Optimized interaction of the brain with environment requires the four-dimensional representation of space-time in the neuronal circuits. Information processing is an important part of this interaction, which is critically dependent on time-dimension. Information processing has played an important role in the evolution of mammals, and has reached a level of critical importance in the lives of primates, particularly the humans. The entanglement of time-dimension with information processing in the brain is not clearly understood at present. Time-dimension in physical world – the environment of an organism – can be represented by the interval of a pendulum swing (the cover page depicts temporal unit with the help of a swinging pendulum). Temporal units in neural processes are represented by regular activities of pacemaker neurons, tonic regular activities of proprioceptors and periodic fluctuations in the excitability of neurons underlying brain oscillations. Moreover, temporal units may be representationally associated with time-bins containing bits of information (see the Editorial), which may be studied to understand the entanglement of time-dimension with neural information processing. The optimized interaction of the brain with environment requires the calibration of neural temporal units. Neural temporal units are calibrated as a result of feedback processes occurring during the interaction of an organism with environment. Understanding the role of time-dimension in the brain information processing requires a multidisciplinary approach, which would include psychophysics, single cell studies and brain recordings. Although this Special Issue has helped us move forward on some fronts, including theoretical understanding of calibration of time-information in neural circuits, and the role of brain oscillations in timing functions and integration of asynchronous sensory information, further advancements are needed by developing correct computational tools to resolve the relationship between dynamic, hierarchical neural oscillatory structures that form during the brain’s interaction with environment.

This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.

Nonhuman primates (referred to here as primates) provide an invaluable source of information for a multitude of scientific fields including ecology, evolution, biology, psychology, and biomedicine. This volume addresses various topics related to primate research that includes phylogeny, natural observations, primate ecosystem, sociocognitive abilities, disease pathophysiology, and neuroscience. Topics discussed here provide a platform for which to address human evolution, habitat preservation, human psyche, and pathophysiology of disease.

The human brain is arguably the most complex system we know of. Over the past few decades, scientists have developed several methods and theories for studying the functional organization of the brain, and how cognitive/perceptual/emotional processes might arise from the brain's electro-chemical-computational dynamics. These methods facilitated and inspired large literatures on brain-behavior links, and yet there remains a seemingly endless chasm between our simple impoverished models and the unfathomable complexity of the human brain. The purpose of this Research Topic is to ask the question: Are we thinking about thinking about the brain in the right way? In most scientific publications, researchers describe a broad and established theoretical framework and briefly describe new experimental results consistent with that framework. Here, we encourage authors to express ideas that might be radical, controversial, or different from established theories or methodological approaches. Supportive data are highly encouraged. The aim is to spark discussions about the validity and usefulness of current methodological/theoretical approaches in human cognitive neuroscience, with the goal of inspiring new approaches and ways of thinking. Neuroscience is a massive field with myriad methodological and theoretical approaches; we focus this Research Topic on approaches most commonly used in human neuroscience.

An essential reference for the new discipline of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience that defines the field's approach of applying evolutionary theory to guide brain-behavior investigations. Since Darwin we have known that evolution has shaped all organisms and that biological organs—including the brain and the highly crafted animal nervous system—are subject to the pressures of natural and sexual selection. It is only relatively recently, however, that the cognitive neurosciences have begun to apply evolutionary theory and methods to the study of brain and behavior. This landmark reference documents and defines the emerging field of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience. Chapters by leading researchers demonstrate the power of the evolutionary perspective to yield new data, theory, and insights on the evolution and functional modularity of the brain. Evolutionary cognitive neuroscience covers all areas of cognitive neuroscience, from nonhuman brain-behavior relationships to human cognition and consciousness, and each section of Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience addresses a different adaptive problem. After an introductory section that outlines the basic tenets of both theory and methodology of an evolutionarily informed cognitive neuroscience, the book treats neuroanatomy from ontogenetic and phylogenetic perspectives and explores reproduction and kin recognition, spatial cognition and language, and self-awareness and social cognition. Notable findings include a theory to explain the extended ontogenetic and brain development periods of big-brained organisms, fMRI research on the neural correlates of romantic attraction, an evolutionary view of sex differences in spatial cognition, a theory of language evolution that draws on recent research on mirror neurons, and evidence for a rudimentary theory of mind in nonhuman primates. A final section discusses the ethical implications of evolutionary cognitive neuroscience and the future of the field. Contributors: C. Davison Ankney, Simon Baron-Cohen, S. Marc Breedlove, William Christiana, Michael Corballis, Robin I. M. Dunbar, Russell Fernald, Helen Fisher, Jonathan Flombaum, Farah Focquaert, Steven J.C. Gaulin, Aaron Goetz, Kevin Guise, Ruben C. Gur, William D. Hopkins, Farzin Irani, Julian Paul Keenan, Michael Kimberly, Stephen Kosslyn, Sarah L. Levin, Lori Marino, David Newlin, Ivan S. Panyavin, Shilpa Patel, Webb Phillips, Steven M. Platek, David Andrew Puts, Katie Rodak, J. Philippe Rushton, Laurie Santos, Todd K. Shackelford, Kyra Singh, Sean T. Stevens, Valerie Stone, Jaime W. Thomson, Gina Volshteyn, Paul Root Wolpe