The pioneering research of Justo Gonzalo (1910–1986) on brain dynamics

Abstract

This work is the English translation of an extract from the pioneering research of Justo Gonzalo (1910–1986) on brain dynamics. This is an article published in Spanish in the scientific journal ‘Trabajos del Instituto Cajal de Investigaciones Biológicas’, Vol. XLIV, pp. 95-157 (1952), and entitled Human brain functions according to new data and physiological basis. An introduction to the studies conducted on brain dynamics in its English version. As his author pointed out there, the article is a brief summary of the extensive preceding work ‘Dinámica Cerebral´, Volume 1 (1945) (English translation, Open Access at: https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/63730/), Volume 2 (1950) (English translation, Open Access at: https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/72118/), and also includes original work performed later (from Sec. 7 of the article), as a cortical gradients model.

From the study of patients with unilateral lesion in the parieto-occipital cortex, J. Gonzalo characterized what he called the central syndrome of the cortex, a multisensory, bilateral and symmetric affection presenting dynamic phenomena dependent on the intensity of the stimulus, such as the separation of sensory qualities united in normal perception, noticeable facilitation by motor and cross-modal effects, and tilted or inverted perception, among other disorders. He interpreted these phenomena under a dynamic physiological concept, and from a model based on functional gradients through the cortex and scaling laws of dynamical systems, thus highlighting the functional unity of the cortex and offering a dynamic solution to the traditional theory of brain function localization.

In the 2000s, phenomena (related to multisensory integration, inverted vision) have been reported and models have been proposed in close relation to this research. In particular, brain gradients are a hot topic. Therefore, this research is of relevant current interest.

A preface introduces some aspects of the translated article, its author and his research, including several references. It is followed by the translated article.