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Justo Gonzalo y Rodríguez-Leal (March 2, 1910 – September 28, 1986), was a Spanish
neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...
who was born in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
and died in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. After obtaining his bachelor's degree in medicine he specialized in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(1933–1935) with a grant from the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas (Council for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research), and subsequently carried out extensive research on human
brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
functions based largely on brain injuries from the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
(1936–1939). He characterized what he called the ''central syndrome of the
cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...
'' (multisensory and bilateral disorder caused by a unilateral lesion in a parieto-occipital association area), which he interpreted based on
physiological Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
laws of nervous excitability and a model of ''brain dynamics'' where the
cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...
is conceived as a dynamic functional unit with specificity in gradation, providing a solution to the question of brain localization. He described and interpreted phenomena such as inverted
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
and multisensory and
motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...
facilitation, among others. By applying concepts of dynamic similarity, he formulated and proved
allometric Allometry (Ancient Greek "other", "measurement") is the study of the relationship of body size to shape, anatomy, physiology and behaviour, first outlined by Otto Snell in 1892, by D'Arcy Thompson in 1917 in ''On Growth and Form'' and by Juli ...
power laws in the loss of functions and in the sensory organization. He belonged to the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
(CSIC) from 1942 until his retirement, and he was lecturer of 21 PhD courses (1945–1966) on brain physiopathology at the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Madrid. He received awards from the CSIC (1941), the Royal Academy of Medicine (1950) and the Spanish Society of Psychology (1958).


His scientific contribution

His book ''Investigaciones sobre la nueva Dinámica Cerebral. La actividad cerebral en función de las condiciones dinámicas de la excitabilidad nerviosa'' Gonzalo, J. (1945, 1950, 1952, 2010, 2023). ''Dinámica Cerebral'', Open Access. Edición facsímil 2010 del Vol. 1 1945, Vol. 2 1950 (Madrid: Inst. S. Ramón y Cajal, CSIC), Suplemento I 1952 (Trab. Inst. Cajal Invest. Biol.) y 1ª ed. Suplemento II. Red Temática en Tecnologías de Computación Artificial/Natural (RTNAC) y Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC). ISBN 978-84-9887-458-7
English edition 2023 ''Brain Dynamics'' (Vols.1 and 2, Supplements I and II), Ediciones CSIC, Open Access
contains part of his fundamental contributions and is the first time that the term ''Brain Dynamics'' is used in the scientific literature to describe the organization of sensory functions. It consists of two volumes, the first one published in 1945 focused on visual functions and the second one published in 1950 dedicated to tactile functions and where concepts exposed in the first one are expanded. In this book the author exposes what he called ''central syndrome of the cortex'', as a multisensory affection with bilateral symmetry, originated by a unilateral parieto-occipital cortical lesion in an associative area equidistant from the
visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...
, tactile, and auditory projection areas. The syndrome presents dynamic effects such as the multisensoriality and symmetrical bilaterality of the disorder, which also involves all functions from simple excitability to more complex functions. Another dynamic effect is the progressive loss of functions and a decomposition of some of them into partial reactions as the intensity of the stimulus decreases. This gives rise, for example, to tilted or even inverted vision, in which the image is perceived as increasingly tilted at the same time as it loses shape, color and size until it is almost inverted in the most acute case. This was the first exhaustive study of inverted or tilted vision (Gonzalo, 1945). The author also observed inverted perception in touch (1950) and
hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory sci ...
(1952), for none of which there were precedents, and generalized the inversion process in the central syndrome to
sensory systems The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved i ...
of a spatial nature. Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2007
«Inverted or tilted perception disorder».
''Revista de Neurología'' 44, 3, 157-165.
Gnosic or cognitive and complex functions are the first to be lost since they require greater brain excitation and, thus, greater brain integration. Thus, a continuity was established between elementary and higher sensory functions, based on the same physiological laws. A dynamic phenomenon related to the previous one is the disappearance in part of some disorders by intensification of the stimulus or by temporal summation (
iteration Iteration is the repetition of a process in order to generate a (possibly unbounded) sequence of outcomes. Each repetition of the process is a single iteration, and the outcome of each iteration is then the starting point of the next iteration. ...
of the stimulus), or by the emerging capacity for facilitation, according to which the functions are recovered by the presence of another type of stimulus of the same or different modality ( multisensory facilitation), or by motor activity such as muscular effort, of all of which there was no precedent of detailed studies. For example, tactile and auditory stimuli, and in particular muscular effort, improve perception, partly compensating for the deficit of nervous excitation due to the loss of nonspecific (or multispecific) neuronal mass caused by the lesion. For example, the
visual field The visual field is "that portion of space in which objects are visible at the same moment during steady fixation of the gaze in one direction"; in ophthalmology and neurology the emphasis is mostly on the structure inside the visual field and it i ...
, which shows concentric reduction, increased up to 5 times in the most acute case, and the image recovered the correct orientation by means of a strong muscular contraction. This capacity is greater the larger the brain lesion and the lower the intensity of the original stimulus. The author observed and studied other remarkable phenomena such as color delocalization, reversal in
motion perception Motion perception is the process of inferring the speed and direction of elements in a scene based on visual, vestibular and proprioceptive inputs. Although this process appears straightforward to most observers, it has proven to be a difficul ...
, the disorder by which the patient was able to read a text equally well upright or rotated 180 degrees without noticing any difference, and the disorder of allocentric orientation, among others. His research filled the gap then existing between brain pathology and the physiology of the
nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...
, since the phenomena observed were governed by the laws of nervous excitability, which was a radical change with respect to the concepts in use at that time. Gonzalo found not only the cases described in his book but about 35 cases of central syndrome of varying intensity (Gonzalo, 1952). The author also analyzes in depth the famous Schneider case of Goldstein and Gelb (1918), which he interprets according to the aforementioned syndrome. He proposed a spiral development of the sensory field in the integrative brain process (Gonzalo, 1951, 1952) and introduced the idea of functional brain
gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...
s across the cortex (Gonzalo, 1952). These gradients are functions in gradation that represent the density of specific sensory function at each point in the cortex, related to the density of specific neurons and their connections, taking a maximum value in the corresponding projection area and gradually decreasing throughout the cortex, with the end of the decline reaching other projection areas. The multiple types of cortical syndromes from first hand and other authors was interpreted according to the model of gradients, depending on the position and magnitude of the lesion, finding a continuous transition between the syndromes of the projection area and the central one. Gonzalo later developed the concepts of dynamic similarity and allometry applied to the central syndrome, this being understood as the result of a change of scale in the nervous excitability of the cerebral system with respect to the normal case. According to the principle of dynamic similarity, the change of scale in a system results in its different parts changing differently (allometrically). He then found allometric relationships, scaling power laws, between the different sensory functions. The gradual loss of these functions in the central syndrome was thus interpreted and formalized. These concepts, including that of gradients, were also applied to the language system. All this last research remained unpublished and is partially collected in Supplement II in the reprint of Gonzalo's work (Gonzalo, 2010) and in later works, Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2014)
«Nervous excitability dynamics in a multisensory syndrome and its similarity with normals. Scaling Laws» Open Access
In: Costa, A.; Villalba, E. (Eds.) ''Horizons in Neuroscience'' Vol. 13: Chap.10, pp. 161-189.
(see below the works of Gonzalo-Fonrodona and Porras in the section 'Works on Justo Gonzalo's research work').


Early years

Justo Gonzalo was born and lived in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
; then spent several years in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, Spain; returned to Barcelona, and finally moved to
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Spain, to study
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
, obtaining his bachelor's degree there in 1933. During 1933–34, he carried out studies at the Nervenklinik ( mental hospital) of the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
, on clinical neurology and
animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of animals, as model organisms, in experiments that seek answers to scientific and medical questions. This approach can be contrasted ...
with
Hans Hoff Hans Harald Hoff, (born 9 April 1963),Ratsit: Hans Hoff
Oct ...
, and also on
brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
cytoarchitecture Cytoarchitecture (from Greek κύτος 'cell' and ἀρχιτεκτονική 'architecture'), also known as cytoarchitectonics, is the study of the cellular composition of the central nervous system's tissues under the microscope. Cytoarchit ...
with Otto Pötzl, at
Constantin von Economo Constantin Freiherr von Economo (; 21 August 1876 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist of Romanian origin. He is mostly known for his discovery of encephalitis lethargica and his atlas of cytoarchitectonics of ...
's laboratory. During 1934–35 he carried out research on brain
pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
with Karl Kleist at the mental hospital of the
Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...
, granted a scholarship by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios (Council for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research). After returning to Madrid, he combined clinical neurology at the then called Hospital General de Madrid with brain anatomoclinical research at the Cajal Institute. It was during this time that he wrote his first works (see section: Justo Gonzalo's published works).


Spanish Civil War and post-war period

After the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
(1936–1939), he resumed the
neurological Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the s ...
activities at the Hospital General de Madrid and the brain anatomoclinical studies at the Cajal Institute until he practiced war medicine in the Republican front (1937). He was called in 1938 by
Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora (25 July 1886 – 27 December 1971) was a Spanish neurology, neurologist and psychiatrist. He was a disciple of Nicolás Achúcarro and Santiago Ramón y Cajal and one of the most brilliant examples of the Spanish Neurol ...
, head of the Center for Brain Injuries at Neurological Military Hospital of Godella (Hospital Militar Neurológico de Godella) in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, to work there as a neurologist, where he stayed until the end of the war. During this period, he conducted detailed observations on numerous brain-injured subjects and performed, despite the extreme conditions, a fundamental part of his research. Some selected cases were carefully study in the course of several years. In the summer of 1938, he discovered, among other singular disorders, near-inverted vision in the war wounded man he termed ''case M,'' and in 1939 characterized what he called ''central syndrome of the cortex,'' which exhibited peculiar dynamic phenomena. The observations could not be understood until he uncovered the permeability developed by this type of patient to temporal summation and multisensory and motor facilitation. The first results were presented in 1941 to the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
in a 94-page report in Spanish entitled ''Investigaciones sobre Dinámica Cerebral. La dinámica en el sistema nervioso. Estructuras sensoriales por sincronización cerebral'' (''Research on Brain Dynamics. Dynamics in the nervous system. Sensory structures by brain synchronization''), which was awarded by this organism that same year. During the years 1942–1944, established in Madrid and sponsored by the Cajal Institute, he obtained a more precise quantitative evaluation of the phenomena, in spite of the difficulties in obtaining the most indispensable experimental instruments. In 1945, the Cajal Institute, now part of the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
, published the first volume of his book on Brain Dynamics, mainly devoted to visual functions. Apart from local references to the aforementioned volume at the time of its publication, other references stand out, some of them international Viembi (1946
''Acta Neurologica'' (Napoli)
Anno I, 5, p 368-371.
Bender, M.B.; Teuber, H.L. (1948). "Neuro-ophthalmology" ''Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry'' III: Chap. 8. pp. 163-182 (p. 171). De Ajuriaguerra, J., Hécaen, H. (1949) ''Le Cortex Cerébral.Etude Neuro-psycho-pathologique'', Masson, Paris, p. 13, 131, 138, 140, 279, 287, 288, 292, 311, 312, 323. despite the fact that the book was written in Spanish, being notorious, for example, the comment by Viembi in 1946 in the prestigious magazine edited by Buscaino: or the commentary by Bender and Teuber (1948): Also De Ajuriaguerra and Hecaen refer in several pages to this research and emphasize (p. 279): "...let us also cite in Spanish the very important volume by J. Gonzalo" (translated from French). He also received in 1945–46 letters of praises from authors such as H. Piéron, Robert Bing, D. Katz, W. Köhler (the last two in connection with Gestalt theory), G. Rodríguez Lafora, C. Jiménez Díaz, J. Germain, etc.Family archive From 1942 until his retirement, Justo Gonzalo was a full-time member of the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
. From 1945 he taught PhD-level courses in brain
pathophysiology Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...
at the University of Madrid, where he had a laboratory of brain physiopathology. In his PhD courses, he presented the results of his research in detail. It can be said that he worked alone in the scientific aspect, occasionally helped in other aspects by some former students, administrative personnel and always supported by his family, and since 1945 by his wife Ana María Fonrodona Masuet.


Subsequent years

In 1950, the second volume of the aforementioned book on Brain Dynamics was published, it was focused on tactile functions and to generalization of concepts introduced in the first volume. Justo Gonzalo describes in it his observation in 1946 of tactile inversion (of which there were no precedents) and its interpretation. Thus, the author generalized the inversion process in the aforementioned central syndrome to all sensory systems of spatial nature, corroborating it in the
auditory system The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both the ear, sensory organs (the ears) and the auditory parts of the sensory system. System overview The outer ear funnels sound vibrations to the eardrum, incre ...
in 1946, as he refers to in his subsequent publication in 1952 (Gonzalo 1952). In 1950 he was awarded by the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine. In the works published in 1951 and 1952 (see section 'Justo Gonzalo's published works'), Gonzalo set forth the idea of
spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving further away as it revolves around the point. It is a subtype of whorled patterns, a broad group that also includes concentric objects. Two-dimensional A two-dimension ...
development of the sensory field, as well as the so-called functional cerebral
gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...
s through the cortex (Gonzalo 1952), concepts that he had already described in detail in the PhD courses. In the publication of 1952 he includes about 20 cases of central syndromes of varying intensity. In 1952 he carried out a search in all the Spanish territory of subjects with brain lesions. He selected about 200 out of near 3000. Most of them are Civil War wounded and he explores them in Madrid. He finds a total of 35 cases with the same type of central syndrome of varying intensity, as shown for example on p. 78 of Supplement II of the reprint ''Dinámica Cerebral'' of 2010. In the PhD courses, which he taught with great vehemence and dedication, he also exposed the concepts of dynamic similarity and
allometry Allometry (Ancient Greek "other", "measurement") is the study of the relationship of body size to shape, anatomy, physiology and behaviour, first outlined by Otto Snell in 1892, by D'Arcy Thompson in 1917 in ''On Growth and Form'' and by Jul ...
applied to the aforementioned syndrome, this latter being understood as the result of a change of scale in the nervous excitability of the system with respect to that of the normal case. He did not get to publish these concepts, which are partially collected in subsequent works. Among the many private comments he received from students about the Ph.D. courses, the one with a reference is indicated, as well as the comment that appears, in 1967, in a commemorative publication of the "
Neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...
Service of Nicolás Achúcarro": In 1958 he was awarded by the Spanish Society of Psychology, and in this period there were many references to the book The book went out of print and was never reprinted. Reorganizations in the Faculty of Medicine in 1966 prevented him from continuing to teach the aforementioned PhD courses despite the great interest they aroused among students and the request by letter to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine signed by several Professors such as Vice-Dean Botella Llusiá, Jiménez Díaz, Gilsanz, Orts Llorca and Vara López. With this, the associated brain pathophysiology laboratory disappeared. During these years he had already made large and numerous graphs drawn by draughtsmen, for didactic purposes, and especially for the following publication announced as an extensive work. But this publication never came into being. The cause of this was the author's own way of being, extremely self-demanding and who could not conceive of partial communications except for PhD courses, also great administrative difficulties, and with the passage of time, health problems.


Last years

He further developed the concepts of similarity and allometry on the basis of the biological principles of development and growth, applying them to brain dynamics and extending this formalization to the
auditory system The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both the ear, sensory organs (the ears) and the auditory parts of the sensory system. System overview The outer ear funnels sound vibrations to the eardrum, incre ...
and
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
, leading to what the author called a "neurophysics" of the cerebral cortex. Part of such research is collected in Supplement II of the 2010 reprint of his book and in works by Gonzalo-Fonrodona and Porras (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014) (see section: `Works on Justo Gonzalo's research'). He also approached multiple and varied subjects of
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
,
Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
and
Cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...
, establishing connections with his research of brain dynamics. At this time, reference is also made to J. Gonzalo's ''brain dynamics''. even from a philosophical point of view, awakening a special interest in the field of Cybernetics and
Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
. In 1976 he came into contact with physicists and engineers interested in cybernetic models of brain dynamics. In this context, in the doctoral thesis of the engineer A. Delgado directed by the physicist J. Mira, several of Gonzalo's ideas and data are considered to be basic, together with those of Lashley and Luria, in the functional organization of nervous tissue in relation to behavior. His research was interrupted only because of his death in 1986.


Additional information

After the death of J. Gonzalo, work was carried out in the field of
Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
in relation to the research of this author. His works are also referenced in an historical León-Carrión, J. (1998)
"Presente y futuro de la neuropsicología en España"
''Papeles del psicólogo'' Junio, nº 70.
and neurological sense Carrasco García de León, S.; Hernández González A.; Domínguez Bértalo J. et al. (2013) "Ilusión de inversión de la imagen visual. Descripción de una serie clínica de 5 casos", ''Neurología Argentina'', 5 (3), 171-175. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuarg.2012.11.004 Yonemitsu F., Sung Y., Naka K., Yamada Y. and Marmolejo-Ramos F. (2017). «Does weight lifting improve visual acuity? A replication of Gonzalo-Fonrodona and Porras (2013)?» ''BMC Research Notes'' 10:36
OpenAccess
/ref> García-Molina, A.; Peña-Casanova, J. (2022). ''Fundamentos Históricos de la neuropsicología y la neurología de la conducta''. Barcelona: Test-Barcelona. p 312-313. García-Molina, A.; Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2023)
«Redescubriendo al paciente M: Justo Gonzalo Rodríguez-Leal y su teoría de la dinámica cerebral»
''Rev. Neurol.'' 76 (7): pp. 231-241.
(see also the section `Works on Justo Gonzalo's research work´`). For example, worth mentioning is the comment: "Besides Santiago Ramon y Cajal, several authors can be considered founders of the Spanish Neuroscience and Neuropsychology such as Cubí, Simarro, Lafora, Gonzalo, Lorente de Nó". (Translated from Spanish). Studies carried out in the 2000s have reported phenomena on tilted or inverted perception and
multisensory integration Multisensory integration, also known as multimodal integration, is the study of how information from the different sensory modality, sensory modalities (such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion, and taste) may be integrated by the nervous sy ...
that are similar to those described by Justo Gonzalo. Also, cortical modellings proposed are closely related to the model developed by Justo Gonzalo. Presentation and formalization of the work of J. Gonzalo in the current context is exposed in the works of Gonzalo-Fonrodona and Porras listed below in the section `Works on Justo Gonzalo's research work´. In 2010, coinciding with the centennial of his birth, th
Red Temática en Tecnologías de Computación Artificial/Natural
(thematic network on artificial/natural computation technologies), together with the University of Santiago de Compostela, published a facsimile edition of the two volumes published in 1945 and 1950 respectively, plus several annexes; the contents of Annex II (Suplemento II) had never been published before. The whole, of about 1000 pages, is entitle
''Dinámica Cerebral''
(Open Access). J. Gonzalo's library was donated to the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
(CSIC), the neurobiology part being at the Cajal Institute where 442 histological preparations made between 1930 and 1936 approximately were also donated.


Justo Gonzalo's published works

* Gonzalo, J. (1933). «Los factores endógenos en la corea de Sydenham». ''Archivos de Neurobiología'' XIII(4,5,6): pp. 1–15. . * Gonzalo, J. (1934). «Contribución al estudio del esquizoide». ''Archivos de Neurobiología'' XIV(6): pp. 1–17. . * Gonzalo, J. (1934). «Los tipos de motilidad. Contribución a la sistemática del movimiento.» ''Archivos de Neurobiología'' XIV(1): pp: 1-23. . * Gonzalo, J. (1935). «Contestación al Dr. Nieto». ''Archivos de Neurobiología'' XV(3): pp. 417–421. . * Gonzalo, J. (1935). «Sobre la localización y fisiopatología del tálamo y del subtálamo». ''Archivos de Neurobiología'' XV(4): pp. 625–668. * Gonzalo, J. (1936). «Nuevos estudios talámicos. Síndrome talámico puro por degeneración secundaria». ''Archivos de Neurobiología''. Marzo. pp. 111–129. * Kleist, V.K.; Gonzalo, J. (1938)
«Über Thalamus und Subthalamussyndrome und die Störungen einzelner Thalamuskerne»
''Monastsschrift für Psychiatrie und Neurologie'' 99: pp. 87–130. * Gonzalo, J. (1945). ''Investigaciones sobre la nueva Dinámica Cerebral. La actividad cerebral en función de las condiciones dinámicas de la excitabilidad nerviosa''. Volumen Primero: pp. 1–392. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Inst. S. Ramón y Cajal. Included as Vol. 1 in the facsimile edition of 2010,''Dinámica Cerebral'', Open Access, and in the English edition of 2023 ''Brain Dynamics'', Open Access. * Gonzalo, J. (1950). ''Investigaciones sobre la nueva Dinámica Cerebral. La actividad cerebral en función de las condiciones dinámicas de la excitabilidad nerviosa''. Volumen Segundo: pp. 393–827. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Inst. S. Ramón y Cajal. Included as Vol. 2 in the facsimile edition of 2010 ''Dinámica Cerebral'', Open Access, and in the English edition of 2023 ''Brain Dynamics'', Open Access. * Gonzalo, J. (1951). «La cerebración sensorial y el desarrollo espiral»
''Trabajos del Inst. Cajal de Investigaciones Biológicas''
XLIII: pp. 209–260. * Gonzalo, J. (1952) «Las funciones cerebrales humanas según nuevos datos y bases fisiológicas. Una introducción a los estudios de Dinámica Cerebral»
''Trabajos del Inst. Cajal de Investigaciones Biológicas''
XLIV: pp. 95–157. Included as 'Suplemento I' in the facsimile edition of 2010 ''Dinámica Cerebral'', Open Access, and in the English edition of 2023 ''Brain Dynamics'', Open Access. * Gonzalo, J. (1994). ''Brain Dynamics According to Human Data and Physiological Bases''. (Traducción resumida de la publicación de 1952). Edited by I. Gonzalo and A. Gonzalo, Madrid. * Gonzalo, J. (2010)
Cerebral''. Facsimile edition of Vol.1 (1945), Vol.2 (1950), Suplemento I (article of 1952) and first edition of Suplemento II. RTNAC and USC, Open Access
* Gonzalo, J. (2023)
Dynamics''. English edition (Vols.1 and 2, Supplements I and II) I. Gonzalo Fonrodona (ed.) Editorial CSIC. Open Access


Works on Justo Gonzalo's research work

* Ballus, C. (1970)
«La maniobra de refuerzo de J. Gonzalo y su objetivización por el test oscilométrico»
''Anuario de Psicología''. Dep. Psicología, Univ. de Barcelona 2: pp. 19–28. * Gonzalo, I.; Gonzalo, A. (1996)
«Functional gradients in cerebral dynamics: The J. Gonzalo theories of the sensorial cortex»
In Moreno-Díaz, R.; Mira, J. (Eds.) ''Brain Processes, Theories and Models. An international conference in honor of W.S. McCulloch 25 years after his death''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. pp. 78–87. * Gonzalo, I. (1997).
«Allometry in the J. Gonzalo's model of the sensorial cortex»
. ''Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)'' 1240: pp. 169–177. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0032475 * Gonzalo, I. (1999)
«Spatial Inversion and Facilitation in the J. Gonzalo's Research of the Sensorial Cortex. Integrative Aspects»
''Lect. Not. Comp. Sci. (LNCS)'' 1606: pp. 94–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0098164 * Gonzalo, I.; Porras, M.A. (2001)
«Time-dispersive effects in the J. Gonzalo's research on cerebral dynamics»
''Lect. Not. Comp. Sci. (LNCS)'' 2084: pp. 150–157. https://doi:10.1007/3-540-45720-8_18 * Gonzalo, I.; Porras, M.A. (2003)
«Intersensorial summation as a nonlinear contribution to cerebral excitation»
''Lect. Not. Comp. Sci. (LNCS)'' 2686: pp. 94–101. https://doi:10.1007/3-540-44868-3_13 * Arias, M.; Gonzalo, I. (2004)
«La obra neurocientífica de Justo Gonzalo (1910–1986): el síndrome central y la metamorfopsia invertida»
''Neurología'' 19: pp. 429–433. * Barraquer Bordas, L. (2005)
«La dinámica cerebral de Justo Gonzalo en la historia [`Brain dynamics' of Justo Gonzalo in history]»
''Neurología'' 20: pp. 169–173. * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2007)
«Inverted or tilted perception disorder»''Revista de Neurología''
44(3): pp. 157–165. * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2007)
«Physiological Laws of Sensory Visual System in Relation to Scaling Power Laws in Biological Neural Networks»
''Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)'' 4527: pp. 96–102. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73053-8_10 * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2009)
«Functional gradients through the cortex, multisensory integration and scaling laws in brain dynamics»
''Neurocomputing'' 72: pp. 831–838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2008.04.055 * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2009)
«Scaling Power Laws in the Restoration of Perception with Increasing Stimulus in Deficitary Natural Neural Network»
. ''Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)'' 5601: pp. 174–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02264-7_19 * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2011)
«Scaling Effects in Crossmodal Improvement of Visual Perception»
. ''Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)'' 6687: pp. 267–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21326-7_29 * Gonzalo Fonrodona, I. (2011)
«Justo Gonzalo (1919–1986) y su investigación sobre dinámica cerebral»
''Rev. Historia de la Psicología'' 32: pp. 65–78. . * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2013)
«Scaling effects in crossmodal improvement of visual perception by motor system stimulus»
''Neurocomputing'' 114: pp. 76–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2012.06.047 * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2013)
«Deficitary nervous excitability and subjective contraction of time: Time-dispersive model»
''Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)'' 7930: pp. 368–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38637-4_38 * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2014)
«Nervous excitability dynamics in a multisensory síndrome and its similitude with normals. Scaling Laws», Open Access
In: Costa, A.; Villalba, E. (Eds.) ''Horizons in Neuroscience'' Vol. 13: Chap.10, pp. 161–189. * Gonzalo Fonrodona, I. (2015)
«The pioneering research of justo Gonzalo (1910–1986) on brain dynamics». Open Access
(Includes English translation of the article Gonzalo, J. (1952) «Las funciones cerebrales humanas según nuevos datos y bases fisiológicas. Una introducción a los estudios de Dinámica Cerebral» ''Traba. Inst. Cajal Investig. Biológ.'' XLIII: pp. 209–260). E-prints Complutense, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2015). «Modelling the compression of perceived time by a cerebral system with nervous excitability and near perception threshold». ''Neurocomputing'' 151: pp. 85-90. * Gonzalo Fonrodona, I.; Porras, M.A. (2015). «El neurocientífico Justo Gonzalo (1910-1986) antes, durante y después de la Guerra Civil Española». En Ciencia y Técnica entre la paz y la guerra, F. González Redondo (coord.), Vol.1: pp. 431-438. XII congreso de la Sociedad Española de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas (SEHCYT). * García-Molina, A. (2015)
«Justo Gonzalo’s groundbreaking contributions to the study of cerebral functional organisation»
''Neurosciences and History'' 3(2): pp. 61–67. * García-Molina, A.; Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2023)
«Redescubriendo al paciente M: Justo Gonzalo Rodríguez-Leal y su teoría de la dinámica cerebral»
''Rev. Neurol.'' 76 (7): pp. 231-241. * García-Molina, A.; Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2024)
«Chronology of Justo Gonzalo's research on brain dynamics»
''Rev. Neurol.'' 78(7): 199-207. * Gonzalo Fonrodona, I. (2024). «La extensa recopilación de heridos cerebrales por Justo Gonzalo (1910-1986) y los gradientes cerebrales». En: ''Ciencia, técnica y libertad en España'' Puig-Samper, López Sánchez, Prados Martín Lérida Jiménez (eds.). Cap. VIII pp:447-452. SEHCYT y Fundación Ignacio Larramendi. ISBN: 978-84-9744-456-9 * García-Molina, A. (2024). «Book review: Brain Dynamics». ''Neurosciences and History'' 12(2): 117-122. * Gonzalo-Fonrodona, I. (2025)
«Historical Note on Multisensory and Motor Facilitation and its Dependence on Brain Excitability Deficit»
''Multisensory Research''. Open Access.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalo Rodriguez-Leal, Justo 1910 births 1986 deaths Spanish neurologists Neurophysiologists 20th-century Spanish physicians History of neuroscience