Abilities and Performance

Abilities are general human capacities related to the performance of tasks. They develop over time through the interaction of heredity and experience, and are long lasting (Desimone et al., 2002). The main difference between a competency and an ability is that competencies require continuing education opportunities to maintain and they may disappear over time if not used. Abilities may also 'grow' over time, but they are normally relative permanent. Abilities are fairly stable traits, which in the adult, will not change very much unless the individual is subjected to some unusual environmental change (Fleishman, 1962).

Arousal and Performance

Arousal is a major aspect of many learning theories and is closely related to other concepts such as anxiety, attention, agitation, stress, and motivation. There has been quite a bit of research indicating the correlation suggested by Yerkes and Dodson exists (Broadhurst, 1957; Duffy, 1957; Anderson, 2000), but a cause of the correlation has not yet been fully established (Anderson, Revelle, & Lynch, 1989). Although the Yerkes-Dodson law is quite old, it has held up in time through numerous studies. Just because something is old, does not make it invalid. In fact, because it has held up for so long it has gone from being a theory to a law. The arousal level can be thought of as how much capacity you have available to work with. One finding with respect to arousal is the Yerkes-Dodson law which predicts an inverted U-shaped function between arousal and performance. A certain amount of arousal can be a motivator towards change (with change in this discussion being learning). But too much or too little will work against the learner. You want some midlevel point of arousal that provides the motivation to change (learn). Too little arousal has an inert affect on the learner, while too much has a hyper affect. There are optimal levels of arousal for each task to be learned:

lower for more difficult or intellectually (cognitive) tasks higher for tasks requiring endurance and persistence

For example, the arousal level in a quality team training session must be quite high as it requires persistence and it is basically a low cognitive task. On the other side of the coin is an advanced algebra class. It is a extremely high on the cognitive level, so arousal must be kept low as you need the learners' full attention on the subject matter - too much arousal and you overload them.