The grandmother cell is a hypothetical neuron that represents a complex but specific concept or object. It activates when a person "sees, hears, or otherwise sensibly discriminates" a specific entity, such as his or her grandmother. The term was coined around 1969 by Jerry Lettvin. A similar concept was proposed two years earlier by Jerzy Konorski of a gnostic neuron.
Read more about Grandmother Cell: Sparseness Vs Distributed Respresentations, Pontifical Cells
Famous quotes containing the words grandmother and/or cell:
“Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvellous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.”
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
“A cell for prayer, a hall for joy,—
They treated nature as they would.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)