Optimal Arousal Theory

6 Key excerpts on "Optimal Arousal Theory"

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  eBook - ePub

  Human Performance

  Cognition, Stress and Individual Differences

  • D. Roy Davies, Gerald Matthews, Rob B. Stammers, Steve J. Westerman(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  optimal level of arousal for performance. Second, the optimal level of arousal for performance is inversely related to task difficulty. The more difficult the task, the lower the ideal arousal level for performance. It may be assumed that stress influences arousal, which in turn influences performance. Stress-inducing agents, or stressors, which raise arousal may then be grouped together as having similar effects. Commonly-used arousing agents include noise, incentive and stimulant drugs such as nicotine and caffeine. Although performing under incentive, for example, is not necessarily unpleasant or “stressful”, it is conventional to refer to all such influences as stressors. Similarly, dearousing stressors such as sleep deprivation and sedative drugs should have similar effects on performance.

  9.3.1 Developing arousal theory: Methods and explanations

  The simplicity of the Yerkes-Dodson Law belies a chequered history. In its original form, it concerned motivation (“drive”) rather than arousal per se. Yerkes and Dodson (1908) demonstrated inverted-U relationships between strength of electric shock (a motivating factor) and speed of learning. In more recent times, the continuum of electrocortical states apparent in the EEG was seen

  FIG. 9.3 The inverted-U hypothesis (Yerkes-Dodson Law).

  as the primary expression of arousal (e.g. Duffy, 1962). Subsequently, however, many performance psychologists became disillusioned by difficulties in measuring arousal reliably and validly using psychophysiological techniques, and sought a purely behavioural definition of arousal.

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  Emotions and Bodily Responses

  A Psychophysiological Approach

  • James L McGaugh(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  5 Physiological Arousal and Performance AROUSAL AND BODILY RESPONSES An important feature of emotion is the effect that it has on behavior. One early interpretation about this effect was called the emergency theory of emotion. It suggested that the bodily reactions that accompany emo-tions prepare the individual for meeting emergencies by fight or flight. Thus, the pupils dilate to allow more light to enter, the sweat glands become more active to reduce the chance of skin cuts, the blood vessels in the periphery constrict to reduce the amount of bleeding if a cut occurs, and the blood vessels in the brain and muscles dilate increas-ing the amount of oxygen going to these areas. All in all, many strong emotions produce a state that is optimal for fight or flight behavior. Another interpretation, which has been mentioned previously, is called the activation theory of emotion. This theory relates the bodily reac-tions that accompany emotion to the level of internal activation or arousal. Variations in the internal arousal are considered to be responsi-ble for significant variations in a person's behavior and performance. A third interpretation originated from the notion oí energy mobilization. The concept of level of energy mobilization is roughly equivalent to the level 87 88 Physiological Arousal and Performance Λ 'NONSPeCtFICS' ^SpoñtOñ$ous Fluctuations pm Unit Time Drowsy Alert — • (Sedotive) Drugt — -(Dec) Phfiicol-Strestea -{Blond ) — PsycholOQicol—(CHORQTD ) -Strittts Hyper-Alfrt-(Stimulor^t)--(inc) FIGURE 5.1. A proposed relation-ship between arousal and electrodermal data. As arousal increases, non-specific SCRs increase while amplitude to spedfíc stimuli (indicated by small arrows) increases and then de-creases.

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  Brain Arousal and Information Theory

  Neural and Genetic Mechanisms

  • Donald Pfaff, Donald W PFAFF(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Harvard University Press

    (Publisher)

  1 Toward a Universal Theory of Brain Arousal For addressing the most fundamental force in the nervous system, we need a precise operational definition. Surprisingly, thinking about arousal’s quantitation invokes Shannon’s information theory. In humans, loss of arousal is devastating. W hy does an animal or a human being do something under one environ-mental condition and not another? Why does an animal or human be-ing do anything at all? Explaining this is going to be difficult. These questions have long been ac-knowledged as central to neuroscience. But confusion abounds about the very deepest, underlying problem: the elementary arousal of the central nervous system (CNS). I propose, from studying the literature and our own results, that we must explain a function I call “generalized arousal.” In the CNS, be-neath all of our specific mental functions and particular emotional dispositions, a primitive neuronal system throbs in the brainstem, activating our brains and behaviors. Because this system is universal among all vertebrate animals, the neuroanatomic, neurophysiologic, and neurochemical components of this sys-tem are shared among mammals, including humans. The arousal system thus emerging in the human brain drives all of our behavioral responses to stimuli in a manner best understood through the mathematics of information theory. Finally, I will apply our new thinking about this system to our current knowl-edge of brain mechanisms for sexual arousal and fear. Arousal mechanisms are exciting and important to understand because at the deepest level they impact all human behaviors. Having evolved over mil-lions of years, their performance determines our earliest responses to environ-mental stimuli, our expressions of emotion, and our mental health. While Chapters 2–6 on neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and genetics derive from animal research and Chapter 7 explores engineering concepts, Chapter 8 pres-ents the bottom line.

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  Handbook of Digital Human Modeling

  Research for Applied Ergonomics and Human Factors Engineering

  • Vincent G. Duffy(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Psychophysiologists with a few exceptions have not contributed to a theoretical approach integrating their measures (e.g., Boucsein, 1992; Kahneman, 1973; Pribram & McGuinness, 1975). One exception is Berntson and colleagues (Berntson et al., 1991; Berntson et al., 1994) whose autonomic space model for ANS responses may prove useful for DHM. For example, Backs (2001) has shown how Wickens’ (2002) model of attention may map to the autonomic space for heart rate. One of the reasons for this lack of progress is the nontheoretical multivariate approach frequently used in psychophysiological research. In addition, psychophysiologists have always been occupied with the development of refined techniques for data acquisition and evaluation. As a consequence, rather simple theoretical frameworks are still in use. The following sections will provide suitable theoretical frameworks for arousal, emotion/stress, and personality, which might be used in the process of making virtual agents more humanlike. 35.8 The Psychophysiology of Arousal The description of any behavior requires at minimum a goal toward which it is directed and a measure of its intensity (Duff y, 1972). Intensity of behavior is related to an unspecific hypothetical excitation process in the central nervous system (CNS), which is called arousal or activation . It is regarded as a basic process that optimizes the information-processing flow from perception to behavior. Hence, arousal theories tried to explain how the brain organizes the allocation of resources to its subsystems and functional units, dependent on internal and external demands. With the advent of EEG measures, a widely accepted method for quantification of arousal became available (Lindsley, 1951). In particular, EEG desynchronization (reduction of alpha and increase of beta activity) was considered to reflect an increase in general arousal, the source of which was located in the reticular formation (the reticular activation system, RAS).

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  Psychology for Psychiatrists

  • C. G. Costello, Hugh L. Freeman(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  AROUSAL 4 9 Generalization 2 With increased practice at performing an activity or task (i.e. with increased habit strength of a response), there is an increase in the range of the optimal level of arousal, as well as in the range within which the activity occurs at all. The arousal concept, and particularly the concept of an opti-mum level of arousal, may throw some light oh the deleterious effects of boredom on performance. Dardano (1962) found a tendency towards lowered arousal, as indicated by physiological measures, as performance on a task proceeded. Arousal During Psychotherapy Physiological measures related to the arousal concept have been studied in relation to psychotherapy. Malmo, Smith and Kohl-meyer (1956) found that when hostility scenes were discussed with a patient, there was a high level of muscular tension recorded in the forearm. Discussion of sexual conflict was associated with similar tension in the legs in the study by Shagass and Malmo (1954). Holmes and Wolff (1950) found in individuals susceptible to backache sustained increase of muscle potentials during the discussion of threatening life situations. Coleman, Greenblatt and Solomon (1956) found, in observing heart rate in a sequence of 44 interviews with one patient, that the patient showed highest heart rates during moments of anxiety, and the lowest heart rates in depression. Similar results for the relation of heart rate to anxiety were found by Anderson (1956). Malmo, Boag and Smith (1957) noted in an experimental study with 19 female neurotic patients that, following praise by the experimenter, the patient's muscle tension fell rapidly. Following criticism, tension remained at high levels. Malmo (1954) found that the psychotherapeutic progress of patients was associated with a decrease in muscle tension. Mowrer 5 0 PSYCHOLOGY FOR PSYCHIATRISTS and his colleagues (1953) found that finger-tip sweating and self-tension ratings were significantly related.

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  Acquisition and Performance of Sports Skills

  • Terry McMorris(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)
• – at high levels of arousal, attention narrows to focus on relevant cues but not all of them.
• Drive theory:
  • – performance is dependent on the interaction between drive (arousal), habit strength and incentive value of performing well
  • – if habit and incentive are high, the greater the arousal and the better the performance
  • – if habit and/or incentive are low, increases in arousal will either have no effect on performance or lead to a breakdown.
• Kahneman’s allocatable resources theory
  • – an inverted-U theory
  • – as arousal increases so do the number of resources available to the individual
  • – at low arousal, performance will be poor unless cognitive effort can allocate sufficient resources to the task
  • – at moderate arousal, performance will be optimal if cognitive effort allocates resources to the task
  • – at high levels of arousal, it is difficult for cognitive effort to overcome the negative effects, therefore performance will be poor.
• According to Kahneman, allocation policy depends upon:
  • – enduring dispositions (the rules of involuntary attention)
  • – momentary intentions (instructions given to the individual for that particular task at that moment in time)
  • – evaluation of task demands (whether or not the person perceives that they have sufficient capacity, at that moment, to be able to do what is required of them)
  • – arousal (the available channel capacity at that moment).
• Sanders (1983) cognitive–energetic model:
  • – an inverted-U theory
  • – Arousal is readiness to process input
  • – activation is motor readiness to respond.
  • – effort is responsible for energizing response choice, and controlling and coordinating arousal and activation.