Right strategy, wrong tactic

In this response to Stoffregen (target article, this issue), we express our concern that it might be misleading to think about either affordances or e vents as the phenomena (or objects) of study. We argue that the phenomenon of interest is the functional coupling of actors and environments. This is a multidimensional phenomenon. We discuss four important dimensions of this coupling (dynamic action constraints, static action constraints, informati on constraints, and value constraints). Stoffregen's observations illustrat e a deep appreciation for these multiple dimensions and a concern that cert ain dimensions are being overlooked within particular research programs. We are less concerned about the limits of any particular piece of research bu t share Stoffregen's hope that a mature ecological research program will th rive on a healthy appreciation of the interactions among the four dimension s.