What is Digg?73 Comments
- greenroom628, on 09/05/2008, -0/+134"alright brain, i don't like you and you don't like me. so let's get this over with so i can go back to killing you with beer."
- SteveLRowe, on 09/05/2008, -1/+52Amusing, but massively useless. Did all the clips contain sound or just landscapes? Was the neuron in a portion of the brain associated with comedy or the color yellow?
- palehorse864, on 09/07/2008, -2/+49We're embiggened by this cromulent study.
- Sererena, on 09/05/2008, -0/+45Because The Simpsons is entertaining?
- dehydratedbaby, on 09/07/2008, -0/+39shut up brain or I'll stab you with a Q-tip
- MelvinSchlubman, on 09/05/2008, -0/+25Maybe "The Simpsons" is something they've directly experienced (as much as it can be), while the other 2 examples are things the subjects have never seen in person - more personal.
- ivansusanin, on 09/07/2008, -0/+25the brain's probably remembering how many times its seen that same episode.
- majikmixx, on 09/07/2008, -0/+22Simpsons did it.
- Sunscreen, on 09/07/2008, -3/+23Mmmmmmmmm..... Neurons
- JingleHymrShmit, on 09/07/2008, -0/+18The Simpsons > Hollywood
- Schmapdi, on 09/07/2008, -2/+17Can we see the point where my brain gets sad because the Simpsons got mediocre, then crappy, then really crappy, then coasted well past when it should have bowed out gracefully.
- holyskeleton, on 09/07/2008, -0/+15I don't remember a single episode of The Simpsons that didn't involve eating or drinking something, which is probably why I always get hungry when I'm watching it.
- CaviMike, on 09/07/2008, -0/+13Umm, that was Homer talking to his brain, not Pinky talking to Brain.
- Mawds, on 09/07/2008, -0/+10IOU one brain, signed, God.
- Mitchellkohl, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8Yes, it WAS a good show.
- inactive, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6It's a perfectly cromulent sentence
- ElGubrush, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6(from Stargate)
O'Neill: "I think I remember a man, he's bald, round and he means a lot to me. I think his name is . . . Homer" - Xihix, on 09/07/2008, -1/+7You really don't think about it now, but for those who were fans back in the day (who wasn't, seriously?), The Simpsons had a huge effect on us. Every generation had it's thing, and the golden era of the show (first eight seasons plus parts of season nine) is part of our thing.
- D1Foley, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6Really they responded more to a clip of a T.V. show than a clip of a boring landscape?
- Sornos, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5There was article in Discover a while back about this. It was called the "Bill Clinton cell". You can probably find it on the Discover site.
Edit:
Here are:
http://discovermagazine.com/2005/jun/single-brain- ... - textuality, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5The brain was probably thinking "Where the hell is Bart in this picture??"
- Qually, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5The graphic doesn't explain this, but this research *isn't* trying to show that people remember or care about the Simpsons more than the Statue of Libery or the Hollywood sign. The point is that they claim the particular neuron they were examining is a "Simpsons neuron," i.e. it fires only when the Simpsons comes on, and at no other time. Presumably, there is a "Statue of Liberty neuron" and "Hollywood sign neuron" also, which they could have examined instead.
- IG64, on 09/07/2008, -1/+6Maybe it was because it's a colorful cartoon and the rest of it was all real photos? It's especially useless to us because we don't have all of the information.
- nshady, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5Science is ***** awesome.
- 801NvizioN, on 09/07/2008, -1/+5GENIUS
- cquilliam, on 09/07/2008, -0/+4*annoyed grunt*
- junkneo, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3Woo hoo
- jamespurdy, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3I remember my teacher individually asking as many students as she could what brand of beer was on the simpsons, and everyone responded "Duff" i forgot the point she was trying to make, but interesting to see how insanely mainstream The Simpsons is
- dpalmer, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3Not massively useless at all! This is showing that individual cells can be directly linked to specific memories. In all of our knowledge about medicine and the body, the brain still remains a bit of an enigma. Neurologists and researchers (including all the neuroscience professors I've talked to) have been puzzled over how the brain recalls memories and as mentioned in the article this could be the beginning of a foundation for further research. Also, an interesting finding is the fact that the neurons are firing a "second or two" before the memory is recalled. In neural cells, this is a long ass time.
PLUS, I've never heard of a researcher getting a publication in Science out of a "massively useless" study. - j0etb, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3"That's it, I'm outta here"
- DivisibleByZero, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3Or if the test subject was like me, the 5 second clip would be enough to identify which episode it was, and remember every single joke it in.
- pinstripewizard, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3I was expecting this guy: http://www.geocities.com/gabrielwu84/pinky_brain.g ...
- chris86, on 09/07/2008, -0/+3Is says they showed them 48 different clips, so presumably they included cartoons/TV shows/fiction as well as well known landscapes and other real places and things. Otherwise it wouldn't make much sense.
- jstearns, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2They all got epilepsy watching Pokemon and The Simpsons, so the images are burned into their memory..
- chris86, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2Here's the article its from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/science/05brain. ... - DivisibleByZero, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2It's one of the older starting sequences. There wasn't enough room on the couch for all 5 family members so the pressure shot Bart up in the air. He landed in front of the TV.
- charm803, on 09/07/2008, -1/+3Probably the simplicity of it. The colors do stand out. And I agree, I think it could have been any show vs a landscape.
But this study makes it sound like epilepsy patients have an IQ of a 5 year old. And they are normal people, just tend to have seizures.
I had epileptic seizures when I was younger and I turned out fine. - indubitably, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2i wonder how many neurons would fire if they showed clips from 'seinfeld'.
- Lucifugerising, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2I wish they would have shown the whole thing then.
Maybe something else is making the image more instant, like color. - RobotBuddha, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2I certainly think about it a lot. There's only one or two episodes a season these days that I really like, but it's the only franchise from when I was a kid still churning out enjoyable new material. Not to mention something that my generation knows, my parents generation, and which even has significance to pretty much all the generations since mine. It's really amazing in a lot of ways.
Also, I wear an onion on my belt. - OpCzar, on 09/07/2008, -0/+2In that case, might as well bury your post - no point in keeping boring things around.
- DivisibleByZero, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1You're right. That's the episode where Homer's mom visits?
- j0etb, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1Oo, they have internet on computers now!
- inactive, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1Maybe because the Simpsons is the greatest TV show of all time?
- bigwillystyle, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1wheres bart in that picture?
- RobotBuddha, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1One thing I've learned about experimental design. Never, ever, make an assumption that nobody involved noticed a seemingly obvious flaw. Peer review is there for a reason!
- ironpirate, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1Does every NYTIMES article get dugg on here?
- RobotBuddha, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1I was going to disagree with you about epileptics being actual human beings. But then I remembered a very special episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" that tackled this issue, and will concede in Tv's favor.
- geoboy, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1Well, I thought the movie was pretty good. But yeah, they should have retired the TV show at least 5 years ago.
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