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Scientists have long been looking for a type of brain cell --- grandmother cell, which is a hypothetical neuron, originally proposed by Polish neuroscientist Jerzy Konorski in 1968
.
When the grandmother appeared, among the billions of neurons that could not be seen at a glance, one neuron was lit up, and that was the grandmother cell
The grandmother cell hypothesis believes that the "grandmother" neuron will only be activated when a specific concept appears
.
For example, if a neuron is responsible for the grandmother, when we see the grandmother, hear the grandmother's voice, and recall the grandmother's voice and smile, this neuron will be activated
Grandmother cells are only responsible for a single concept or idea.
An idea is carried by only one neuron, and there is no overlap between neurons carrying different ideas
.
Visually speaking, the grandmother cell is like a computer keyboard, and each key only encodes one letter
Recently, a new study published in the journal Science showed that there is a type of neurons in the temporal poles of the brain that connect facial perception with long-term memory
.
This is not exactly the legendary grandmother neuron-it is not a single cell, but a group of cells that collectively remember the face of the grandmother
There is a class of neurons in the temporal poles of the brain that connect facial perception with long-term memory
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging as a guide, the research team zoomed in on the temporal poles of two rhesus monkeys and watched familiar faces on the screen (they have seen them with their own eyes) and unfamiliar faces who had only seen virtual faces on the macaques.
During the image, the electrical signals of neurons in the temporal pole area were recorded
.
The research team found that neurons in the TP area are highly selective, and respond more strongly to faces that subjects have seen before than to unfamiliar faces
.
And the speed of these neurons is very fast-it immediately distinguishes between known and unknown faces when processing images
Neurons in the TP area are highly selective
Neurons in the TP area are highly selectiveThe study’s first author and neuroscientist Sofia Landi said: " Now, in an unremarkable and understudied corner of the brain, we have discovered the closest thing to grandmother neurons: the ability to link facial perception and memory.
Cells
.
These cells respond three times more strongly to familiar faces than unfamiliar faces, even if the subject has actually seen unfamiliar faces on the screen multiple times
Now, in an inconspicuous and understudied corner of the brain, we have discovered the closest thing to a grandmother's neuron: cells that connect facial perception and memory
Since then, scientists have discovered a large number of sensory neurons that specialize in processing facial information, and the same number of memory cells are used to store personal encounter data
.
However, a grandmother neuron--even a hybrid cell capable of linking vision and memory--has never appeared
These findings constitute the first evidence of mixed brain cells, unlike the legendary grandmother neurons
.
The cells in the TP area behave like sensory cells and have a reliable and rapid response to visual stimuli
.
But they are also like memory cells, only responding to stimuli (familiar faces) that the brain has seen before, reflecting changes in the brain due to past experiences
.
The author of the study stated that they are these very intuitive and very sensory cells - but they are like memory cells
.
The results of the study further uncovered the connection between sensory and memory domains
.
But strictly speaking, these cells are not grandmother-level neurons
.
The cells in the TP area do not code for a familiar face, but work together as a collective
.
The discovery of the TP area at the core of facial recognition means that researchers can soon begin to study how these cells encode familiar faces
.
In the future, these findings may also have a clinical impact on people suffering from prosopagnosia, a social isolation disorder that affects about one percent of the population
.
References: Sofia M.
Landi, Pooja Viswanathan, Stephen Serene, Winrich A.
Freiwald.
A fast link between face perception and memory in the temporal pole .
Science , 2021; eabi6671 DOI: 10.
1126/science.
abi6671
1126 / science.
abi6671 in this message