The paper by Christoph von der Malsburg, titled "The Correlation Theory of Brain Function," addresses the limitations of the conventional Localization Theory in brain theory and proposes a new framework to overcome these deficiencies. The conventional theory struggles to express relationships between active cells, such as their representation of the same object. To address this, Malsburg introduces the concept of synaptic modulation, where synapses switch between conducting and non-conducting states based on correlations in the temporal fine structure of cellular signals. This modulation is controlled on a fast time scale by signal correlations, which are shaped by the variable network structure. The paper also discusses refined synaptic plasticity, which replaces the traditional version, and highlights that synaptic modulation and plasticity form the basis for short-term and long-term memory, respectively. Signal correlations, shaped by the variable network, express structure and relationships within objects, particularly solving the figure-ground problem. Synaptic modulation introduces flexibility into cerebral networks, reducing interference between different memory traces and increasing memory capacity compared to conventional associative memory. The author further explores the implications of these concepts in visual elements, figure-ground discrimination, invariant image representation, and interpretation of images. The paper concludes with a discussion on the text analogy, the bandwidth problem, experimental challenges, and the overall conclusion that the brain is governed by general principles of organization, with synaptic modulation and correlation dynamics playing crucial roles in brain function.The paper by Christoph von der Malsburg, titled "The Correlation Theory of Brain Function," addresses the limitations of the conventional Localization Theory in brain theory and proposes a new framework to overcome these deficiencies. The conventional theory struggles to express relationships between active cells, such as their representation of the same object. To address this, Malsburg introduces the concept of synaptic modulation, where synapses switch between conducting and non-conducting states based on correlations in the temporal fine structure of cellular signals. This modulation is controlled on a fast time scale by signal correlations, which are shaped by the variable network structure. The paper also discusses refined synaptic plasticity, which replaces the traditional version, and highlights that synaptic modulation and plasticity form the basis for short-term and long-term memory, respectively. Signal correlations, shaped by the variable network, express structure and relationships within objects, particularly solving the figure-ground problem. Synaptic modulation introduces flexibility into cerebral networks, reducing interference between different memory traces and increasing memory capacity compared to conventional associative memory. The author further explores the implications of these concepts in visual elements, figure-ground discrimination, invariant image representation, and interpretation of images. The paper concludes with a discussion on the text analogy, the bandwidth problem, experimental challenges, and the overall conclusion that the brain is governed by general principles of organization, with synaptic modulation and correlation dynamics playing crucial roles in brain function.