is an associate professor at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

. He was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Japan and is of Japanese nationality. Most of the research that Kuniyoshi conducts focuses on

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

History

Kuniyoshi has worked at many institutes. Following completion of his PhD, he began working as a research associate at

The University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. Three years following this he moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

for two years. His first year he worked at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as a research fellow in the Department of

Radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

. The second year he was a working fellow at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. In 1997 Kuniyoshi moved back to Japan and worked in the Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Tokyo as associate professor. Currently he is working in the Department of Integrated Science at the same University. He is a member of the Japan Neuroscience Society and the Society for the Neurobiology of Language.

Neurobiology

Much of the early work that Kuniyoshi collaborated on deals with the brain in relation to humans and apes. He has stated that the brain is much like a movie in that it gathers a string of stimuli and delivers them to the brain, which then encodes them into a memory.

Language

Some of the focus of Kuniyoshi's research is related to

language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

. In an online article published by ScienceNOW in which rewiring of the brain is emphasized, Kuniyoshi comments on human uniqueness of the brain compared to apes. The articles states that through evolutionary time, language has become more specialized due to a rewiring in the brain through the

arcuate fasciculus The arcuate fasciculus (AF) is a bundle of axons that generally connects the Broca's area and the Wernicke's area in the brain. It is an association fiber tract connecting caudal temporal cortex and inferior frontal lobe. ''Fasciculus arcuatus' ...

. Human Uniqueness is related to the

Design Features of Language Hockett's Design Features are a set of features that characterize human language and set it apart from animal communication. They were defined by linguist Charles F. Hockett in the 1960s. He called these characteristics the design features of langua ...

proposed by

Charles Hockett Charles Francis Hockett (January 17, 1916 – November 3, 2000) was an American linguist who developed many influential ideas in American structuralist linguistics. He represents the post- Bloomfieldian phase of structuralism often referred to as ...

. Kuniyoshi also has composed research on the brain and reading written language relating to words and sentences. Kuniyoshi's work has shown the different area of the brain that work when reading individual words and when reading sentences.

Publications

Kuniyoshi has written and collaborated on over 33 original articles, 31 books and magazines, and 39 review articles.

Awards

*2001- 1st Japan Neuroscience Society Young Japanese Investigator Award *2002- The 56th Mainichi Publication and Culture award *2005- The 19th Nakaakira Memorial award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Kuniyoshi Japanese neuroscientists Japanese biologists University of Tokyo faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people)