Dictionary

Jennifer Aniston neuron en · NOUN

Etymology

Named after Jennifer Aniston, from a 2005 study which identified a neuron firing to photographs showing the actress.

Meanings

1. (informal) Synonym of grandmother cell.
   • In fact, the Jennifer Aniston neuron also responded to Lisa Kudrow, another star of Friends (the television series that made them both famous), in an experiment carried out the next day. 2012, Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, Borges and Memory: Encounters with the Human Brain, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 173:
   • A Jennifer Aniston neuron? How could this be? Surely nothing in our evolutionary history suggests that Jennifer Aniston is a permanent denizen of our brain wiring. 2014, John Medina, Brain Rules, updated and expanded edition, Pear Press, →ISBN, page 94:

Forms

Synonyms

grandmother cell