From this model and theory behind it, from a scientific point of view, predictions should be able to be made.
I think the biggest changes will come, in finding the bridging part in this model, from neurological to psychological.
Currently I see many mentions and results from researches saying: Oh, this and this thought comes from this and this hormone change or is influenced by your stomach.
Though these researches have been done thoroughly and correct, they fail one thing. They conclude something that is not related DIRECTLY.
See, of course the amount of processing in the stomach influences the brain, because the brain is the mechanism of the organism to secure correct feeding (energy intake). It secures survival from that perspective. However, there is no direct calculation possible from ‘enzym A’ in the stomach causes you to want a ‘Snickers’. Why not? Because there is an intrinsic structure which the body responds with, to changes in the intestines. However, it depends on how the brain is trained to respond to direct responses, but also how the brain is influenced on a more biological level by changed content of the intestines, whether it will respond in the same way each time.
Imagine:
You eat something very sour. You have already eaten sour the last few days. The pH in your intestines are raising and many bacteria needed for digestion die. The body will create hormones to support growth of these bacteria or at least the required pH level in the intestines. This can cause the rest of the body to receive these hormones or enzymes too, causing changes on cellular or intercellular level of behavior. This can influence the ‘throughput’ of information in the brain, but even cause certain resistance levels of neurons to change.
Does this mean you suddenly require a specific named combined food type that is wrapped in a specific color and has specific colors on them, based on the change of flora in your intestines? NO. The body is trying to restore optimal working and causes the organism to comply to this. This can cause ‘cognitive’ effects, but these are not directly induced. These are ‘collateral’ effects. The organism’s physiological processes are not aware (or should not care either) whether the organism’s neural system is further developed than the process requires to influence the organism to maintain life support/primary function: Life.
So, how will this change from the model?
Taking into account the above, with the model/theory I hope we will be able to connect all the dots and find out WHY certain individuals have a higher chance of getting ‘cognitive’ disorders, from changes in the biological inner space of the body.
The model/theory will also ensure the evolutionary theory/process will be bound on this level. We can calculate from it, which ancestral species would have had what traits and what traits we KNOW were there before certain lines and have been removed from the organisms traits.
