title: The gravitational field and brain function.
abstract: The frontal cortex is recognized as the highest adaptive control center of the human brain. The principle of the "frontalization" of human brain function offers new possibilities for brain research in space. There is evolutionary and experimental evidence indicating the validity of the principle, including it's role in nervous response to gravitational stimulation. The gravitational field is considered here as one of the more constant and comprehensive factors acting on brain evolution, which has undergone some successive crucial steps: "encephalization", "corticalization", "lateralization" and "frontalization". The dominating effects of electrical responses from the frontal cortex have been discovered 1) in experiments under gravitational stimulus; and 2) in processes potentially relating to gravitational adaptation, such as memory and learning, sensory information processing, motor programing, and brain state control. A brain research experiment during space flight is suggested to test the role of the frontal cortex in space adaptation and it's potentiality in brain control.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Space Medico-Engineering, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Z G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: X M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Xue
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000818:Animals; D001510:Bed Rest; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001945:Breathing Exercises; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006112:Gravitation; D006801:Humans; D018471:Hypergravity; D008568:Memory; D009929:Organ Size; D011817:Rabbits; D013026:Space Flight