

It could also be that a person is experiencing a lot of stress in their present life and therefore the resources for good performance just are not there." Can people avoid choking under pressure? "There are also certain triggers for choking under pressure, such as a major past event or failure which has led to loss of confidence.

This propensity to underperform under stress can be "linked to having experienced more emotional, psychological or physical threat and danger in childhood as the brain is still developing," she told Live Science in an email. Some individuals may be more prone to choking under pressure than others, said Sam Jahara, a psychotherapist at Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy in the U.K. This increased self-focus can effectively disrupt their ability to execute complex skills without too much conscious thought, as they have trained to do.

Although supportive audiences can inspire performers to excel, the presence of others may also lead performers towards unhelpful self-monitoring and overcautiousness when the stakes are highest, the review authors wrote. In addition, when there are high incentives and social pressure to succeed - for example, during big sporting events - individuals may be more focused on their public image than the task at hand, leading to overstimulation of the brain and poorer performance, the authors wrote.įor this reason, the presence of others may be a key factor in choking under pressure, according to a 2007 review published in the Journal of Sports Sciences. High pressure may distract a person's attention away from the task and onto their worries about the consequences of failure, the review states. This idea is supported by neuroimaging studies, which suggest that the activity of brain regions implicated in motivation and attention changes under the influence of stress, according to a 2015 review published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. "When people experience a 'brain freeze' or 'choking,' their cognitive capacity or access to the part of the brain that helps them perform a task is limited as it is focused on the part of the brain that responds to danger," he said. Mental stress may lead to challenges with thinking clearly or concentrating as one's attention is centered on the perceived threat, Tikare said. (Image credit: Justin Setterfield / Staff via Getty Images) Archers with lowers scores were found to have higher heart rates during competition.
