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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akio Mori | 1/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Mori | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T17:34:55.535282+00:00 | kb-cron |
Akio Mori (森 昭雄, Mori Akio; born February 5, 1947, in Hokkaidō) is a Japanese physiologist, sports scientist and writer. He is also the founder and the former head of the Japanese learned society Japanese Society of Health and Behavior Sciences (日本健康行動科学会, Nihon Kenkō Kodō Kagakukai). Mori was originally known for his physiology researches, but began to write books about human neuroscience, coining the term "game brain" in his 2002 book Game Nō no Kyōfu (ゲーム脳の恐怖, Gēmu Nō no Kyōfu; "The Fear of Game Brain"). He claimed that the brains of people who played video games were physically damaged. Game Nō no Kyōfu received much attention from critics such as Tamaki Saitō. Mori's activities expanded into other genres such as journalism and politics due to the popularity of his books, though his theory about human brains was pointed out to be pseudoscientific. Japanese critic Hiroo Yamagata compared the book Game Nō no Kyōfu with the following movement of Messages from Water because those theories became popular via Japanese mass media without scientific backgrounds.
== Life and career ==
=== 1969–2002: Early career and research === Born in Hokkaidō, Mori graduated from the College of Humanities and Sciences of the Nihon University in 1969 and graduated from the Graduate School of Literatures of the Nihon University in 1971. Getting the academic degree Doctor of Medicine, he became a professor of the Nihon University, though he toured the Rockefeller University as a researcher and the Queen's University as a visiting scholar before that. Originally, Mori was known for his scientific researches about cats' physiology such as the collaborative work "Input-output relationships in cat's motor cortex after pyramidal section" released in 1981, the collaborative work "Low threshold motor effects produced by stimulation of area preinsularis (2pr.i) of the secondary sensory cortex in the cat; Input-output relationships" released in 1983, the collaborative work "Physiological properties and patterns of projection in the cortico-cortical connections from the second somatosensory cortex to the motor cortex, area 4 gamma, in the cat" released in 1989, the collaborative work "Fifth somatosensory cortex (SV) representation of the whole body surface in the medial bank of the anterior suprasylvian sulcus of the cat" released in 1991, the collaborative work "Low-threshold motor effects produced by stimulation of the facial area of the fifth somatosensory cortex in the cat" released in 1993, the collaborative work "The ipsilateral and contralateral connections of the fifth somatosensory area (SV) in the cat cerebral cortex" released in 1996, and his solo work "Cortico-cortical connections from somatosensory areas to the motor area of the cortex following peripheral nerve lesion in the cat" released in 1997. On March 26, 2000, Mori was awarded the commendation certificate Einen Kinzoku (永年勤続; lit. "Long-Year Working") by the Nihon University for working with the University for 30 years. He also researched the human actions of sports such as kendo along with two other researchers, announcing the collaborative work "Two types of movement-related cortical potentials preceding wrist extension in humans" via the journal NeuroReport in July 2001. He established the Japanese Society of Health and Behavior Sciences in 2002, becoming the board chairperson of the society. It was later admitted as an associated party by the Japanese scientific organization, Science Council of Japan, on April 13, 2006. Mori attained the degree of Doctor of Medicine, but did not become interested in researching the relationships between video games and human neuroscience until he met a programmer of computer software around 2000 when he made a new electroencephalograph.