Longstanding models of the brain describe it as something like a biological computer. According to this traditional picture, the brain processes information like a relay. Individual neural cells detect a stimulus, then pass that data along from one neuron to the next, through a sequence of gates.
The model isn’t wrong, but it leaves a lot unexplained, particularly how sensory cells in animals can react differently to the same stimulus. For example, a quick flash of light might normally activate a sensory cell in an animal, but the sensory cell might not activate if the animal’s attention is focused on something else, other than the light. Experts want to know why that might happen.
