Exogenous Determinants of Arousal: Noise

Abstract

A relatively straightforward method of studying the effects of arousal on performance is to manipulate the level of arousal by means of exogenous or external stimulation. Ideally, such stimulation should be intense but non-informative, so that it produces a state of elevated arousal without at the same time attracting attention. In practice, white noise (i.e. a noise consisting of all sound frequencies and resembling hissing) has been far and away the most used exogenous determinant of arousal. There is fairly general agreement that intense white noise produces heightened physiological arousal, and direct evidence in support of this contention was obtained by Berlyne and Lewis (1963), who discovered that moderate intensity white noise produced a significant drop in skin resistance.