Abstract: The brain mechanism of temporal cognition was reviewed based on the research findings of neuropsychology and brain imaging. The neuropsychological research showed that cerebellum is related to internal clock, and prefrontal cortex control attention in temporal processing. The results of PET and fMRI indicated that basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex and cerebellum were activated in timing tasks. The evidences from ERP research revealed that there is distinct ERP components between the temporal information processing and nontemporal information processing. Furthermore there showed lateralization in temporal processing. Based on the results, Basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex and cerebellum may contribute to the functional of temporal cognition. Under different experimental conditions and timing task, various cortex were presumably involved the temporal information processing.

Key words: temporal cognition, brain mechanism, neuropsychology, brain imaging