Performance of fecal calprotectin and serum procalcitonin for the diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis: A prospective diagnostic accuracy study.

Over the past few decades, cognitive science and psychology have increasingly emphasized the roles of the body, artefacts and social contexts in cognition. This research trend is often discussed within the framework of ‘4E cognition’ (embodied, embedded, enacted and extended; Newen et al., ), which challenges the traditional view of cognition as internal information processing. Instead, psychological processes emerge from interactions between bodily actions and the environment. In educational psychology, the 4E approach has demonstrated that embodied interactions, such as gestures and tangible actions, function as external cognitive tools that stabilize attention and scaffold reasoning (Pouw et al., ; Wang et al., ). Furthermore, recent studies have revealed that embodied experiences facilitate conceptual understanding through socially shared engagement (Ferreira & Ineson, ). From the perspective of 4E cognition, a learner's seated posture can be viewed as an embodied dimension of self‐regulation rooted in physiological arousal, affect and attention. In other words, sustained bodily states such as posture function as a somatic foundation for maintaining and enhancing psychological engagement. Research has increasingly demonstrated that postural and psychological states are dynamically interrelated. For instance, slumped postures may exacerbate negative affect (Dehcheshmeh et al., ). Recent experimental evidence indicates that posture serves as a somatic affordance for emotion regulation. In this context, an affordance refers to the fit between an individual's goals (e.g., emotion regulation) and the available means within the current situation (e.g., bodily posture) to achieve those goals (Veenstra et al., ). Specifically, a stooped posture impedes recovery from negative moods and increases negative thoughts (Veenstra et al., ), which may consequently undermine sustained engagement in learning. Therefore, classroom chairs, which directly influence learners' seated postures, can be conceptualized as somatic scaffolds or extended cognitive supports. Recent studies have confirmed that specific seat configurations significantly affect performance in concentrated learning tasks (Chen & Tsai, ). These findings indicate the need for further experimental research to elucidate the causal impact of postural interventions on students' academic engagement and psychological well‐being. In Japan, such an emphasis on posture is deeply rooted in the culture. Teachers have often intuitively emphasized ‘straightening the back’ to enhance students' focus and emotion regulation. Historically, stable and upright postures have been prioritized in mental discipline practices, such as Zen meditation and martial arts (Yuasa, ). Particularly within Buddhist traditions, early canonical texts describing mindfulness of breathing identify maintaining an erect body (‘') as a fundamental preparatory condition for meditation practice (Anālayo, ). Similarly, contemplative procedures in Tibetan Buddhism such as loving‐kindness meditation explicitly instruct practitioners to adopt an upright seated posture (Nash et al., ). These traditions collectively indicate that the upright posture functions as a foundational bodily basis for contemplative practice across diverse Buddhist traditions. In Japan, this concern remains relevant even today. For instance, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT, ) has highlighted the need for environmental adjustments to prevent postural deterioration during Information and Communication Technology (ICT)‐based learning. These cultural and administrative insights align with empirical findings that a temporary upright posture aids cognitive and emotional functioning (e.g., Awad et al., ; Inagaki et al., ) and correlates with academic outcomes such as exam scores (Weisfeld & Beresford, ). However, educational psychology has yet to fully elucidate the empirical pathways or cumulative impact of supporting student postures over extended periods in actual school settings. To address these gaps, we examined how modifying the physical environment using the chair facilitates embodied engagement and daily school fulfilment. We conceptualized postural support as a somatic scaffold for embodied self‐regulation using continuous intervention in junior high school students. This approach clarifies how environmental design can anchor attention and enhances subjective well‐being, thereby contributing to a broader framework of student adaptation.