A valuable strategy to understand human brain function is to record neural activity dynamics while a person is engaged in specific cognitive/mental states. However, noninvasive functional recordings are often indirect as with electroencephalography (EEG), where brain activity is recorded from the scalp. Using indirect recordings effectively relies on the assumed relationship between brain activity (what, when, and where it happens) and its corresponding signature in the functional recording. These assumptions guide practical decisions ranging from experiment design to the analysis of the recordings. In this chapter, we discuss basic relational assumptions related to time in EEG practice. Using an example of a trial-based experiment, we illustrate how assumptions relating neural activity to the EEG timeline help to answer three common questions during data analysis: (1) Where is a trial’s neural activity in the EEG recording? (2) Where in a trial’s activity timeline is a task-relevant process? (3) What does this activity look like? We highlight how these analysis approaches are uniquely supported by the high time-sensitivity of EEG measurements.