Anon La Ply
Diamond Member
Found a great article about this, which some of us might find helpful:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/26/sports-psychology-choking
Some quotes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jul/26/sports-psychology-choking
Some quotes:
.....The sequence of events typically goes like this: when people get nervous about performing, they become self-conscious. They start to fixate on themselves, trying to make sure that they don't make any mistakes. This can be lethal for a performer. The bowler concentrates too much on his action and loses control of the ball. The footballer misses the penalty by a mile. In each instance, the natural fluidity of performance is lost; the grace of talent disappears.
.....This is what happens when people "choke". The part of their brain that monitors their behaviour starts to interfere with actions that are normally made without thinking. Performers begin second guessing skills that they have honed through years of practice.
......The second interesting result was that there was a way to ward off choking. When the expert golfers contemplated a holistic cue word [like "smooth" or "balanced"], their performance was no longer affected by anxiety. Because the positive adjectives were vague and generic, they didn't cause the athletes to lose the flow of expert performance or overrule their automatic brain.
.....This is what happens when people "choke". The part of their brain that monitors their behaviour starts to interfere with actions that are normally made without thinking. Performers begin second guessing skills that they have honed through years of practice.
......The second interesting result was that there was a way to ward off choking. When the expert golfers contemplated a holistic cue word [like "smooth" or "balanced"], their performance was no longer affected by anxiety. Because the positive adjectives were vague and generic, they didn't cause the athletes to lose the flow of expert performance or overrule their automatic brain.