Yerkes-Dodson Law

A psychophysiological principle that describes an inverted‑U relationship between physiological or psychological arousal and task performance: performance tends to be low at very low arousal, rises to an optimum at moderate arousal, and falls as arousal becomes excessive.

A principle describing a curvilinear relationship between physiological or psychological arousal and task performance in which performance tends to improve with arousal up to an optimal point and then decline as arousal increases further; the optimal arousal level varies with task complexity and individual differences.