What is Neuron Activation?

Neuron Activation is a two-panel diagram showing a monkey observing another monkey eat a banana, with an arrow pointing to a firing mirror neuron in its brain. It is used both as an exploitable template and as a reaction image for anything that grabs someone's attention.

What does Neuron Activation mean?

The meme humorously illustrates that something has triggered a person's interest or excitement, with the second panel showing whatever caused the reaction.

How do you use Neuron Activation?

Replace the banana image in the second panel with any object, character or scene that would get the viewer's attention. The caption typically keeps the scientific tone or gets rewritten to match the new content.

Is Neuron Activation still popular?

The format kept notable popularity across meme accounts through 2020 and became a recognized exploitable template on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.

Neuron Activation

Q: Where did Neuron Activation come from?

The source diagram comes from an unidentified pre-2016 scientific paper or Wikipedia entry. Blogger Celia Wagar posted the earliest documented repost in August 2016, and the abridged two-panel version first appeared on Funnyjunk in December 2019.

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Published October 23, 2026

Neuron Activation, also known as Monkey Sees Action, started as a scientific diagram illustrating a mirror neuron firing in a monkey's brain when it watches another monkey eat a banana. The abridged two-panel version went viral in February 2020 as an exploitable template, with the second monkey swapped for whatever caught the first one's attention3. By spring 2020, Tumblr and Twitter users had turned the diagram into a flexible reaction image for anything grabbing their interest5.

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Overview

The joke runs on a simple visual gag: a monkey observes something, and the diagram shows a corresponding neuron lighting up inside its skull. Editors replace the second panel's content, originally a banana, with any object or image meant to trigger excitement, recognition, or desire. The caption sometimes stays scientific, sometimes gets rewritten to match the edit4.

Fan edits range from gaming references to anime and vtuber content, with one of the earliest viral edits replacing the banana with an Alyonka Chocolate bar item from Escape From Tarkov3. Posted unaltered, the diagram works as a reaction image signaling that something grabbed the poster's attention. The second panel is the canvas, while the firing-neuron graphic stays constant across edits.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Funnyjunk (2019 abridged version) / Twitter and Tumblr (viral spread)

Date

2020

The source of the original scientific diagram is unclear, but it predates 2016 and likely came from an unidentified paper or Wikipedia entry on mirror neurons. Video game writer Celia Wagar posted the earliest documented repost in her August 2016 blog essay "Mind Games via Mirror Neurons," which argued that mirror neuron activity underlies mind games in competitive gaming1. Wagar told Know Your Meme the image had been shared earlier by a Twitter user who thought it looked like a shitpost4.

The abridged two-panel textbook version first surfaced on Funnyjunk on December 9th, 2019, in a post by user mranldestroyer that earned nearly 800 thumbs up over the following year2. That stripped-down format, with only the monkey, the banana and the neuron, became the base image for every later edit.

How It Spread

Early February 2020 brought reposts across Instagram and Twitter, including a February 4th repost by Instagram user computerpwn that collected over 1,300 likes9. On February 14th, Instagram meme account boomer.jim posted the earliest known derivative edit, which gathered more than 32,400 likes within eight months6. The next day, the Twitter page Science Diagrams that Look Like Shitposts posted an edit replacing the banana with the Alyonka Chocolate bar from Escape From Tarkov, earning over 3,200 retweets and 21,300 likes3.

Tumblr user topherchris reposted the diagram on March 24th, 2020, and the post hit nearly 30,000 notes, significantly amplifying awareness of the format5. Through April and May, remix culture took over: @orangechimps posted an edit on April 19th, 2020, that collected 290 retweets and 1,300 likes7, and @rinsass applied the format to Hololive vtuber Inugami Korone on May 10th, 2020, earning more than 570 retweets8. The template stayed popular across meme accounts through the rest of 20204.

Timeline

2016-08-03

Celia Wagar posts the earliest known repost of the unabridged diagram on her blog Critpoints alongside an essay on mirror neurons in competitive gaming[1].

2019-12-09

Funnyjunk user mranldestroyer posts the abridged two-panel textbook version, which earns nearly 800 thumbs up over the next year[2].

2020-02-04

Instagram user computerpwn reposts the diagram, gathering over 1,300 likes[9].

2020-02-14

Instagram account boomer.jim posts the earliest known derivative edit, drawing 32,400 likes[6].

2020-02-15

Science Diagrams that Look Like Shitposts posts the Alyonka Chocolate bar edit from Escape From Tarkov on Twitter, earning 21,300 likes[3].

2020-03-24

Tumblr user topherchris reposts the diagram, drawing nearly 30,000 notes and boosting the format's reach[5].

2020-04-19

Twitter user @orangechimps posts a remix of the format that earns 290 retweets[7].