Question: How can I manipulate individual "effect" parameters without the use of a mouse? AE

At the moment, the arrow keys on my keyboard serve only to minimze or maximize individual effect panels, and/or select layers in the timeline window. 

I'd like to manage the individual knobs and controls of the effects, but no individual keys or combination of keys (w/modifiers like ctrl, shift, alt) will allow this. 

Am I missing something? 

Thanks for your time