grandmother cell
any hypothetical neuron in the visual association cortex that is stimulated only by a single highly complex and meaningful stimulus, such as a particular individual (e.g., one’s grandmother) or a particular well-known object (e.g., the Sydney Opera House). It is an extension of the feature detector concept to a degree that has been dismissed by many as overly simplistic and untenable. However, research on the activity patterns of single neurons in memory-linked areas of the brain has provided support for the concept by revealing a much higher degree of neuronal specificity than previously believed. [coined in 1969 by U.S. cognitive scientist Jerome Ysroael Lettvin (1920–2011), although the concept itself was proposed two years earlier by Polish neurophysiologist Jerzy Konorski (1903–1973), who referred to it as a gnostic neuron]