  The past decade has witnessed a dramatically growing interest in collective
intelligence - the phenomenon of groups having an ability to make more accurate
decisions than isolated individuals. However, the vast majority of studies to
date have focused, either explicitly or implicitly, on spatial decisions (e.g.,
potential nest sites, food patches, or migration directions). We highlight the
equally important, but severely understudied, realm of temporal collective
decision-making, i.e., decisions about when to perform an action. We argue that
temporal collective decision making is likely to differ from spatial decision
making in several crucial ways and probably involves different mechanisms,
model predictions, and experimental outcomes. We anticipate that research
focused on temporal decisions should lead to a radically expanded understanding
of the adaptiveness and constraints of living in groups.
