts, thanks to the development of methods such as Independent Component Analysis and the
application of Laplacian mapping to brainwave analysis.

The location chosen as the venue for the 2004 World Congress is the Tokyo Disney Sea Resort in Urayasu,
Chiba Prefecture, which is not far from downtown Tokyo. It is our hope that you will enjoy the many
amenities offered by this location as you present the results of your research to your friends
and colleagues in ISBET.

On behalf of the conference committee I would like to extend to you our welcome. We look forward to
your participation!

Masafumi Nakagawa, M.D.
15th World Congress President