Neurons, the fundamental units of the brain's information processing system, can be likened to bits in a computer. Like bits, neurons can exist in one of two states: firing (active) or not firing (inactive). This binary state mirrors the 0s and 1s used in digital computing.

When sensory information is received by the brain, it triggers a cascade of neural activity akin to the flow of binary signals in a computer. Each neuron processes incoming signals from thousands of other neurons, integrating them and deciding whether to fire an action potential (the neuron's "on" state) or remain inactive (the neuron's "off" state). →