Twilight of an era: from the ventricular doctrine to the corticocentric model
A. García-Molina, J. Peña-Casanova
Neurosciences and History 2024;12(3):171-179
Type of article: REVIEW
AUTHORS
A. García-Molina1,2, J. Peña-Casanova2,3,4
1Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, Badalona, Spain.
2Fundació Institut d’Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain.
3Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
4Fundació Institut Mar d’Investigacions Médiques (FIMIM), Barcelona, Spain.
5Department of psychiatry and legal medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
ABSTRACT
Introduction. Over the course of history, different solutions have been proposed to elucidate the anatomical location of psychic activity and the mechanisms through which it occurs. For centuries, the ventricular doctrine and the theory of animal spirits were the standard model for explaining the anatomy and physiology of the brain. With the advent of the 17th century, these classical dogmas were rejected and progressively replaced by concepts and theories that were better aligned with the anatomical and physiological facts.
Development. In the 17th century, several authors asserted that the cerebral cortex was the seat of psychic activity, openly questioning the ventricular doctrine. This scientific revolution was supported by Caspar Bauhin, Johann Wepfer, Thomas Willis, and Marcello Malpighi. A hundred years later, authors including Emanuel Swedenborg and Georg Procháska not only located mental life in the cerebral cortex, but also suggested that this structure was made up of specialised functional regions. These ideas were the precursor to the cortical localisationism of the 19th century.
Conclusions. The 17th and 18th centuries were a period of transition from classical/medieval medical thought, represented by the ventricular theory, to modern medical thought, which situates psychic life in the cerebral cortex.
KEYWORDS
Cerebral ventricles, cerebral cortex, animal spirits, cortical localisation, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology
Neurosciences and History 2024;12(3):171-179
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