"Neurons make up the brain's electrical information highway network."
Does the adjective "electrical" describe the highway network?
Source: Memory Rescue
Does the adjective "electrical" describe the highway network?
Source: Memory Rescue
electrical information highway
- Thread starter Madonna Halim
- Start date
The term “information highway” is an attributive noun phrase modifying (and describing it as a type of) “network”.
The adjective “electrical” can be seen as describing that whole phrase, “information highway network”.
The adjective “electrical” can be seen as describing that whole phrase, “information highway network”.
I'm pretty sure neurons are not electronic - no transistors, diodes, etc. An old-fashioned lightbulb is electrical. An LED lightbulb is electronic (all sorts of circuitry in addition to the diodes).
But "information highway" is generally. Is this literal, figurative or metaphoric?
I assumed it was a metaphor.
It is a metaphor, but it's a metaphor about electrical information (pulses of electricity traveling along neurons), not electronic information.
I am not familiar with the source ("Memory Rescue").
Information highway and information superhighway are interchangeable. Regardless of which term you search under this is describing an electronic means of communications, not electrical means of communications. If the writer is indeed using this metaphorically, then "electronic" would be the preferred term. I would not adjust the the metaphor to match the thing being described.
Indeed, if you Google "information highway" you get this:
And when you look for definitions you will get this (from Merriam-Webster):
From Oxford Learners Dictionary
"a large electronic network such as the Internet, used for sending information such as sound, pictures, and video quickly in digital form"
Information highway and information superhighway are interchangeable. Regardless of which term you search under this is describing an electronic means of communications, not electrical means of communications. If the writer is indeed using this metaphorically, then "electronic" would be the preferred term. I would not adjust the the metaphor to match the thing being described.
Indeed, if you Google "information highway" you get this:
And when you look for definitions you will get this (from Merriam-Webster):
From Oxford Learners Dictionary
"a large electronic network such as the Internet, used for sending information such as sound, pictures, and video quickly in digital form"
