This book covers recent research on cortical signal processing and plasticity, with an emphasis on object recognition. The focus is on assemblies of neurons and how they can collectively represent information patterns and their dynamic relationships - leading to novel concepts for how the brain routes information in a purposeful way, how it detects correspondences between patterns, and how sensory inputs are recognized. Furthermore the question which neural substrates are necessary for such capabilities, and how they can self-organize in the developing organism are treated. The readership is aimed at all students and researchers in neuroscience interested in exploring new paradigms of brain function. Experimentalists may draw inspiration from the book for designing anatomical and physiological experiments that lead the way from the current focus on static receptive fields to investigating the dynamic, functional connectivity of cortex. Theoreticians are invited to incorporate the discussed concepts into their own modeling, and to improve on the models presented in the book.