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" on 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 got much attention from multiple 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.
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