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State of being awoken

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's hypothesis suggests that under high stress conditions, individuals tend to focus on a narrower set of cues and may overlook relevant information, leading to a decrease in decision making effectiveness.

Neuroticism or emotional instability and extroversion are two factors of the Big Five Personality Index. These two dimensions of personality describe how a person deals with anxiety provoking or emotional stimuli as well as how a person behaves and responds to relevant and irrelevant external stimuli in their environment. Neurotics experience tense arousal which is characterized by tension and nervousness. Extroverts experience high energetic arousal which is characterized by vigor and energy. Gray (1981) claimed that extroverts have a higher sensitivity to reward signals than to punishment in comparison to introverts. Reward signals aim to raise the energy levels. (See Galen.) Put in terms of the five factor level of personality, choleric people are high in neuroticism and high in extraversion. The choleric react immediately, and the arousal is strong, lasting, and can easily create new excitement about similar situations, ideas, or impressions. Phlegmatic people are low in neuroticism and low in extraversion. The phlegmatic are slower to react and the arousal is fleeting. Limbic system activation is typically linked to neuroticism, with high activation showing high neuroticism. Robinson's study (1982) concluded that melancholic types had the greatest natural frequencies, or a "predominance of excitation", meaning that melancholics (who are characterized by introversion) have a higher internal level of arousal. For example, if a person's dear family member dies, a potential physiological response would be tears falling down the person's face and their throat feeling dry; they are "sad". The Cannon–Bard theory states that the tears and the sadness both happen at the same time. The process goes: event (family member dies) → physiological arousal (tears) and emotion (sadness) simultaneously.

The James–Lange theory describes how emotion is caused by the bodily changes which come from the perception of the emotionally arousing experience or environment. According to James and Lange, the emotion comes as a result of the physiological arousal. In this theory, emotion is seen as a product of the interaction between the state of arousal and how one's thought processes appraise the current situation. The physiological arousal does not provide the label for the emotion; cognition does. For example, if a person is being pursued by a serial killer, the person will likely be sweating and their heart will be racing, which is their physiological state. The person's cognitive label will come from assessing their quickly beating heart and sweat as "fear". Then they will feel the emotion of "fear", but only after it has been established through cognition. The process is: the event (serial killer chasing the person) > physiological arousal (sweat, heart racing) > cognitive label (reasoning; "this is fear") > emotion (fear).

Arousal is involved in the detection, retention, and retrieval of information in the memory process. Emotionally arousing information can lead to better memory encoding, therefore influencing better retention and retrieval of information. Arousal is related to selective attention during the encoding process by showing that people are more subject to encode arousing information than neutral information. In other words, the retention and accumulation of information is strengthened when exposed to arousing events or information. Arousing information is also retrieved or remembered more vividly and accurately. Although arousal improves memory under most circumstances, there are some considerations. Arousal at learning is associated more with long term recall and retrieval of information than short term recall of information. For example, one study found that people could remember arousing words better after one week of learning them than merely two minutes after learning them. Another study found that arousal affects the memory of people in different ways. Eysenck found an association between memory and the arousal of introverts versus extroverts. Higher levels of arousal increased the number of words retrieved by extroverts and decreased the number of words retrieved by introverts. On the contrary, increased arousal can increase approach behaviors as well. People are said to make decisions based on their emotional states. They choose specific options that lead to more favorable emotional states. When a person is aroused, they may find a wider range of events appealing and view decisions as more salient, specifically influencing approach avoidance conflict. Wundt's and Berlyne's hedonic curve differ from this theory. Both theorists explain a person's arousal potential in terms of their hedonic tone. These individual differences in arousal demonstrate Eysenck's theory that extroverts prefer increased stimulation and arousal, whereas introverts prefer lower stimulation and arousal.

Altered experiences of arousal are associated with both anxiety and depression. Depression can influence a person's level of arousal by interfering with the right hemisphere's functioning. Arousal in women has been shown to be slowed in the left visual field due to depression, indicating the influence of the right hemisphere. Arousal and anxiety have a different relationship than arousal and depression. People with anxiety disorders tend to have abnormal and amplified perceptions of arousal. The distorted perceptions of arousal then create fear and distorted perceptions of the self. For example, a person may believe that he or she will get sick from being so nervous about taking an exam. The fear of the arousal of nervousness and how people will perceive this arousal will then contribute to levels of anxiety.