Arousal

Question 1

Define arousal

Answer 1

A degree of physiological and psychological readiness

Question 2

Define cognitive and somatic arousal

Answer 2

Cognitive - psychological, e.g. selective attention
Somatic - physiological, e.g. increased HR

Question 3

Describe drive theory

Answer 3

• As arousal increases, so does performance
• Positive linear relationship
• due to dominant response (best learned/grooved response)
• increased arousal leads to an increased probability of the dominant response

Question 4

Skill type (drive theory)

Answer 4

Simple skills benefit from high arousal
Gross skills benefit from high arousal

Question 5

Stage of learning (drive theory)

Answer 5

Autonomous performers can deal with high arousal
Cognitive performers require low levels of arousal

Question 6

Pos + neg of drive theory

Answer 6

Positive - simple
Applied to some skills

Negative - too simplistic
Can’t be applied to every skill
Doesn’t allow for individual differences (personality)

Question 7

Describe inverted U theory

Answer 7

• at low levels of arousal, performance is poor - attention field is too wide/all cues considered
• as arousal increases, performance improves
• performance peaks at optimal level of arousal - selective attention occurs
• as arousal increases further, performance decreases
• at high levels of arousal performance is poor

Question 8

Optimal arousal depends on:

Answer 8

Personality
Stage of learning
Skill type

Question 9

Pos and neg of inverted U

Answer 9

Positives - considers skill type, experience and personality
Considers optimal arousal
Explains over arousal

Negatives - doesn’t consider both types of arousal

Question 10

Describe catastrophe theory

Answer 10

• as somatic arousal increases, performance improves
• peak performance will only occur if cognitive arousal is controlled/optimal
• high cognitive arousal causes a catastrophic/sudden drop in performance
• if cognitive arousal continues to rise, performance remains poor/doesn’t recover
• if cognitive arousal can be controlled, performance will recover

Question 11

Pos + neg of catastrophe theory

Answer 11

Positive - considers somatic and cognitive arousal
Shows performance can recover
Shows catastrophic drop

Negative - doesn’t always drop catastrophically, elite performers can control it