The human brain has many functions; for instance, it allows people to focus on particular objects and ignore others, or to remember events in the past. TATJANA TCHUMATCHENKO uses mathematical equations in order to understand how our brain achieves this. Previous research in this area has developed models that explain single questions, such as ‘How does memory work?’. However, as she describes in this video, the brain has a set of hardware parameters that can be used to synthesize many different functions. Tchumatchenko’s research group has therefore focused on three of these: attention, memory, and contrast invariance. Their aim was to answer whether all three have the same underlying basic principles and can be explained by a single model. Their experimental results confirm this hypothesis and they found that the way to control the three functions is to control the neurons. These findings have implications for pharmaceutical research on drugs that act on the neuronal channel.