The Material, Cultural, and Relational Environment in the New Cognitive Sciences
Carmela Morabito, Surya Pacifici
Laboratorio dell'ISPF February 13, 2026 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.12862/lab25mrb via DOAJ
Summary
Cognition is not confined to the brain but emerges from dynamic interactions between organism and environment. The environment is not a passive backdrop but an active, co-constitutive dimension shaped by sensorimotor activity and embodied action. Drawing on 4E cognition, enactivism, and Material Engagement Theory, the paper argues that material, affective, and cultural environments shape cognition across ontogenetic and developmental scales through epigenetics and neuroplasticity.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The environment is a relational, open process co-constitutive of cognition, shaped by material, affective, and cultural factors across developmental scales. |
Abstract
The paper addresses the epistemological reconfiguration in contemporary cognitive science of the notion of environment, which has shifted from passive backdrop to an active, co-constitutive dimension of cognition. It reviews the dismantling of traditional dichotomies (mind/body, subject/object) through the lens of the model of 4E cognition (Embodied, Embedded, Enacted, Extended), that, drawing on Bernard, von Uexküll, Gibson, Lewin and the enactivits Varela, Thompson and Rosch, emphasizes the dynamical interaction of the organism with its environment. The environment is recast as a relational and open process, shaped by sensorimotor activity and embodied action. Finally, through the integration of Malafouris’ Material Engagament Theory with recent findings in epigenetics and neuroplasticity, it is underscored how cognition, as a relational process, is shaped at different ontogenetic and developmental scales by material, affective and cultural environments.