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SUMMARY:Grandmother cells in the human brain? - Professor Quian Quiroga\, 
 Department of Engineering\, University of Leicester
DTSTART:20080625T120000Z
DTEND:20080625T130000Z
UID:TALK12276@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Mollon
DESCRIPTION:We can easily recognize a person or an object in a fraction of
  a second even when seen from different angles\, with different sizes\, co
 lors\, contrasts and under strikingly different conditions. How neurons in
  the brain are capable of creating such an invariant representation has be
 en a hot topic of debate in Neuroscience for decades. In epileptic patient
 s candidates to surgery we analyzed the responses of neurons in the human 
 medial temporal lobe to picture presentations. Several technical improveme
 nts allowed us to start recording simultaneously from up 100 neurons simul
 taneously\, and this led to the finding of a remarkable type of neuron tha
 t fired selectively to different views of familiar individuals or objects.
  Given the extremely sparse\, explicit and abstract representation by thes
 e neurons\, can they be considered grandmother cells?
LOCATION:Seminar Room (ground floor)\, Craik-Marshall Building
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