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▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor In the vast crowd, we can always recognize our acquaintances at a glance
.
Although this "face recognition" ability is innate, scientists have never been able to find the nerve cells related to it in the brain
.
Until today, the latest paper published in "Science" magazine really solved this mystery
.
In fact, as early as more than half a century ago, scientists wanted to know how the brain "recognized faces"
.
In the 1960s, scientists hypothesized that different neurons encode information about different faces.
For example, one neuron can recognize our mother, and another neuron can correspond to grandma's face
.
Such neurons are also jokingly called "mother neurons" and "grandmother neurons"
.
But 60 years later, although scientists have found many neurons related to processing facial information, they have never found which brain cells still have the function of "recognizing acquaintances
.
"
"According to past expectations, this problem should have been resolved long ago," said Professor Winrich Freiwald, one of the leaders of this study.
"But far from expectations, we don't know how the brain processes the faces of acquaintances.
Where is the brain area responsible for this process
.
" ▲Professor Winrich Freiwald, one of the leaders of this paper (photo source: Professor Winrich Freiwald's laboratory website) Five years ago, Professor Freiwald and other scientists jointly discovered the temporal lobe of the brain.
The “temporal pole” area may be related to the “face recognition” ability
.
So they designed an experiment to observe how the temporal pole neurons react when two rhesus monkeys observe the faces of acquaintances (seen in real life) and the faces of strangers
.
Interestingly, the neurons in this area seem to be very selective: they are much more active when you see the faces of acquaintances
.
And these monkeys hardly need to think, they can react immediately when they see the facial image
.
The researchers pointed out that this shows that monkeys can distinguish between the faces of acquaintances and strangers almost instantaneously
.
▲The temporal pole area (red and yellow) is involved in facial recognition (picture source: Reference [2]; Credit: Sofia Landi) Moreover, the researchers also observed a very interesting phenomenon: even with the screen to these monkeys Playing the faces of strangers many times, they still react more strongly to acquaintances they have seen in the real world
.
The press release related to the paper pointed out that the response of temporal pole neurons in monkeys is still three times higher! "This may indicate the importance of seeing real people," said Dr.
Sofia M.
Landi, the first author of this study.
"Considering the recent trend of everything going'online', we need to pay attention to what we see on the screen.
The neural response aroused may be different from meeting face-to-face
.
"Why do these neurons recognize the faces of acquaintances? The researchers also gave their explanation: On the one hand, neurons in this area of the brain are like sensory cells, which can quickly and accurately respond to visual stimuli; on the other hand, these cells also have the function of "memory cells".
Characteristics, only reacts to faces that have been seen before
.
"We found a connection between feeling and memory
.
" Professor Freiwald commented
.
▲The study is expected to be used to treat patients with "face blindness" (picture source: 123RF) The researchers pointed out that this discovery has opened a new door
.
In the future, they will further explore how these neurons encode information about familiar faces
.
In addition, in the future, we are also expected to understand how other parts of the brain react when we see an acquaintance
.
For patients with "face blindness", the discovery may further bring new insights into the mechanism of the disease, allowing us to find a way to treat face blindness
.
"When I first entered the field of neuroscience, if I wanted to say that other people's theories were unreliable, I would joke about the'grandmother neuron', which meant that this was just speculation and did not actually exist," Professor Freiwald added.
"Today, We found the cell closest to the'grandma neuron' in a hidden corner of the brain that lacked research
.
"Reference: [1] Sofia M.
Landi et al.
, (2021), A fast link between face perception and memory in the temporal pole, Science, DOI: 10.
1126/science.
abi6671[2] Scientists discover a new class of memory cells in the brain, Retrieved July 1, 2021, from https:// ru-sda063021.
php
.
Although this "face recognition" ability is innate, scientists have never been able to find the nerve cells related to it in the brain
.
Until today, the latest paper published in "Science" magazine really solved this mystery
.
In fact, as early as more than half a century ago, scientists wanted to know how the brain "recognized faces"
.
In the 1960s, scientists hypothesized that different neurons encode information about different faces.
For example, one neuron can recognize our mother, and another neuron can correspond to grandma's face
.
Such neurons are also jokingly called "mother neurons" and "grandmother neurons"
.
But 60 years later, although scientists have found many neurons related to processing facial information, they have never found which brain cells still have the function of "recognizing acquaintances
.
"
"According to past expectations, this problem should have been resolved long ago," said Professor Winrich Freiwald, one of the leaders of this study.
"But far from expectations, we don't know how the brain processes the faces of acquaintances.
Where is the brain area responsible for this process
.
" ▲Professor Winrich Freiwald, one of the leaders of this paper (photo source: Professor Winrich Freiwald's laboratory website) Five years ago, Professor Freiwald and other scientists jointly discovered the temporal lobe of the brain.
The “temporal pole” area may be related to the “face recognition” ability
.
So they designed an experiment to observe how the temporal pole neurons react when two rhesus monkeys observe the faces of acquaintances (seen in real life) and the faces of strangers
.
Interestingly, the neurons in this area seem to be very selective: they are much more active when you see the faces of acquaintances
.
And these monkeys hardly need to think, they can react immediately when they see the facial image
.
The researchers pointed out that this shows that monkeys can distinguish between the faces of acquaintances and strangers almost instantaneously
.
▲The temporal pole area (red and yellow) is involved in facial recognition (picture source: Reference [2]; Credit: Sofia Landi) Moreover, the researchers also observed a very interesting phenomenon: even with the screen to these monkeys Playing the faces of strangers many times, they still react more strongly to acquaintances they have seen in the real world
.
The press release related to the paper pointed out that the response of temporal pole neurons in monkeys is still three times higher! "This may indicate the importance of seeing real people," said Dr.
Sofia M.
Landi, the first author of this study.
"Considering the recent trend of everything going'online', we need to pay attention to what we see on the screen.
The neural response aroused may be different from meeting face-to-face
.
"Why do these neurons recognize the faces of acquaintances? The researchers also gave their explanation: On the one hand, neurons in this area of the brain are like sensory cells, which can quickly and accurately respond to visual stimuli; on the other hand, these cells also have the function of "memory cells".
Characteristics, only reacts to faces that have been seen before
.
"We found a connection between feeling and memory
.
" Professor Freiwald commented
.
▲The study is expected to be used to treat patients with "face blindness" (picture source: 123RF) The researchers pointed out that this discovery has opened a new door
.
In the future, they will further explore how these neurons encode information about familiar faces
.
In addition, in the future, we are also expected to understand how other parts of the brain react when we see an acquaintance
.
For patients with "face blindness", the discovery may further bring new insights into the mechanism of the disease, allowing us to find a way to treat face blindness
.
"When I first entered the field of neuroscience, if I wanted to say that other people's theories were unreliable, I would joke about the'grandmother neuron', which meant that this was just speculation and did not actually exist," Professor Freiwald added.
"Today, We found the cell closest to the'grandma neuron' in a hidden corner of the brain that lacked research
.
"Reference: [1] Sofia M.
Landi et al.
, (2021), A fast link between face perception and memory in the temporal pole, Science, DOI: 10.
1126/science.
abi6671[2] Scientists discover a new class of memory cells in the brain, Retrieved July 1, 2021, from https:// ru-sda063021.
php
