The Inverted-U Under Scrutiny: A Meta-Analytic Test of the Yerkes–Dodson Law Across Cognitive Domains

The Yerkes–Dodson law — the claim that performance relates to arousal as an inverted U — is among the most cited principles in psychology. We test the claim by conducting an umbrella review of 36 meta-analyses and systematic reviews (covering over 1,200 primary experiments) on the relationship between acute stress, cortisol, or physiological arousal and cognitive performance. We then identified 40 primary experiments that manipulated arousal at three or more intensity levels and compared the fit of linear, quadratic, and null models using AICc. The quadratic model was preferred in 11 of 40 cases, concentrated almost entirely in working memory tasks under pharmacological cortisol manipulation (48% of pharmacological experiments vs. 5% of psychological-stress experiments). Episodic memory retrieval showed monotone impairment (d = −0.20 to −0.49). Executive control showed selective impairment: cognitive flexibility and cognitive inhibition declined while response inhibition improved (Shields et al., 2016, k = 51). Decision-making shifted toward reward-seeking (d = 0.17; Starcke & Brand, 2016, k = 32). Two neurobiological mechanisms account for the domain specificity: the mineralocorticoid–glucocorticoid receptor (MR/GR) occupancy balance produces a genuine inverted-U for cortisol acting on prefrontal working-memory circuits (confirmed by receptor-blockade studies: Rimmele et al., 2012; Deuter et al., 2024), while catecholaminergic modulation of neural gain via locus coeruleus–norepinephrine phasic/tonic modes (Aston-Jones & Cohen, 2005) produces monotone facilitation in subcortical systems. Critical moderators include sex (Liu et al., 2017, k = 34), hormonal contraceptive use (Jentsch et al., 2022), age (Lee et al., 2018), and timing relative to cognitive process (Shields et al., 2017, k = 113). None are captured by the Yerkes–Dodson framework. We propose replacing the broad law with a domain-specific, mechanism-grounded framework.