Steps to an ecology of brain and cognition: From environmental effects to dynamic neurocognitive adaptation and...

Environmental influences on brain and cognition are often studied as isolated influences, although their significance depends on multilevel integrated processes. This editorial introduces the Special Issue "Physical, Social and Economic Environmental Effects on Brain and Cognition" and develops an ecological account of neurocognitive adaptation. Contributions addressing socioeconomic deprivation, selective attention, school climate, prenatal maternal anxiety, acute psychosocial stress, aviation expertise, cultural and evolutionary constraints reveal processes operating across multiple timescales. They converge in suggesting neural and cognitive differences should be interpreted in relation to environmental demands, adaptive functions, physiological costs, and opportunities for recovery. Locally functional responses may carry disadvantages elsewhere, while preserved behavioral performance may conceal compensatory mechanisms. Supportive environments can modify developmental trajectories, and early exposures influence probabilities rather than establish immutable outcomes. Integrating allostasis, interactive specialization, developmental calibration, and resilience, this editorial identifies priorities for longitudinal, multimodal, and ecologically informative research. These include measuring demands and resources directly, connecting brain and body processes, testing contextual benefits and costs, and treating schools, workplaces, and socioeconomic conditions as intervention targets. An ecological approach can explain how vulnerability, compensation, specialization, and resilience emerge through transactions among brains, bodies, behavior, and contexts throughout development and across changing environmental conditions.