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This paper formalizes affect within a sense-making phase transition framework, where stable minima of a potential function define affective states, with position mapping to valence and depth to arousal. This unified structure links allostatic and enactive perspectives by deriving affect from the sense-making process itself, rather than treating it as an independent component. The model naturally accommodates mixed-valence states and explains the upper-open V-shaped organization of valence and arousal observed in empirical studies.
Affective states, including valence and arousal, emerge directly from the dynamics of sense-making, unifying disparate theoretical accounts.
Contemporary accounts of affect emphasize different perspectives, ranging from the regulation of bodily states in allostatic approaches to the relational and sense-making character stressed by enactive theories. Here, we show that affect can be made explicit within the sense-making phase transition framework previously introduced for the perception of an inner sensation. Within this same formal structure, each stable minimum of the sense-making potential defines an affective state: its position determines valence, while its depth determines arousal. Affect therefore is not introduced as an independent ingredient, but emerges as the associated state in the valence-arousal space, providing a link between allostatic and enactive approaches to affect. This formulation distinguishes valence intensity from arousal, allows for dominant and secondary affective states, and naturally accommodates mixed-valence configurations beyond a strictly bipolar description. Revisiting representative landscapes of the model, we show how neutral, uncertain, polarized, and mixed-valence regimes arise as a function of contextual sensory information, learned historical evaluation, and externally supplied information. We further show that the resulting valence-arousal relation provides a theoretical basis for the upper-open V-shaped organization discussed in the affect literature, while also opening a natural route toward a dynamical description of affect and emotions.