RESEARCH_FILE
Michael W. Eysenck
Royal Holloway, University of London (Emeritus)
Known for:Attentional control theory — how anxiety hijacks the brain's top-down attention system and biases it toward threat
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“One bad practice and I'm on the bench”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“Coaches bench hesitation, not every mistake.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
During your next solo skill rep or warm-up drill, allow one imperfect attempt on purpose, then keep going for two more reps without looking up to see if anyone noticed. Jot down what you feared would happen versus what actually happened.
Key findings
- 2007
With Nazanin Derakshan, Rita Santos and Manuel Calvo, proposed attentional control theory: anxiety impairs the inhibition and shifting functions of working memory and biases attention toward threat-related stimuli, harming processing efficiency more than performance effectiveness. Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory ↗
- 2009
With Nazanin Derakshan, extended the theory's account of the effectiveness-efficiency distinction, showing that anxious performers often compensate with extra effort — so accuracy can look normal even while far more mental resources are being burned to achieve it. Anxiety, processing efficiency, and cognitive performance: New developments from attentional control theory ↗