Synonyms
Definition
The psychological and physiological state of wakefulness, excitement, and/or activation enables readiness for action, increased sexual desire, and readiness. From a neuropsychological perspective, arousal refers to the tonic state of cortical activity elicited by subcortical reticular formation that results in increased wakefulness, alertness, muscle tone, and autonomic response (e.g., heart rate and respiration).
Historical Background
The concept of arousal played a key role in many of the earliest psychological theories. Physiologists of the nineteenth century, such as Brücke, focus on the basis of bioenergetics as they attempted to understand the basis of cell function. This influenced Freud who posited that bioenergetics were the driving forces underlying psychological experience and behavior and accounted for his construct of “Id.” William James proposed that emotional experience involved the labeling...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Reading
Cohen, R. A. (1993). Neuropsychology of attention. New York: Plenum Publishing.
Heilman, K. M., & Valenstein, E. (1979). Mechanisms underlying hemispatial neglect. Annals of Neurology, 5(2), 166–170.
Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Moruzzi, G., & Magoun, H. W. (1949). Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1(4), 455–473.
Pribram, K., McGuinness, D. (1975). Arousal, activation, and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review, 82(2), 116–149.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Cohen, R.A. (2011). Arousal. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1266
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1266
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-79947-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79948-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences