Mental gravity: Modelling the embodied self on the physical environment

The theory of mental gravity posits that phenomenological, cognitive, and affective states of an embodied self are structured according to the experience of physical gravity (i.e., internal gravity model). The theory draws a behavioral analogy between external (physical), internal (mental), and relational (socio-emotional) environments to argue that physical gravity serves as a mental template to express socio-emotional aspects of the selfworld relationship. The theory is based on the principle of cognitive gravitropism, whereby being "up" and "aligned" to the gravitational field confers survival, adaptive, emotional, and social value. The theory explains how mental gravity manifests in cognition and behavior, emotion and personality, large-scale brain networks, and the phenomenology of selfhood. On a surface level, the template for mental gravity derives from an embodied simulation of gravity's physiological effects. At a deeper level, the theory describes the underlying neural, cognitive, and phenomenological processes driving the mental simulation of physical gravity. Neuroanatomy of mental gravity focuses on the vestibular, salience, default mode, and central executive networks. On the basis of default mode activity, the self is viewed as the brain's autobiographical "centre of mental gravity". The self interacts with the socio-emotional environment from this reference frame, communicating feelings associated with the self -world relationship by simulating the effects of physical gravity through affect, behavior, and language. A continuum of mental gravity states is hypothesised to range from positive "up" and "down" states like ecstasy and mindfulness to negative "up" and "down" states like anxiety and depression, respectively.