Effortful regulation is maximized at moderate levels of emotional and physiological reactivity and declines at very low or very high levels¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q1
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q1 i? Attention and effortful regulation follow an inverted U-shaped relation to emotional and physiological arousal, with executive function maximized at moderate neurochemical levels. → Blair 2015
Evidence¶
Blair 2015¶
Blair, Clancy & Raver, C. Cybele. (2015). School Readiness and Self-Regulation: A Developmental Psychobiological Approach. Annual Review of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221
q1 · i? · review · r3
Theoretical neurobiological argument in the review: rising catecholamines and cortisol stimulate prefrontal activity up to a moderate level, beyond which prefrontal activity is reduced. The article maps this onto the inverted U-shaped Yerkes-Dodson curve relating anxiety to performance. No effect size is printed.
"At moderate increases in emotional and physiological reactivity, attention is increased and effortful regulation is maximized. At very low or very high levels of reactivity, however, control of attention is decreased and effortful regulation is less likely to occur."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
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- No evidence for a curvilinear relationship between arousal and test performance — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Exercise intensity differentially moderates acute exercise cognitive benefits, with moderate intensity favoring executive functions and high intensity favoring information processing — related
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- Hot executive function (CGT risk adjustment) shows a bell-shaped developmental curve, peaking at age 14 and declining thereafter — related
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Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
inverted-u-arousal-executive-function |
title |
Effortful regulation is maximized at moderate levels of emotional and physiological reactivity and declines at very low or very high levels |
description |
Effortful regulation is maximized at moderate levels of emotional and physiological reactivity and declines at very low or very high levels |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2015 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — blair-2015 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.