Abstract: With the concept of affordance, ecological psychology in the Gibsonian tradition aims to build an ontology that overcomes the “perception-action” dichotomy. The concept of social affordance emphasizes the possibility of social interactions or actions shaped by social practices and norms, helping to positively accommodate social phenomena and expand the ontological boundaries for ecological psychology. Over the past two decades, research in the field of mirror neurons has been devoted to exploring how sensorimotor processes may underlie intentional action choices and aspects of social cognition. According to the “social affordance” hypothesis, tool use, body space, subjective values and moral rules can modulate the activity of mirror neurons. These neurons not only support the process of action selection, but also support our understanding of our own and others’ choices and potential for action in the space of affordance. Future research also needs to focus on the neural-specific characterization of the difference between social affordance and object affordance, as well as the “ecological brain-social brain” underpinning the possibilities for action shaped by ongoing sociocultural practices.

Key Words: Social affordance; Mirror neurons; Ecological brain; Peripersonal space; Action understanding