4E/3E Cognition and Neurodiversity: Rethinking brain–body–environment dynamics in cognitive neuroscience

Over the past decades, cognitive science and neuroscience have experienced a conceptual shift from brain-centered models of cognition toward approaches that emphasize the dynamic relationships between brain, body, and environment. Post-cognitivist frameworks such as 4E cognition—embodied, enacted, embedded, and extended—and the related 3E cognition perspective—embodied, enacted, and environmentally scaffolded—propose that cognition emerges from continuous interactions among neural processes, bodily activity, environmental affordances, and sociocultural practices. These approaches challenge traditional views that locate cognition exclusively within neural computations. At the same time, the concept of neurodiversity has gained prominence in neuroscience and psychology, emphasizing the variability of cognitive profiles and ways of engaging with the world. Together, these perspectives provide new theoretical and empirical opportunities to investigate cognition as an embodied, distributed, and environmentally situated phenomenon.Despite growing interest in embodied and ecological approaches to cognition, many neuroscientific investigations still rely on reductionist assumptions that prioritize isolated neural processes over the broader dynamics of brain–body–environment interaction. This gap becomes particularly relevant in the study of neurodiversity, where cognitive differences are often framed primarily in terms of deficits or dysfunctions rather than variations in perception–action coordination, environmental engagement, and sociomaterial participation.The goal of this Research Topic is to advance interdisciplinary dialogue and research that integrates 4E/3E cognition frameworks with contemporary studies of neurodiversity. By combining insights from cognitive neuroscience, psychology, philosophy of mind, education, and human–computer interaction, this collection aims to explore how diverse cognitive profiles emerge through embodied interaction with environments and technologies. Recent advances in immersive technologies, wearable sensing systems, artificial intelligence, and ecologically valid experimental paradigms provide new methodological tools to investigate these dynamics. Through theoretical and empirical contributions, this Research Topic seeks to promote a more integrative understanding of cognition that recognizes diversity as a fundamental feature of human cognitive life.This Research Topic welcomes interdisciplinary contributions exploring the intersection between 4E/3E cognition and neurodiversity from the perspectives of cognitive neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, human–computer interaction, and education. We invite submissions addressing topics such as embodied and enactive approaches to neurodiversity, brain–body–environment coupling in cognitive development, environmental scaffolding in cognition, participatory sense-making, and ecological approaches to cognitive neuroscience. Contributions examining the role of emerging technologies—including immersive environments, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and sensor-based systems—in studying embodied cognition are also encouraged.We welcome original research articles, theoretical and conceptual papers, methodological contributions, reviews, and perspective articles that advance empirical and theoretical understanding of cognition as an embodied and distributed process. Studies integrating neural, behavioral, and environmental data are particularly encouraged, as they provide valuable insights into the dynamic foundations of cognitive diversity. Topic editors: Ronnie Videla, Francisco J. Parada, MayBritt Aros Pereira Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81643/4e3e-cognition-and-neurodiversity-rethinking-brain-body-environment-dynamics-in-cognitive-neuroscience