College students ("n" = 846) enrolled in a general education course were randomly assigned to either an arousal (experimental) or no-arousal (control) group. The experimental group was exposed to a topic-relevant, 90-second external stimulus (a technique used to elevate arousal and focus attention). The control group listened to the instructor take roll. Both groups then listened to the same 30-minute lecture followed by an exam. An independent-samples t-test found a significant difference in exam scores measuring information retention between arousal (M = 13.36, SD = 1.5) and no-arousal (M = 12.85, SD = 1.4) conditions; "t" (844) = 5.20, "p" less than 0.001. Results suggest introducing a lecture with an external stimulus increases information retention.