The manual contains about a hundred tasks on neurophysiology and the neural basis of animal behavior, as well as the theoretical material necessary to solve them. It shows how networks of neurons can be arranged that control different functions of organisms. Along with large biological material new to schoolchildren (small neural networks of invertebrates, for example, a network that provides leech swimming; neural networks of the visual system; the principle of lateral braking, etc.), the book contains general ideas about the operation of automata and mathematical logic. Experience shows that the student with great interest solves the tasks proposed in the manual. Some of the tasks included in it were invented by schoolchildren.