Valence-Arousal Model

A two-dimensional model of affect, introduced by Russell (1980), that represents emotional states along two orthogonal axes: valence (pleasant versus unpleasant) and arousal (activated versus deactivated). Emotions such as cheerful, tense, calm, and sad map to the four quadrants of this space. The model is widely used in affective computing, music-emotion research, and accessibility work on hearing and cognition, where it provides a continuous, language-independent way to measure and manipulate emotional perception—for example, designing sliders that let cochlear implant users adjust the perceived valence or arousal of music.