Embodied, embedded, extended and enactive (4EC) perspectives on cognition have gained epistemic legitimacy during the last 25 years in the international arena. They have encouraged new ways to understand the mind. Mexico has not been an exception; rather, it has the potential to provide a fertile ground for the development of 4EC perspectives, as shown by the variety of contributions in this special issue. In this editorial introduction, we discuss recent concerns about a lack of coherence in the inter-relations between these perspectives, and we propose that it is more appropriate to view 4EC as an emerging pluralistic research tradition that shares crucial commitments. Furthermore, we show that this pluralistic tradition has been gaining ground in the specific research context of Mexico, because of the country’s distinctive historical, scientific and philosophical development. We finish by describing the promising research potential of the current heterogeneous explanations as evidenced by the papers in this issue.

The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical and formal framework to understand how the proprioceptive and kinesthetic system learns about body position and possibilities for movement in ongoing action and interaction. Whereas most weak embodiment accounts of proprioception focus on positionalist descriptions or on its role as a source of parameters for internal motor control, we argue that these aspects are insufficient to understand how proprioception is integrated into an active organized system in continuous and dynamic interaction with the environment. Our strong embodiment thesis is that one of the main theoretical principles to understand proprioception, as a perceptual experience within concrete situations, is the coupling with kinesthesia and its relational constitution—self, ecological, and social. In our view, these aspects are underdeveloped in current accounts, and an enactive sensorimotor theory enriched with phenomenological descriptions may provide an alternative path toward explaining this skilled experience. Following O'Regan and Noë (2001) sensorimotor contingencies conceptualization, we introduce three distinct notions of proprioceptive kinesthetic-sensorimotor contingencies (PK-SMCs), which we describe conceptually and formally considering three varieties of perceptual experience in action: PK-SMCs-self, PK-SMCs-self-environment, and PK-SMC-self-other. As a proof of concept of our proposal, we developed a minimal PK model to discuss these elements in detail and show their explanatory value as important guides to understand the proprioceptive/kinesthetic system. Finally, we also highlight that there is an opportunity to develop enactive sensorimotor theory in new directions, creating a bridge between the varieties of experiences of oneself and learning skills.

The conventional dichotomy between human health and disease has historically been approached through reductionist models that emphasize the exclusive causal relevance of physiological and pathological processes. Consequently, self-awareness and affective dimensions, integral to a phenomenological perspective, are often relegated to secondary traits, affording little consideration for the causal role of embodied living organization. Our interest lies in exploring the potential relevance of the phenomenology of embodied self-awareness in relation to interoceptive processes within therapeutic settings. As we illustrate, when the unfolding processes of interoceptive awareness and its affective capacity take precedence, the agent assumes an active, rather than passive, role in their own experience of health or illness. Departing from an enactive, phenomenological, and ecological standpoint, we propose a distinctive perspective on interoceptive processes, relying on an affective conceptualization of a spectrum of experiences of bodily being-in-the-world. Our primary argument posits that considering interoceptive processes from an embodied and ecological viewpoint of the self, interacting with the material and social environment, enables an approach to the gradient of affective experiences of embodied self-awareness—where pleasure or suffering is perceived and felt—in a naturalized, non-reductive, and relational manner. We discern two ways in which interoceptive processes interrelate with the experience of embodied self-awareness: sensitivity (self-affective) and affective-laden perception. Drawing on this distinction, we provide a nuanced description of these experiences within communities of cis-women, exemplified through the contexts of menstruation and endometriosis. This exploration seeks to enhance our understanding of the phenomenology of embodied, ecological, and affective self-experience from within diverse and situated bodies. The goal is to contribute to their autonomy and ability to adapt and self-regulate within therapeutic contexts.

El reconocimiento de las emociones y su regulación en el aprendizaje han dado lugar a distintas aproximaciones a su estudio. Gran parte de las teorías socioemocionales se basan en una comprensión subyacente del funcionamiento humano. En este texto sostenemos que la mayor parte de estos acercamientos implican un modelo funcionalista orientado a la recompensa, basado en estímulos y respuestas comportamentales, en el cual no hay un reconocimiento agencial. Se considera que estas perspectivas tienen un valor explicativo limitado en su aplicación en el entorno pedagógico. En contraste, se esboza una perspectiva educativa alterna, en la cual las experiencias socioemocionales están encarnadas dentro de entornos ecológicos y contextos sociales, y son interactivas y dinámicas. Siguiendo las aproximaciones de la cognición 4E, priorizamos el desarrollo de la habilidad socioafectiva en sinergia con el entrenamiento autoconsciente corporal, atencional e interoceptivo como parte de las experiencias significativas de aprendizaje de la regulación emocional efectiva y asertiva. Por último, se invita a desarrollar herramientas y recursos educativos corporizados y situados en los entornos de aprendizaje actuales para afrontar la complejidad y la incertidumbre.

Background: As a pluricultural country, Mexico must promote breastfeeding through intercultural approaches. Although existing research remains limited, the exclusion and precarious living conditions experienced by many Indigenous communities render such efforts both challenging and essential for reducing inequalities in breastfeeding support. Moreover, while low breastfeeding rates at both global and local levels have been extensively documented through quantitative studies, the lived experiences of Indigenous mothers remain highly variable and underexplored. To date, qualitative research centered on Indigenous breastfeeding mothers’ perspectives is scarce. This paper presents a case study of breastfeeding practices within a Tzeltal Indigenous community, examining the embodied, co-participatory, and situated dimensions of maternal care. Methods: Using qualitative methods and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis within the ‘Operational Research Group and Participatory Inquiry´ framework. A total of 19 Tzeltal-speaking mothers who were breastfeeding their children participated in the study, conducted on November 12, 2024, in the Tzeltal community of San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas. Data were collected through group sessions documented with field notes and audio recordings. The material was analyzed using conventional content analysis with emergent coding, grounding interpretations in participants’ lived, embodied, affective, communal, and contextual breastfeeding experiences, allowing categories to be inductively generated from participants’ narratives. Results: The findings highlight that breastfeeding practices within a Tzeltal Indigenous community are not merely an individual act but a deeply relational, embodied and communitarian experience shaped by sociocultural, cosmogonic and spatial-contextual factors. Conclusions: This qualitative study, grounded in an intercultural perspective and centered on Indigenous mothers’ breastfeeding experiences, advocates for a more nuanced, interculturally oriented approach to breastfeeding promotion, protection, and support -one that recognizes the affective, embodied, and collective dimensions of maternal care. By attending to local beliefs, cosmogonies, and shared practices surrounding traditional breastfeeding, the study offers crucial insights that contribute to advancing reproductive justice for women, infants, and their communities, while underscoring the importance of intercultural strategies in the design and implementation of breastfeeding policies in a pluricultural country such as Mexico.