'Grandmother Neurons' Are How We Identify Familiar Faces, New Discovery Shows

Scientists have found that our brains contain what’s called ‘grandmother neurons,’ which light up when we see a familiar face, like grandmother’s face. The discovery was made using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that showed a select set of neurons located in the temporal pole of rhesus monkeys lit up each time the monkeys saw photos of their buddies, both monkey and human. The process could help explain how the brain identifies personally familiar faces, and what it could mean in our understanding of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Autism. GUESTS: Winrich Freiwald - Head of the Laboratory of Neural Systems at Rockefeller University. Credited for the discovery of the ‘grandmother neurons.’ Dr. Robert Keder - Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician at Connecticut Children's, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut Brad Duchaine - Chair, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth, and co-founder of faceblind.org A.E. Gaupp - West Hartford attorney with prosopagnosia, or face blindness Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.