4E Cognition Extended

Where cognition happens vs. when it works: the stability gap in 4E theory.

4E Cognition Extended

The 4E framework—embodied, embedded, enacted, extended—revolutionized cognitive science by getting the mind out of the skull. But it has a problem: it describes where cognition happens without explaining when it fails.

4E theory tells us thinking is body-based, environment-coupled, action-driven, and tool-extended. What it doesn't tell us is why the same body sometimes helps cognition and sometimes triggers panic. Why the same environment supports one person and overwhelms another. Why sense-making sometimes works and sometimes collapses entirely. Why extending your mind with technology can either amplify or fragment your coherence.

This is the stability gap. 4E cognition lacks a theory of when its own mechanisms work versus when they break down.

Why This Matters for Coherence

AToM provides what 4E lacks: a framework for understanding cognitive stability and failure. Coherence geometry explains why distributed cognitive systems sometimes maintain organization and sometimes fragment. It's not enough to say cognition is embodied—you need to know under what conditions embodiment supports versus undermines coherent thought.

This series extends 4E cognition by adding the missing stability dimension. Each component—embodiment, embeddedness, enaction, extension—gets analyzed not just for what it enables, but for how it can fail and what determines the difference.