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Scientists Discover Brain Cells Devoted ...


Article Submitted by master911.

It is a discovery that could explain the enduring appeal of Friends. Scientists have found brain cells devoted to Jennifer Aniston.

Fans of the actress, who played socialite Rachel Green in the Channel 4 sit-com, are likely to have at least one brain cell that springs into action each time they see a picture of her, research suggests.

Other brain cells are similarly encoded to store memories of individual celebrities, from actress Halle Berry to former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

Even Star Wars character Luke Skywalker has a cell of his own.

The Leicester University research, contradicts the popular theory that a large network of cells are involved in processing images of people.

Instead, it appears, our brains streamline the process by devoting individual cells to store memories of specific people or places.

Neuroscientist Rodrigo Quian Quiroga (CORR) made the finding after showing people being treated for epilepsy hundreds of pictures of famous people and of landmarks.

Tiny electrodes implanted as part of their treatment picked up the electrical activity or 'firing' of around 100 brain cells in each person.

Tests showed that one woman had a cell that specifically recognised pictures of Jennifer Aniston.

Another woman had a brain cell for pictures of Halle Berry, responding to drawings of her face and an image of just the words in her name.

Even a picture in which the Catwoman actress's face was almost covered by her costume made the cell fire.

Other celebrities exciting individual brain cells included Pamela Anderson, Oprah Winfrey and Tom Cruise. Famous landmarks also had their own cells.

The study also showed that the same person can have a number of cells devoted to different celebrities or landmarks.

Professor Quian Quiroga said: 'The patient with the Jennifer Aniston neuron had 19 other cells firing to different things.

'There was one firing to Pamela Anderson, another one was firing to the Tower of Pisa, another to Sydney Opera House and so on.'

Although the researchers only found one Jennifer Aniston or Halle Berry cell per person, they only sampled a fraction of the available brain cells.

This means each person's brain is likely to have a number cells devoted to their favourite celebrities.

It is likely we also have cells coded to recognise family members.

In further experiments, the researchers have shown it is possible to tell whether a person is looking at a picture of Jennifer Aniston or of Halle Berry simply by monitoring their brain cells.

Professor Quian Quiroga, who will give a lecture on his findings next week, said they could feed into research into the development of prosthetic limbs driven by the brain.

The work could also aid research into Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia and other conditions which involve the area of the brain studied.

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12 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

jarcaf : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

jarcaf

0 votes NegativePositive

62 days 11 hours ago...

Wow... this sorta changes everything that I thought about how my brain works. Cool!

irishkreme : LVL 14: VP 2.3: said:

irishkreme

1 votes NegativePositive

62 days 11 hours ago...

Well I definitely have brain cells devoted to Sophia Bush in the Hitcher!

disco dirk : LVL 15: VP 2.4: said:

disco dirk

6 votes NegativePositive

62 days 11 hours ago...

Just one? It seems today`s generation only knows celebrities and have never read a book. Fuckin` MTV.

stbasdf : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

stbasdf

2 votes NegativePositive

62 days 8 hours ago...

i don`t know how much i trust this study without reading the methods first. does anyone know if electrodes can have the `resolution` to detect a single cell? and can they be sure to determine that no other cells were being activated at the same time? maybe multiple cells and systems are involved in storing memory, but only a few cells are needed to recognize stimulus and activate the memories. this is an interesting study

northern_tide : LVL 26: VP 3.5: said:

northern_tide

13 votes NegativePositive

62 days 7 hours ago...

is it the same with pornstars? acuse Im obsessed with crista moore and bree olson

anoniem : LVL 29: VP 3.8: said:

anoniem

6 votes NegativePositive

62 days 5 hours ago...

too many things wrong with this..
bs

leoleotheiii : LVL 20: VP 2.9: said:

leoleotheiii

0 votes NegativePositive

62 days 5 hours ago...

^care to explain?
Don`t take this the wrong way, i genuinely want to hear some opinions on this

Kold_Dusk : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

Kold_Dusk

-1 votes NegativePositive

62 days 1 hour ago...

So your brain uses brain cells to remember things?

Yutakasama : LVL 22: VP 3.1: said:

Yutakasama

-1 votes NegativePositive

61 days 22 hours ago...

bout time. now to start leasing space gotta get me another bag of herbage. who wants dibs. 10 bucks gets you a cell, 100 will get your entire life`s story embedded in my ass fat.

anoniem : LVL 29: VP 3.8: said:

anoniem

13 votes NegativePositive

61 days 9 hours ago...

@leoleotheiii:
1. No names of scientists that made this discovery? Just says scientists..
2. Do you have any idea how many brain cells each one of us has? It takes large groups of them to recall faces and do similar tasks. I highly doubt a single brain cell could store the info they claim.
3. Why in the world would they even bring up celebrities?
If this was true, wouldn`t they say there is a brain cell devoted to almost all of the faces you have seen before or would recognize?

TheRepostPolice : LVL 35: VP 4.3: said:

TheRepostPolice

5 votes NegativePositive

60 days 23 hours ago...

^ agreed

somebody keeps making shit up as they go

M0re B33r : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

M0re B33r

-3 votes NegativePositive

60 days 15 hours ago...

my brain can`t make a cell for credit card numbers...so if you send them to me, I wont be able to see them

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