Arousal and Cognition
• Involuntary selective attention
• Habituation
• Arousal and Cognition
– three influences
– determinants
– task efficiency
– arousal and attention
– need for arousal
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Involuntary Selective Attention
• Orienting Reflex - characteristic pattern of response when attention
is automatically or involuntarily drawn
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–
–
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Stop ongoing and physically orient (turn) to stimulus
Increase in sensory sensitivity
EEG = arousal
Pause then decrease respiration, decrease in heart
rate, blood vessels constrict in limbs and dilate in
brain
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Involuntary Selective Attention
• Orienting reflex is elicited by 3 aspects of the stimulus
– intensity
– meaningfulness
– novelty or incongruity
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Habituation
• With repeated exposure attention declines
• Pattern of habituation
– Orient to first 10-15 repetitions the response
gradually declines
– With many repetitions
• EEG = low arousal drowsy
• e.g. study by Gastault and Bert - after 8
minutes 1/2 drowsy many asleep
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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3 Influences of Arousal on Cognition
• Determines state of consciousness and type of
thinking
– abstract to concrete
• Determines of efficiency of processing
• Motivates certain types of cognition
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Determinants of Arousal
• Amount and types of stimulation
• Natural Rhythms and cycles
• Internal factors
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Amount and Types of Stimulation
• Intensity
• Meaningfulness
• Novelty or incongruity
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Natural Rhythms and Cycles
• Circadian rhythm - sleep/wake cycle
– peak of alertness varies over day
– individual differences
• larks and owls
• Ultradian cycle - every 90 minutes
– arousal varies and go from logical, abstract and reality
oriented thinking to illogical, concrete, and fantasy
oriented (daydreaming)
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Internal Factors
• Drugs
– depressants (barbiturates, alcohol) decrease
– stimulants (caffeine, nicotine) increase arousal
• Self-control
– behavior, will power, concentration, biofeedback
– manipulate environment to influence arousal
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Internal Factors
• Individual Differences
– basal arousal (metabolic rate)
– rate of habituation
– reactive arousal
• introverts = amplifiers
• extroverts = attentuators
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Arousal and Task Efficiency
• Yerkes-Dodson Law
– Inverted U-shaped function of arousal and task
efficiency = generalization
– More specifically:
• simple task best at high arousal
• medium task best at medium arousal
• hard task best at low arousal
– Not just task difficulty but practice also
e.g. test anxiety vs. knitting
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Arousal and Attention
• As arousal increases
– attention gets more focused
– less able to divide attention
• Examples
– boring versus interesting work and distraction
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Need for Arousal
• Hedonic curve - need to basic level of arousal
– too little = boring = negative affect
– too much = over stimulated = negative affect
– medium amount = positive affect
• Sensory deprivation = negative
• Reinforcing properties of stimulation
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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