Arousal

The intensity dimension of an emotion — how activated, alert, or energized the person is, independent of whether the feeling is positive or negative.

Arousal measures physiological and emotional activation on a low-to-high axis. Boredom and calm sit at the low end; excitement, anger, and panic sit at the high end.

Combined with valence, arousal forms the two-dimensional circumplex model used widely in affective-computing research. Model-generated arousal scores do not establish overload, disengagement, stress, or another internal state.

Related terms: valence, emotion ai

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