Word.ws English Dictionary

grandmother cell

grandmother cell noun: a hypothetical neuron that represents a complex but specific concept or object, and activates upon recognition.

Noun

grandmother cell (plural grandmother cells)

  1. A hypothetical neuron that represents a complex but specific concept or object, and activates upon recognition.

Forms of grandmother cell

pluralgrandmother cells

Origin of grandmother cell

Coined around 1969 by Jerry Lettvin, referring to the idea of recognising one's grandmother.

Questions about grandmother cell

What does grandmother cell mean?
Grandmother cell means a hypothetical neuron that represents a complex but specific concept or object, and activates upon recognition.
What part of speech is grandmother cell?
Grandmother cell is a noun.
What is the plural of grandmother cell?
The plural of grandmother cell is grandmother cells.

Words near grandmother cell in the dictionary

  1. grandmommy
  2. grandmoms
  3. Grandmontine
  4. Grandmontines
  5. grandmother
  6. grandmother cell
  7. grandmother cells
  8. grandmother clock
  9. grandmother clocks
  10. grandmother rule
  11. grandmother's footsteps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grandmother cell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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