The science of sports performance anxiety: why the pressure that should help you can make you choke

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

1. 01 According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, what is the shape of the relationship between arousal and performance?

   A straight line — more arousal always means better performanceAn inverted U — moderate arousal helps, too little or too much hurtsNo relationship at all between arousal and performanceA U-shape — performance is best at the lowest and highest arousal

   Yerkes and Dodson (1908) found learning and performance peak at a moderate level of arousal and decline when arousal is either too low or too high — the inverted-U remains the starting point for every model of pressure and performance in sport. source ↗

2. 02 What makes Hardy's catastrophe model different from a simple inverted-U account of arousal and performance?

   It predicts performance never declines regardless of arousalIt adds cognitive anxiety (worry) as a second factor: when it's high, rising arousal can cause a sudden collapse rather than a gradual declineIt applies only to team sports, never individual onesIt claims arousal has no effect once an athlete is highly skilled

   Hardy's 1990 model, later tested by Hardy, Beattie and Woodman (2007), holds that with low cognitive anxiety performance follows the gentle inverted-U, but with high cognitive anxiety the same rising arousal can push performance off a cliff — a sudden 'catastrophe' rather than a graceful slide. source ↗

3. 03 Why did Beilock and Carr's skilled golfers putt worse under pressure while novices weren't as affected?

   The skilled golfers were simply less physically fitPressure pushed them to consciously monitor a stroke their body normally runs automatically, disrupting itThey had never practiced putting under any kind of pressureThe novices were simply more talented golfers overall

   Beilock and Carr's (2001) explicit monitoring theory, confirmed by Beilock, Bertenthal, McCoy and Carr (2004) using a distraction manipulation, holds that pressure prompts skilled performers to attend step-by-step to a well-learned motor sequence, and that conscious control is what breaks the automatic execution — novices, who already control the movement step-by-step, aren't disrupted the same way. source ↗

4. 04 What did Cao, Price and Stone find when they analyzed NBA free throws in the final seconds of close games?

   Players shot noticeably better than their normal averageThere was no measurable difference from normal shootingPlayers shot 5-10 percentage points worse than normal, on averageOnly rookies showed any change in shooting accuracy

   Cao, Price and Stone (2011) found NBA players shoot free throws 5-10 percentage points worse, on average, in the final seconds of very close games — quantitative evidence that choking under pressure is common even among elite professionals, and that reliable 'clutch' elevation is the exception, not the rule. source ↗

5. 05 According to attentional control theory, how does anxiety affect athletes' attention and working memory?

   It has no measurable effect on attention, only on musclesIt improves inhibition and shifting, making athletes more focusedIt impairs the inhibition and shifting functions of working memory and biases attention toward threat cuesIt only affects performance in individual sports, never team sports

   Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos and Calvo's (2007) attentional control theory holds that anxiety impairs the inhibition (blocking distraction) and shifting (flexibly redirecting focus) functions of working memory, and pulls attention toward threat-related cues — reducing processing efficiency even when extra effort keeps the final outcome looking fine. source ↗