4E - Embodied, Embedded, Enactive, and Extended

 

The 4E cognition theory offers an innovative perspective on mental processes, arguing that cognition is embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended. 


This approach challenges the traditional view, often marked by a neurocentrist perspective, tend to isolate the mind within the brain, treating cognitive processes as exclusively internal and disconnected from the body and the environment. ​


In this view, the body primarily functions as an input and output channel for the brain. In contrast, the 4E approach proposes that cognition is inseparable from the bodily and contextual interactions that sustain it.


Embodied (previously presented in another post): Cognition is deeply influenced by the physical body. 


Our sensorimotor experiences shape and are shaped by cognitive processes. 


Gallagher (2005) emphasizes that the body's role is central to cognition, highlighting that our bodily interactions with the environment fundamentally contribute to our understanding and perception of the world.


Embedded: Mental processes are situated in specific environmental and social contexts. 


The environment is not just a passive backdrop, but plays an active role in shaping and operating cognition. 


This implies that understanding and thinking are influenced by ongoing interactions with the world around us (Rowlands, 2010).


Enacted: Cognition emerges through dynamic interactions between the organism and its environment. 


It is not a passive process of receiving information but an active construction of meaning through embodied action. 


Varela, Thompson, and Rosch (1991) introduced the concept of "enaction," emphasizing that cognition arises from the reciprocal relationship between the organism's sensorimotor capacities and its environment. 


This perspective suggests that knowledge is acquired and maintained through direct experience and engagement with the world.


Extended: Cognition can extend beyond the boundaries of the body, incorporating tools, technologies, and other environmental elements as integral components of cognitive processes.


For example, the use of external devices to store information or assist reasoning can be seen as an extension of the mind (Clark & Chalmers, 1998).


References

Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19.

Gallagher, S. (2005). How the Body Shapes the Mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Rowlands, M. (2010). The new science of the mind: From extended mind to embodied phenomenology. MIT Press.

Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT Press.

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