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Concept
Arousal
Summary
Arousal is the physiological and psychological state of being awoken or of sense organs stimulated to a point of perception. It involves activation of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) in the brain, which mediates wakefulness, the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, desire, mobility, and reactivity.
Arousal is mediated by several neural systems. Wakefulness is regulated by the ARAS, which is composed of projections from five major neurotransmitter systems that originate in the brainstem and form connections extending throughout the cortex; activity within the ARAS is regulated by neurons that release the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin and histamine
Activation of these neurons produces an increase in cortical activity and subsequently alertness.
Arousal is important in regulating consciousness, attention, alertness, and information processing. It is crucial for motivating certain behaviours, such as mobility, the pursuit of nutrition, the fight-or-flight response and sexual activity (the arousal phase of Masters and Johnson's human sexual response cycle). It holds significance within emotion and has been included in theories such as the James–Lange theory of emotion. According to Hans Eysenck, differences in baseline arousal level lead people to be extraverts or introverts.
The Yerkes–Dodson law states that an optimal level of arousal for performance exists, and too little or too much arousal can adversely affect task performance. One interpretation of the Yerkes–Dodson Law is the Easterbrook cue-utilisation hypothesis. Easterbrook states that an increase of arousal decreases the number.
Ascending reticular activating system
Wakefulness is regulated by the ascending reticular activating system, which is composed of five major neurotransmitter systems – the norepinephrine, acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin and
histamine, systems (each considered in the paragraphs below) – that originate in the brainstem and form connections which extend throughout the cerebral cortex.
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Arousal
Arousal is the physiological and psychological state of being awoken or of sense organs stimulated to a point of perception. It involves activation of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) in the brain, which mediates wakefulness, the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, desire, mobility, and reactivity. Arousal is mediated by several neural systems.
Reticular formation
The reticular formation is a set of interconnected nuclei that are located throughout the brainstem. It is not anatomically well defined, because it includes neurons located in different parts of the brain. The neurons of the reticular formation make up a complex set of networks in the core of the brainstem that extend from the upper part of the midbrain to the lower part of the medulla oblongata. The reticular formation includes ascending pathways to the cortex in the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) and descending pathways to the spinal cord via the reticulospinal tracts.
Locus coeruleus
The locus coeruleus (sɪˈɹuːliəs) (LC), also spelled locus caeruleus or locus ceruleus, is a nucleus in the pons of the brainstem involved with physiological responses to stress and panic. It is a part of the reticular activating system. The locus coeruleus, which in Latin means "blue spot", is the principal site for brain synthesis of norepinephrine (noradrenaline). The locus coeruleus and the areas of the body affected by the norepinephrine it produces are described collectively as the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system or LC-NA system.
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