Neurons and Perception

Professor Earl Miller discusses the hypothesis that an entire network of neurons are required to perceptually identify a single object.

Well does it take a whole network to describe a single concept or stimulus? We don't really know the answer to that yet. We think that it probably takes a whole network of neurons because there is no strong evidence in the brain for something called grandmother cells. That is a single neuron that responds to a single percept or concept. Rather, when you think of a concept or you experience something, you're activating networks of neurons all over the brain and they may all contribute to your internalized thought of that percept or concept.

perception, neuron, network, stimulus, brain, earl, miller,

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1192. Prefrontal Cortex and Recognition

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Professor Earl Miller explains that that the term 'plasticity' is used by neuroscientists to refer to the fact that the brain changes as a result of experience.

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1193. Categorization in the Brain

Professor Earl Miller discusses the importance of the brain's ability to categorize objects.

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1191. Neurons for Recognition

Professor Earl Miller explains that neurons in the prefrontal cortex respond to recognize very specific categories of object such as 'dog' or 'cat'.

  • ID: 1191
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1194. Brain as Parallel Processor

Professor Earl Miller explain that the brain, unlike a computer, processes information in a parallel manner. This makes for quick identification of objects.

  • ID: 1194
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1195. Brain regions and Object Identification

Professor Earl Miller explains that the visual cortex, inferior temporal cortex, and prefrontal cortex perform distinct functions in object identification.

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Professor Christian Keysers explains that information is processed by a number of different regions in the brain that are connected by circuits.

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2329. The Brain Rewad System - Brain Structures

Doctor Abraham Zangen discusses the key structures underlying the brain reward system, a complex neural network that includes the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus.

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