A curve with an experimental history
Yerkes and Dodson’s 1908 study examined stimulus strength and learning in mice. The relationship depended on the difficulty of the discrimination task.
Framework · A CLOSER LOOK
Yerkes–Dodson curve
ABOUT THIS FRAMEWORK
The original 1908 study investigated how stimulus strength affected discrimination learning in mice. Task difficulty mattered: the best stimulus level was not the same across tasks. The familiar inverted-U is a later shorthand, not a universal prescription for how much stress a person needs.
A graph can be a useful prompt without establishing one ideal level of pressure for every person and activity.
The displayed inverted-U is an original illustration of the familiar later interpretation. Its axes have no numerical scale: it is not a plot of the 1908 measurements or a prescription for an optimal stress level.
A CLOSER LOOK
The story behind it.
A familiar curve about arousal and performance—with an important role for task difficulty.
Why the familiar curve varies
The popular inverted-U diagram summarizes a relationship between arousal and performance. Task difficulty is part of the original story and explains why one curve cannot describe every task.
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Sources for this closer look
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Follow the original source to explore the work in its own context.
Sources & credits
Introductions are grounded in the sources below. Collection notes and reading prompts provide an editorial starting point; personal opinions are identified in the collection’s content.