ABSTRACT
Emotions are also an important form of communication, emotional expression informing others how we feel at that moment. To understand how emotion may impact on performance, it is important to understand how the body prepares for action when not in an emotive state. When we know that we need to perform, the body needs to enter a state of activation where it prepares itself for the physical and mental challenges of the task ahead. The activation leads to a state of arousal. The level of arousal that is relevant to a performance also varies dependent on several factors: the experience of the performer and the complexity of the activity. If we are experiencing arousal, this suggests that the situation has been perceived as more important than usual, and could be argued that the body is then put under stress to perform above and beyond normal levels.
