Going giddy over celebrities:
It is a discovery that could explain the enduring appeal of Friends. Scientists have found brain cells devoted to Jennifer Aniston.
...Other brain cells are similarly encoded to store memories of individual celebrities, from actress Halle Berry to former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
Even Star Wars character Luke Skywalker has a cell of his own.
The Leicester University research, contradicts the popular theory that a large network of cells are involved in processing images of people.
Instead, it appears, our brains streamline the process by devoting individual cells to store memories of specific people or places.
...Another woman had a brain cell for pictures of Halle Berry, responding to drawings of her face and an image of just the words in her name.
Even a picture in which the Catwoman actress's face was almost covered by her costume made the cell fire.
Other celebrities exciting individual brain cells included Pamela Anderson, Oprah Winfrey and Tom Cruise. Famous landmarks also had their own cells.
The study also showed that the same person can have a number of cells devoted to different celebrities or landmarks.
Professor Quian Quiroga said: 'The patient with the Jennifer Aniston neuron had 19 other cells firing to different things.
'There was one firing to Pamela Anderson, another one was firing to the Tower of Pisa, another to Sydney Opera House and so on.'
Although the researchers only found one Jennifer Aniston or Halle Berry cell per person, they only sampled a fraction of the available brain cells.
This means each person's brain is likely to have a number cells devoted to their favourite celebrities.
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