Since its inception in 1908, numerous studies have verified the Yerkes-Dodson Law with many variables. It provides a neurobiological explanation for amnesia. So, what is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
What does it take to get you to do something? Motivation? Interest? These are forms of arousal. Robert Mearns Yerkes (1876–1956) and John Dillingham Dodson (1879–1955) discovered there is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance.
Yerkes & Dodson
Robert Yerkes and John Dodson studied rats. The goal was to teach the rats to run through a maze. Dead ends included an electric shock. The results of the study showed if the shock was too low, the rats did not learn as quickly. On the other hand, if the shock was too high, they would forget safe zones they had already learned or retreat and refuse to run the maze at all.
Their article in the 1908 Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology was called Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation¹. Although the article did not state the law specifically, the curve represents arousal and not stress.
The single line represents easy tasks. Simple tasks do not have much room for error, and high arousal does not diminish performance of them.
Flashbulb memories are those created during highly emotional or high stress situations. For example, one remembers where one was and what one was doing at the time of assassinations, deaths and tragedies.
Fear conditioning is when we predict adverse results, events and consequences. One needs only to put one’s hand in the fire once to know not to repeat it.
The curve represents more complex situations. When arousal increases beyond a certain level, elements of the task are overlooked or solutions are less well-thought-out with less than desirable long term effects.
Yonderly
When arousal (interest and attention) are low, we are less likely to pay attention to details. Driving is a good example. When we are listening to the radio or talking on our cell phones, we are less likely to notice things like slight differences in engine performance, which can lead to expensive repairs or crashes.
We get comfortable doing tasks and do not devote the appropriate attention to them because they do not arouse us.
Yes!
When tasks have an appropriate level of arousal, we perform better. With a combination of factors, we are better focused. If the task is new, interesting and/or slightly unpredictable, we devote the appropriate amount of attention to produce the best results.
This is the optimum level of arousal.
Yaw
We run between ideas without dedicating adequate contemplation when we are over-aroused. We ignore basic details we would have noticed if we were not over-aroused. Typical examples of high-arousal conditions are exhaustion, previous failure and lack of concentration (distraction).
High arousal decreases the quality of performance.
Yagers at Ten Paces
After nearly fifty years of being largely ignored, studies on the Yerkes-Dodson Law took it in a new direction. Bones of contention surfaced in the 1950s.
Arousal ≠ Stress
Yerkes and Dodson both studied the YDL independently after 1908, coming to conclusions which supported the law in practical settings. Both agreed arousal and stress were different things. Where arousal was supported by motivation, interest, curiosity, emotion and satisfaction, stress was created when the actual arousal level did not match the preferred level.²
Studies in the fifties used more stressors than motivators and all ended with only the curvilinear result. While it proved increased stress produced poorer performance, it was a misquote of the Yerkes-Dodson Law.
Task Difficulty
How difficult a task is bears on the arousal and stress rates. Fifties’ studies did not include simple tasks and did not produce the linear results Yerkes and Dodson got. The most accepted studies were those of Donald Hebb, who studied primates.
Based on the difficulty he encountered teaching the primates (mostly chimpanzees) anything, he disregarded the Yerkes-Dodson linear result and made the curve the only result from the study. Hebb’s curve is still featured prominently, most times to the exclusion of the Yerkes-Dodson graphs, in psychology textbooks as the Yerkes-Dodson Law.
If Hebb’s theory is to be believed, flashbulb memories cannot exist. The highly emotional state required for flashbulb memories would disintegrate the neural pathways which produce memories.
PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is the penultimate example of the Yerkes-Dodson Law. The high-stress associated with the precipitating event produces long-lasting emotional response and memories. This belies the simple curve as being the only solution to the arousal-performance correlation.
You
One of the largest variables is the personal level of arousal-tolerance a person brings to the experiment. Some people thrive under higher stress levels and through distraction. Others simply cannot compensate for outside influences or emotionally-charged situations.
Yet
The Yerkes-Dodson Law is one of the most quoted in all of neuroscience and behavioral science, yet it is probably the least read. Only when the law was nearing its 100th anniversary have researchers begun to delve into the complexities of the Yerkes-Dodson Law with reference to job performance.
Hanoch and Vitouch argued the accepted and over-simplified version of the YDL needs to be reestablished using new research presented between 1977 and 2007. The argument is “what Yerkes and Dodson had in mind was more sophistication than what their U-entranced successors made of it … later generations let the law collapse into one single curve with its idealized and highly abstract, quasiunidimensional axes”.³
Yarn
While it is easier to just accept the oversimplified version of the YDL in terms of coping with work and familial situations, there is much to discover in the ways the body responds to hormones and emotions in terms of memory and critical thinking (problem-solving) with the expanded, original version of the Yerkes-Dodson Law.
1 YERKES, R.M. & DODSON, J.D. (1908). The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation. Journal of Comparative and Neurological Psychology. Volume 18. pp.459-482
2 STOKES, Alan. & KITE, Kirsten. (1994). Flight Stress: Stress, Fatigue, and Performance in Aviation. U.K: Ashgate. pp. 31-45
3 HANOCH Y, VITOUCH O. (2004) When less is more: information, emotional arousal and the ecological reframing of the Yerkes-Dodson law. Theory & Psychology. 14(4): pp. 427–452.
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Do you have any flashbulb memories? How does your arousal rate change your performance? Have you seen the Yerkes-Dodson Law in practice where you work?
If you tweet or +1 this post, please use the hashtag #AtoZChallenge!
Binky
/ April 29, 2012When I have too much chocolate, I can get a little fuzzy.
Binky recently posted..Genealogy and The Study of Genies
Red
/ April 30, 2012I thought you were always fuzzy, Binky…
Binky
/ April 30, 2012Yes, that is very true, but I meant to say too much chocolate makes me fuzzy on the inside. I suggest no more than a pound of chocolate a day if one needs mental clarity.
Binky recently posted..Orange Juice Fairies
Red
/ April 30, 2012I think a wee bit more than a pound would not hurt 😉
valentinelogar
/ April 30, 2012As always Red you bring a new dimension to our thinking about ourselves and our patterns. I had heard of the later study but not the first, at least not in the detail you have provided.
Your example is fabulous, brings to bear real life.
valentinelogar recently posted..Sunshine Days
Red
/ April 30, 2012This is one of those…we all know it works, but glad there was someone to do the research so we have proof it works…Just wish all business models were required to learn it in advance of job placement. Makes you scratch your head about whether the Soviets may have had something scientific behind their job placement testing. Makes you think…
valentinelogar
/ April 30, 2012Just one more thing on my list of WTF, why do we always dismiss things that make sense?
valentinelogar recently posted..I Am What I Am
Red
/ April 30, 2012I think this is one which could take a whirl around the propaganda blender. It is neither far-fetched nor ludicrous, yet easily ignored. Remember, for the first 50 years, no one (in this country) could find a use for this. I see more uses for it in today’s world than I did then.
Deb
/ April 30, 2012What an excellent educational piece you have here. Most all of this I did not even know about. It really give me the opportunity to look closer look into my own patterns.
Have a most wonderful day, Red!
Hugs, xx
Deb recently posted..R is for Red
Red
/ April 30, 2012This is probably as far out on the technical end as I will get. Once I finish this challenge, we may go back and look at how this affects the way we work, which is the best execution of this law. It helps us understand where to draw boundaries to keep from driving ourselves bats getting our work done. Hope you are having beautiful weather. Still a bit cloudy and rainy here 🙁
{HUGZ}
spilledinkguy
/ April 30, 2012Having to do the math behind all those graphs would have been a bit too high voltage for my liking, I think.
🙂
spilledinkguy recently posted..Pepper in Black Semi-Gloss
Red
/ April 30, 2012LOL! No ECT for you. And I happen to know you can count. I have seen some of the tiling you have done!
Bearman
/ April 30, 2012I heard of a way to get the Yerkes & Dodson
Law repealed…but I forget.
Red
/ April 30, 2012Stinking politicians probably closed the loophole…
Cat Forsley
/ April 30, 2012Y IS FOR YIKES YOU ARE ONE BRIGHT LADY !!!!!
YOWZERS I AM LIKING IT IN HERE …….
AND YES ………
GRATEFUL TO HAVE CONNECTED XO
YOU YOU YOU
HAVE SO MUCH TO TEACH ALL OF US XOXO
Cat Forsley recently posted..“Perspective ..” She Said by Cat Forsley ©
Red
/ April 30, 2012LOL! This is play time for me. You came in on one of the most technical ones I have put on here. Hopefully, you will scroll around and find some others you like! Don’t forget to leave a link to your blog in the Green Room.
Cat Forsley
/ April 30, 2012I AM BEDAZZLED …….
!!!!!!
I JUST WROTE DEB – WOW …….
WHOM IS THIS LADY !!!!! AMAZING ……
A WHOLE CONVERSATION WITH YOU UNDER MY ART STUFF –
YOU ARE A POWERHOUSE OF AMAZING LOVE ENERGY ….
YOU GOTTA KNOW THAT XO
C
Cat Forsley recently posted..“Perspective ..” She Said by Cat Forsley ©
Red
/ April 30, 2012Doll, you will come to realize I am the official “Call it like I see it” woman in the bunch. I view creativity everywhere it is shared and acknowledge talent in everyone. It is just as easy to be uplifting and positive as it is to be negative and destructive. {HUGZ} Red. xxx
Cat Forsley
/ April 30, 2012BUT THE CHALLENGE IS …..
IN MY EYES TO RISE RISE RISE TO THE OCCASION – OF SPREADING LOVE AND COMPASSION –
THAT’S WHAT I AM ALL ABOUT …..
THE NEGATIVE IS ALWAYS THERE – BUT AGAIN WITH PERSPECTIVE – AND I GOTTA KEEP MY EYES ON IT ALL THE TIME – OR ELSE I SHIFT INTO UNHAPPY CAT ……
TO SPREAD LOVE COMPASSION AND JOY IS MY MEANING OF LIFE XOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOOXOXO
C
Cat Forsley recently posted..“Perspective ..” She Said by Cat Forsley ©
Androgoth
/ May 1, 2012I hope those Rats had some nice treats afterwards? 🙂 It’s nearly as bad as Zapping the Monster.. Poor Thing 🙁 lol Kidding 🙂
I really like this one and have actually heard of this topic before, though I certainly enjoyed reading your take on everything and the way in which you have offered it is excellent 🙂
Have a lovely Tuesday Red 🙂
Androgoth XXx
Red
/ May 1, 2012LOL! I think the monster was glad for the jolt in the end! Figuratively, of course, not literally! Have a wondrous Tuesday, my dark friend!
Bo Lumpkin
/ May 1, 2012Will there be a test on this. As I was reading my mouse shocked me a few times. I was goin’ to look around some more but I have a cravin’ for some cheese and crackers right now.
Bo Lumpkin recently posted..Feelin’ Funny
Red
/ May 1, 2012We rarely test on laws. There is a voltometer in the closet. Perhaps you should check the mouse. Cheese and crackers are in the kitchen. Oh, and the bar is open. We operate on the theory it is 5 o’clock somewhere.