The Yerkes–Dodson theory of performance can help us with this. Developed in 1908 by Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, the theory suggests that performance on any task will improve as arousal increases up to a certain optimum point. However, beyond that point further arousal will actually worsen performance. The suggestion is that at the extremes, at no arousal or incredibly high arousal, a person cannot perform a given task at all.
