grandmother cell n. a neuron that is said to fire when a person recognizes a single individual. Editorial Note: This term is directly tied to a theory of neurology which posits that individual brain cells contain individual memories, as opposed to each memory being stored across a matrix of cells. Etymological Note: Jerome Lettvin is often credit with coining this term, but that has not been verified. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...
Rose in Lebanon, Virginia recalls a phrase passed down from her great-grandmother: The night before the first day of school, parents would come into the children’s bedroom and say in a singsong voice: School butter, school butter. This...