Mike Palij, with a talent for the obscure referent,  paused in the course 
of a discussion to note:

> (the problem is similar to that  for the classic "grandmother" or 
> "yellow volkswagen" account of pattern  recognition).   

Now I believe I am familiar with the "grandmother" allusion. It refers to 
a concept which emerged from the Hubel-Weisel recording studies of 
neurons in the visual cortex of the cat. Later studies by others showed 
that neurons in a neighbouring region of the brain (the inferotemporal 
cortex?) were highly specific (fired only)  to complex visual stimuli. 
The suggestion was made that in our cortex there may exist neurons which 
are so specifically tuned as to respond only to the stimulus of our 
grandmother's face. So the full allusion would be to a "grandmother cell" 
(and I probably could even find out who first said it if I really wanted 
to).

But yellow volkswagen? You've got me there. Are you sure you didn't mean 
"yellow submarine?"

Stephen

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.          
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus   
Bishop's University      e-mail:  [email protected]
2600 College St.
Sherbrooke QC  J1M 1Z7
Canada

Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of
psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly ([email protected])

Reply via email to