Game Brain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Game Brain (ゲーム脳, Gēmu nō^?) is a term invented by Akio Mori. He is a professor of Physical Education Humanities and Sciences division of Nihon University in Japan. His theory brought on active debates over its pros and cons.

1 Summary
2 Criticism
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Summary

He originally coined the term and presented the concept in his book Terror of game brain (ゲーム脳の恐怖, Gēmu nō no Kyōfu^?) published in July 2002. Mori is neither a neuroscientist nor a psychologist. He is a PhD physiologist and his thesis concerns muscle.

Beta wave

Amongst his writings is the description of an experiment designed to measure the effect of video games on human brain activity by searching beta wave and he claims that the experiment demonstrates the existence of an "Adverse effect that video games have on the human brain".^[1] Game Brain refers to these effects and the state of the brain.

His theory has gained some recognition in popular culture, especially among parents who believe that video gaming can have detrimental effects on child development. It has in many instances affected local policy and decision making regarding the selling of games to minors. Often, when cases of juvenile delinquency and child misbehaviour are suspected to be a result of over-exposure to video games, Japanese media will often show game brain as a possible explanation. Mori insisted that the use of internet were the cause that Nevada-tan killed her classmate.^[2]

[edit] Criticism

His theory was criticized as an unwarranted research by established neuroscientists and brain specialists, because he used unreliable measures and misunderstood about beta wave.^[3] His book was nominated to Japan Outrageous Book Award (日本トンデモ本大賞, Nihon Tondemo-bon Taishō^?) in 2003. Ryuta Kawashima developed even games for training brains. He claimed that Game Brain was "superstition".^[4] Mori's theory focused on video games, but he didn't determine the particular kind. There are controversies for "violence" video games over the world, but his strange theory is limited to Japan. Under his theory, even Shogi player Yoshiharu Habu probably have Game Brain.^[5]

Although his theory seemed to be pseudoscience, his theory became popular in Japan while Japanese scientists ignored him, so the Japanese neuroscientist leader Tadaharu Tsumoto claimed in 2006 that they must criticize even funny theories like Mori's theory.^[6]