[extropy-chat] Can a single brain cell recognize Bill Clinton?

[Terry W. Colvin]

Forwarding permission was given by William R. Corliss

< http://www.science-frontiers.com >

SCIENCE FRONTIERS, No. 160, Jul-Aug 2005, p.  2


BIOLOGY

Can a single brain cell recognize Bill Clinton?

With this politically charged title, J. Horgan begins to cast doubt upon the
pixel theory of the brain's image processing.  A pixel is a single 
visual dot
in the array of dots that create the picture you see on the screen of a
digital camera.  The digital representation of a pixel includes color and
intensity.  A digital camera arranges millions of pixels in an array that
passes for a picture of, say, Bill Clinton!

Most neuroscientists adhere to the "pixel" theory of brain visualization;
that is, individual brain cells, the neurons, are capable of processing 
*only
one* pixel each from among the millions in an image flashed to the brain by
the optical system.  In other words a single neuron is generally thought to
be incapable of pattern recognition---dots and that's all!

   But Itzhak Fried, the neurosurgeon who implanted the electrodes
   in Danny's brain [Danny is a 21-year-old college student] and who
   leads this UCLA research program, believes he has found
   "thinking cells" in the brains of subjects like Danny.  If he's
   right, neuroscientists may be forced to overhaul their view
   of how the human brain works.

The thought that a single brain cell can process many pixels in the data 
stream
transmitted from eyes began with research with animals.

In the 1970s, experiments with monkeys by C. Gross at Princeton found that
single brain cells did indeed respond selectively to various hands and 
faces---
but not *specific* faces.  In other words, *any* face would elicit an
electrical signal from a so-called "face cell."

Experiments then moved logically to electrodes implanted in human brains.
There, single cells were located that responded to images of *specific* life
forms---eagles, rabbits, etc.---but only one species per "thinking cell".
These cells were mute when pictures of different animals were shown to
the subjects.

Next, it was discovered that some cells could distinguish between smiling
and scowling faces.  Finally, a "Bill Clinton" cell was located in a 
subject's
brain.  This cell responded only when the subject was shown virtually any
picture of Bill Clinton, regardless of his mood or physical appearance.
For good reason, these advanced pattern-recognition cells were called
Bill Clinton cells.

The use of mirrors proved that *narcissism* cells are also present in the
human brain!

(Horgan, John; "Can a Single Brain Cell Recognize Bill Clinton?" *Discover*,
26:64, June 2005)

Questions

(1) How can single, ostensibly rather simple, neurons process the flood 
of bits
arriving from subject's optical system?

(2) Can Darwinian evolution account for single-cell pattern recognition?  Of
course it can; it *must*!

(3) Has the data stream from the subject's optical system been preprocessed
by the optical system itself, leaving little for the neurons to do?

(4) Are the Bill Clinton cells only the output terminals of holographic
(whole-brain) image processing.


SCIENCE FRONTIERS is a bimonthly collection of scientific anomalies in
the current literature.  Published by the Sourcebook Project, P.O. Box 107,
Glen Arm, MD 21057 USA.  Annual subscription: $8.00.


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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