Alertness
Arousal (wakefulness)
Also searched as Arousal (wakefulness).
In depth
Arousal — the wakeful state that gates cognition rather than being part of it. Deliberately not counted as a seventh cognitive domain: it is not one of the dsm-5 six. And more is not better — the arousal literature describes a spectrum with sleepiness and inattention at one end and hypervigilance, panic and psychosis at the other.
What drives it
Alertness chemical increases it.
10.3389/fncel.2021.645691 — In the center of the spectrum, arousal is a state of wakefulness in which an individual is awake, alert, able to create and problem solve. doi 10.3389/fncel.2021.645691 · PMC7873441
Sleep pressure reduces it.
NBK519490 — Enhances alertness, attention, and cognitive function by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Nutrients 2022;14(16):3367.
Lowers wake signal increases it.
10.3389/fendo.2013.00018 — Dense orexin-immunoreactive fibers in the LC were found to have a significant excitatory effect in vitro and were demonstrated to have an essential role in mediating transitions of sleep to wake in vivo. doi 10.3389/fendo.2013.00018 · PMC7873441
Motivation increases it.
10.3389/fphar.2020.01005 — Increases wakefulness, alertness, and cognitive function by modulating neurotransmitter systems, particularly dopamine and norepinephrine. doi 10.3389/fphar.2020.01005 · PMC12409474
Sleep increases it.
10.31083/j.jin2309174 — The inhibition of cholinergic nuclei appears particularly relevant, as the associated decrease in cortical acetylcholine seems to cause effects of sleep deprivation on macroscopic brain activity. doi 10.31083/j.jin2309174 · PMC2778638
Memory chemical increases it.
PMC4495063 — both stimulate the transmission of acetylcholine in the cortex, resulting in stimulating wakefulness. PMC4495063
What it drives
It increases Memory & focus.
models of attention often stress that vigilance and sustained attention are fundamentally important to many higher aspects of cognition and that these higher processes will necessarily decline if a subject is not able to sustain a sufficient level of vigilance while performing a task. Verbatim from the source for this edge — PMC3290659, PMC9775863. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0045987 · PMC3290659
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.