Learning by Forgetting: DeepMiand the Jennifer Aniston Neuron. DeepMind’s research shows how to understand the role of individual neurons in a neural network..

Imagine that someone asked you to come up with a sequence of five words. In any other year, some idiosyncratic combination would likely come to mind. This year, though, one five-word sequence that has been etched into the memories of many Americans, and many worldwide, stands out--"person, woman, man, camera, TV." Donald Trump, touting his ability to memorize these words as part of a cognitive health test, made the sequence famous. We can tie together our personal experiences and acquired knowledge--such as this memory of Trump's behavior--into interconnected memories, recallable at a moment's notice.

Have you ever heard about the Jennifer Aniston neuron? In 2005, a group of neuroscientists led by Rodrigo Quian Quiroga published a paper detailing his discovery of a type of neuron that steadily fired whenever the person was shown a photo of Jennifer Aniston. The neuron in question was not activated when presented with photos of other celebrities. Obviously, we don’t all have Jennifer Aniston neurons and those specialized neurons can be activated in response to pictures of other celebrities. However, the Aniston neuron has become one of the most powerful metaphors in neuroscience to describe neurons that focus on a very specific task.