Knowra Arousal Arousal Arousal is a state of physiological and psychological activation, ranging from calmness and sleepiness to alertness and intense excitement. It involves changes in attention, brain activity, and bodily responses.
Ascending reticular activating system : A network of brainstem pathways that helps regulate wakefulness, alertness, and cortical activation. Its projections help shift the brain from low activation toward wakeful alertness.
Consciousness : The condition of having subjective experience or awareness of surroundings and thoughts. Arousal is one dimension of consciousness, distinct from the contents of experience.
Yerkes–Dodson law : A proposed relation in which performance varies with arousal, often peaking at an intermediate level. It describes how activation may help or hinder performance depending on task difficulty.
Valence (psychology) : The positive or negative quality of an emotional experience. Valence describes whether an emotion feels pleasant or unpleasant, not activation level.
Autonomic nervous system : The network that regulates involuntary functions such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion. Arousal often changes heart rate, breathing, and other autonomic functions.
Sleep : A recurring, reversible state marked by reduced responsiveness and characteristic changes in brain activity. Sleep generally lowers arousal, though its stages differ in activation and responsiveness.
Stress response : The coordinated physiological and behavioral changes triggered by perceived demands or threats. Threat-related arousal is one component of the body's broader response to stress.
James–Lange theory : A theory proposing that emotional feelings arise from perceiving bodily changes. It concerns how bodily responses relate to emotion, rather than defining arousal itself.
Locus coeruleus : A brainstem nucleus that supplies much of the brain with the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Its norepinephrine signals help adjust alertness and responses to salient events.
Attention : The selective prioritization of some information or mental activity over others. Arousal can alter attention, but being activated does not guarantee focused attention.
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