NEW YORK -- A study suggests individual brain cells recognize famous people.

When a research team led by neuroscientists at the University of California-Los Angeles and California Institute of Technology sampled brain cell activity in eight people who were scrutinizing dozens of pictures, they found some cells that reacted to a particular famous person, landmark, animal or object.

In one case, a single cell was activated by different photos of actress Halle Berry, including some in her "Catwoman" costume, a drawing of her and even the words, "Halle Berry."

In another case, a single neuron of one volunteer responded to 30 out of 87 images, firing in response to all pictures of actress Jennifer Aniston, but not, or only very weakly, to other famous and nonfamous faces, landmarks, animals or objects. The neuron also did not respond to pictures of Jennifer Aniston together with actor Brad Pitt.

The research appears in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.

One expert said the work could help shed light on how the brain stores memories. A researcher said the study suggests the brain uses relatively few cells to record something it sees. That's in contrast to the idea that it uses a huge network of brain cells instead.

"Our findings fly in the face of conventional thinking about how brain cells function," said senior investigator Christof Koch, a professor at Caltech. "Conventional wisdom views individual brain cells as simple switches or relays. In fact, we are finding that neurons are able to function more like a sophisticated computer."

Study Summary