Pyramidal Neuron, drawn by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934)
“For example, in 2005, neuroscientists discovered that an epilepsy patient had one neuron cell that fired whenever a photo of Jennifer Aniston was presented. Various photos showing the blonde actress in different poses and from different angles all elicited a response from the same concept cell, a neuron in the hippocampus.
“Concept cells were also found in different regions of the medial temporal lobe,” Roy said. “For example, a ‘James Brolin cell’ was found in the right hippocampus, a ‘Venus Williams cell’ was in the left hippocampus, a ‘Marilyn Monroe cell’ was in the left parahippocampal cortex and a ‘Michael Jackson cell’ was in the right amygdala.”
Excerpt from: Do brain cells need to be connected to have meaning?
December 4, 2012 by Lisa Zyga in Neuroscience