ABSTRACT
Behavioral and brain-based research into perception and cognition are at a point where global principles of dynamic process organization are becoming central. In this state of affairs, it proves to be a serious obstacle that a common theoretical language is missing which would allow translation of statements in terms of psychological concepts into statements referring to neurophysiological concepts, and vice versa. In the present paper an approach is put forth to overcome this obstacle. It is demonstrated that superordinate regularities in temporal performance characteristics surfacing within and across diverse task demands correspond uniquely to the structural composition of the underlying cyclic brain activity. Specifically, it is shown that the fine structures of psychophysically established temporal ranges quantitatively predict the order of EEG bands as well as the potential couplings among their components. In a probabilistic expansion, the same modular architecture is shown to account for Weber’s Law in the time domain and for the upper limit of train length in cyclic timing. A particular advantage of the described option of drawing inferences about neural foundations from behavioral evidence is that it brings physiological observations into direct contact with a net of behaviorally established functional denotations that cannot be accessed in the narrow functional context of a specific neuroscientific paradigm. Provisional applications of the proposed rationale are presented to encourage its strategic use.
