Journal Of Comparative Physiology And Psychology

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Admin
Journal Of Comparative Physiology And Psychology

Journal Of Comparative Physiology And Psychology

Why do some people preform well under pressure while others crumple? In Choke, Sian Beilock examines the psychological factors in performance. Beilock notes that practicing under mild pressure and relying on perceptual memory can improve performance. Other research reveals that exercising to music that progresses from a slower tempo to a faster rate may also increase performance. Factors that are less controllable include the month and size of the population where wanna-be athletes are born.

Practicing under Mild Stress

While it is not possible to re-create the extreme stress of taking the SAT, playing in the concert hall, or firing at a enemy solider, practicing under even mild stress will improve performance in a high-stress, real-life situation. Timed SAT practice tests will better prepare the high school-er than open-ended studying, playing for a small group of family and friends is better practice for a recital than playing the piano solo, and firing at a moving target improves aim more than firing at one that is fixed.

While practice is often prescribed in the world of music, research has found that even purely cognitive activities, such as reconstructing chess moves, improves with practice. The key difference between master chess players and those not as accomplished was not pure memory, but memory built from the experience of playing out different chess moves. Practice was what made the difference between check and check mate.