Arousal is not always distressing
Chapter 10 endnote 38, from How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
Some context is:
You might predict threats needlessly, or create uncertainty by predicting imprecisely or not at all. [...] A brain awash in prediction error is not always anxious; consider the infant’s lantern of attention (chapter 6) or times when novelty and uncertainty are pleasant (e.g., meeting a new lover)...
A brain awash in prediction error is higher in arousal, but this is not always unpleasant or distressing. Uncertainty can be neutral, as in surprise, or even pleasant, as in anticipation.[1]
Older people experience increases in arousal as unpleasant,[2][3][4] which may be one reason why it's harder to learn new things as you age.
Notes on the Notes
- ↑ Wilson, Timothy D., Dieynaba G. Ndiaye, Cheryl Hahn, and Daniel T. Gilbert. 2013. “Still a Thrill: Meaning Making and the Pleasures of Uncertainty.” In The Psychology of Meaning, edited by Keith D. Markman and Travis Proulx, 421–443. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- ↑ Scheibe, Susanne, Tammy English, Jeanne L. Tsai, and Laura L. Carstensen. 2013. "Striving to feel good: ideal affect, actual affect, and their correspondence across adulthood." Psychology and Aging 28 (1): 160-71.
- ↑ Keil, Andreas, and Alexandra M. Freund. 2009. "Changes in the sensitivity to appetitive and aversive arousal across adulthood." Psychology and Aging 24 (3): 668-680.
- ↑ Sands, Molly, and Derek M. Isaacowitz. 2016. "Situation selection across adulthood: the role of arousal." Cognition and Emotion. doi 10.1080/02699931.2016.1152954