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Consciousness and choking in visually-guided actions

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Abstract

Choking under pressure describes the phenomenon of people performing well below their expected standard under circumstances where optimal performance is crucial. One of the prevailing explanations for choking is that pressure increases the conscious attention to the underlying processes of the performer's task execution, thereby disrupting what would normally be a relatively automatic process. However, research on choking has focused mainly on the influence of pressure on motor performance, typically overlooking how it might alter the way that vision is controlled when performing these motor actions. In this article we ask whether the visual component of expert motor-skill execution is susceptible to choking much like the motor component is thought to be. To do so, we draw heavily on empirical findings from studies of sporting expertise, in particular focussing on the role of gaze in three types of visually-guided actions: interceptive actions, aiming tasks, and anticipatory skill. For each of these skills we (i) evaluate the nature of the expert advantage, (ii) discuss the role of consciousness in their control, (iii) examine the potential impact of pressure on task performance, and (iv) consider interventions designed to reduce the likelihood of choking when performing these tasks.

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Acknowledgments

Figure 1 presents results from a Masters project performed by Rick Dumoulin and Michiel Vervoort at VU University Amsterdam with the support of Vosse de Boode and Ajax Football Club.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sport Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Johan M. Koedijker

  2. Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Johan M. Koedijker & David L. Mann

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  1. Johan M. Koedijker
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  2. David L. Mann
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Correspondence to David L. Mann.

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Koedijker, J.M., Mann, D.L. Consciousness and choking in visually-guided actions. Phenom Cogn Sci 14, 333–348 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-014-9398-3

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