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Imagining Concepts

Interesting reading about concept neurons and the idea that there could be a single cell at the heart of your most intractable troubles. So if that "problematic" cell could somehow be identified and treated then you'd become free. The trick is to find the one as this researcher did in the context of actors any famous things

..he found a neuron that responded to the actor. That raised a new question: “Is it responding to this picture of Jennifer Aniston, or is it responding to the concept of ‘Jennifer Aniston’?” he recalled. In a follow-up experiment, he showed patients seven different pictures of Aniston, and found that the same neuron fired for all of the photos — but not for images of other actors or objects. He then started to identify neurons for other famous places and people. He found one that responded only to Halle Berry, and another that fired only for the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Imagine, there was a way to stimulate a person's brain with the things that made them anxious, angry or sad and see how those feels coalesced at a cellular level. Even knowing seems like a great first step - it would afford the person more agency and not feel like they can be triggered in ways they have no control over.

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