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The good news is that with insight, preparation, and perhaps coaching, performance anxiety is manageable and may be resolved. In the pages that follow, I will discuss anxiety and the pathways by which it disrupts performance. One pathway is by disrupting concentration or our ability to manage concentration and focus. Another pathway is by micromanagement and “dechunking” of highly-practiced and automated motor skills. We will consider the effects of pressure and audiences. Finally, we will consider how to mitigate and resolve performance anxiety.
Anxiety is species specific or part of the evolutionary endowment of humans and other species. It is adaptive or useful to the degree that it serves as an internal signal of current or future danger. This anxiety facilitates advance preparation for challenges and stressors. Thus, facilitative anxiety goads us to study, practice, and do what is necessary to perform optimal when the time arrives. When optimally prepared, anxiety is likely to lessen when the challenge begins. Anxiety is debilitative or disruptive when it interferes with this process of preparation to master sources of the stress. With debilitative anxiety we assume a defensive position as we try to protect ourselves and avoid the sources of threat. This of course is not adaptive when challenges – such as auditions, competitions, and performances – cannot be avoided (Anderson, 2021, Carver & Scheier, 1992; Gallucci, 2014; Jones & Hanton, 1996, 2001; Raffety, Smith, & Ptacek, 1997; Rosen & Schulkin, 1998, Tallis & Eysenck, 1994; Zeidner, 1994) .
Anxiety that is activated in response to specific situations, such as competitions and evaluations, is state anxiety, whereas anxiety levels that remain relatively stable across situations and over time is considered trait anxiety . Anxiety has cognitive and physiological manifestations. The physiological component consists of reactions of the sympathetic nervous system, such as muscle tension, elevated heart rate, sweating, and feelings of being keyed-up or on edge. The cognitive aspect consists of unbidden, intrusive, and persistent forms of worry. Cognitive anxiety is also referred to as cognitive interference because it literally captures, hijacks and commandeers our limited and impermanent attentional resources. Worries are often so emotionally valent or charged that they are difficult to ignore.
In everyday life, it is adaptive to experience anxiety and fear when faced with real danger. Anxiety motivates us to “drop everything” and avoid or escape danger . It is therefore not so easy to suppress thoughts of imagined danger such as “I’m not as good as the others” when performing under pressure. However, focusing on sources of imagined danger has the ironic effect of leading us to, rather than away, from what we fear . For example, worries about being inferior to others may lead you to an inhibited, muted performance that lacks force, texture and color. Focusing on what you wish to avoid is a profound source of cognitive interference because it divides your attention between what you wish to accomplish and what want to avoid. Under pressure, anxiety becomes more emotionally valent or charged, and you may think primarily of what you fear. Thus, if not prepared to manage pressure, cognitive interference may sweep aside our most carefully crafted game plans and beset us with thoughts of failure (Anderson, 2021; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970; Wegner, 1994, 1997a, 1997b, 2011).
In a formal sense, the focus of our attention is the contents of our working memory. In a seminal pa per in 1956, George Miller revealed that the span of working memory was limited to seven (plus or minus two) units of information and that storage was temporary. Information is retained in working memory only until it is pushed out by other information. We concentrate when we deliberately manage the contents of our working memory by focusing of certain thoughts and excluding others. More on Working Memory
We are eminently distractible. The average college student shifts the content of his or her thoughts 4,000 times in the course of one day. Attention shifts whenever a person encounters an environmental cue or has a thought that arouses emotion because of its relation to their current concerns or what is considered important.
Cognitive interference disrupts concentration by intruding on one’s planned focus – the keys to successful performance. There simply is not room for both in working memory. Worries may be difficult to ignore because they are emotionally valent or charged. Emotionally valent thoughts often pertain to potential danger such as: “will I be successful, don’t make a mistake, I’m going to embarrass myself, and I don’t think I can do it.” This self-focused cognitive anxiety also provokes physiological anxiety. Cognitive Interference as a Kibitizer and Schnorrer
Optimal performance requires immersion in the present moment, whereas cognitive interference takes up out of the moment. Worries are often focused on the future and self-stereotypes are backward-looking.
Negative self-stereotypes are a form of habitual and automatic self-talk such as “I don’t perform well under pressure.” With this assumption, performers approach competition with the dread of confirming the self-stereotype. They are vigilant for signs of choking. Of course, this vigilance commanders working memory storage space that is critically limited and essential for optimal performance. Ironically, vigilance for signs of choking leads to choking because attention is diverted from the second-to-second process of the actual performance and directed to whether performance confirms stereotypes or expectations. Most of us would hardly find it flattering to be identified as one who stereotypes others. And yet, we may blithely stereotype ourselves.
Some performers worry that they will fall short of their high standards. They experience cognitive interference as they compare their performance to positive self-stereotypes rather than giving their attention entirely to the moment. Worry may extend to not meeting the high standards of audiences. This is especially important when performers very much want to gain the admiration of an audience and lack confidence that they will do so. Self-stereotypes are handicapping because they position one in a defensive posture of attempting to avoid failure.
In the sections above, cognitive interference and distraction has been described as “normal” or universal. However, in addition, some readers may be especially vulnerable to self-critical and harshly judgmental self-talk. This may be the result of regular exposure to harsh and critical parents, mentors, and coaches. Quite unconsciously, this critical focus may become internalized so that it becomes the child’s own. Unconsciously and unintentionally, the child then filters experience through a self-critical bias, and being “hard on myself” becomes one’s “normal.” This harshly judgmental bias is meta-cognitive, or a ubiquitous manner of processing information and viewing ourselves. Its recognition and management may therefore require concerted and prolonged effort. Exploring the origins of dysfunctional self-talk may be threating and destabilizing as it challenges one’s view of self and others that was established in primary attachment relationships.
Given that people with trait anxiety are almost always anxious, the effect of pressure on their performance is magnified. They are acutely sensitive to signs of danger and threat and of course cognitive interference. They may assume that failure is inevitable when faced with even minimal difficulties and impediments. Pessimism comes easily and they may give up before even starting (Conroy, 2008; Hiroaki, Maruo, Meyer, Hajak, 2017; Petri & Govern, 2004).
Some performers are affected less by cognitive interference than by a self-conscious focus on their performance. These performances look “tight” and “stiff” and lack expressiveness and emotional tone. Some are overly deliberative and others are rushed. They micromanage skills that they have practiced and mastered to such a degree that they best allowed to “run” automatically and without conscious thought about their component parts. This process has been studied exhaustively in sport psychology and is referred to as explicit monitoring or conscious processing (Beilock & Gray, 2007; Masters, 1992). Freezing Under Pressure
Complex motor, vocal, and musical skills are often deconstructed in the learning process. Beginners practice the component parts and integrate the parts into an omnibus unit that can be executed automatically and as the unit, when mastered. When anxiety prompts performers to consciously monitor or form conscious mental images of the step-by-step components and processes that make up automated units, performance becomes stilted, awkward, error-prone, and more characteristic of a beginner rather than an expert. This process is ironically referred to as “reinvestment” as dividends are scarce.Not Mere Metaphores
The disruptive effects of anxiety generally worsen with increased pressure. Pressure refers to the conditions or factors that increase the importance of performing well (Gallucci, 2014). When performance is most important, in the presence of an evaluating audience, when competition is stiff, and when there is only one chance to be successful, pressure is highest. Choking is a term that is widely recognized to refers to inferior performances under pressure. Performances that do not measure up to a person’s acquired skill level are considered inferior. Choking is paradoxical because performers are often most highly motivated to do their best when the stakes or consequences of performances are highest. However, choking does not occur as a result of insufficient effort, but rather because pressure impairs skilled performance by flooding working memory with cognitive interference (Runswick, Roca, Williams, Bezodis, & North, 2018). The Physiology of Distraction
1. Insight is key. Cognitive interference and behavior micromanagement can occur automatically and unconsciously. Without understanding, you may believe your thoughts are uncontrollable and that you are helpless. With insight, the mystery recedes, and you can set yourself to the task of managing your thoughts and emotions.
2. Make a commitment to managing your thoughts. Absorption in the moment is the goal and thoughts of the future and the past are cognitive interference. To the degree possible, occupy your working memory with your game plan and what you intend to do at each moment of competition. When you focus on your game plan, you manage your thoughts from the “top-down.” If you do not take charge of your thoughts from the top-down, chances are that your focus will be hijacked from the “bottom-up” by distractions from opponents, observers, and your own thoughts. When you notice your thoughts being captured from the bottom-up, interrupt the distractions and return to a top-down focus: Stop! Back to my plan. (Rydell, R. J., McConnell, A. R., & Beilock, S. L. (2009). Multiple social identities and stereotype threat: Imbalance, accessibility, and working memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 949-966.
3. Furthermore, when you focus on what you intend to accomplish, you lessen the chances of the self-conscious micromanagement of skills that “dechunks” automated skills and erodes performance. According to the common-coding theory, a focus on intended action engages sensory neuronal tracks that are adjacent to motor neuronal tracks in the cortex. The sensory track primes and elicits the sequence of motor skills necessary to produce those intended results. Stay in tempo. Notice when you are overly deliberative and cautious and when you are rushing. Develop cue words to invoke omnibus routines and automated skills such as rhythm, tempo, and just like always. (Beckmann, J., Gröpel, P., Ehrlenspiel, F. (2013). Preventing motor skill failure through hemisphere-specific priming: Cases from choking under pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142, 679-691. doi: 10.1037/a0029852)
4. Be prepared for lapses. If your mind wanders to think of the worst that might happen, be prepared to answer with something to the effect of so what! If you notice a burst of anxiety, engage in a practice such as centering to return to homeostasis.
Let your mind rest on the experience of strength and balance. Briefly direct your attention inward to check your pattern of breathing and muscular tension. Do you notice shallow, thoracic breathing, anxiety and muscle tension? Replace thoracic breathing with deep, abdominal breathing.
It is recommended for use just prior to crucial points in a performance or competition when anxiety is likely to be highest. Its practice is also recommended during natural pauses in competitions, as well as prior to and after performances.
Centering has the secondary benefit of interrupting cognitive interference. From the standing position, athletes are directed to spread their legs to shoulder width and to flex slightly at the knees. It is a technique for gaining momentary control over physiological anxiety or arousal and concentration.
Characteristics of centering are similar to those of the relaxation response. Both emphasize attention to breathing and techniques are straightforward. Centering offers the considerable promise of being maximally “portable,” in that it can be practiced before, after, and during competitions.
5. Recognize if you are prone to trait anxiety and self-critical, judgmental self-talk. These traits make it more difficult to be entirely in the moment and focus on task execution. If you wish to cling to judgmental self-talk and consider it necessary to motivate hard work and avoid laziness, try to relegate it until after performances and competitions are completed. At that point it will have less effect on your performance than your happiness.
6. Learn from your experience and do not stereotype yourself with self-talk such as I don’t audition well. Your past difficulties are situational and not necessarily predictive of your future.
7. We often habituate or learn to manage anxiety as a result of experience with live auditions and performances. Pressure-training or practice with simulated pressure also provides opportunities to learn to perform optimally when experiencing anxiety. Without this experience, the skills you performed flawlessly in the sanctuary of your home is out of reach when you step on stage. Seek out opportunities to perform under pressure and demonstrate to yourself that your performance holds up under pressure. For example, can you dance on a stage that is cramped and poorly lit? Can you sing on key with the noise of a generator droning in the background? Are you prepared to perform with boorish oafs and before unruly audiences? Does your efficacy shrink when you are faced with stronger competition? By familiarizing and preparing for adversity, you inoculate yourself against anxiety by giving yourself proof that you can still deliver. You also learn new mental and physical skills for managing adversity – you build resiliency and mental toughness.
8. Perhaps you do not have resilient self-esteem and therefore readily doubt yourself. While these dispositions may result from childhood experiences and are not readily reversed, you may nevertheless immerse yourself in the moment of performance. As adults and adolescents, we cannot readily wrest the insouciance that is a derivative of the gleam in the mother’s eye, but we can recognize critical self-judgments as mere thoughts and be prepared to answer, so what!
9. Stick with elements of your performance that you know will hold up under the most intense pressure. Efficacy or certainty that you can execute all the elements in your performance is a powerful source of insulation against cognitive interference. If possible, avoid stretching to reach skills outside of your range. It is difficult to avoid worry if you attempt to belt notes that result in voice cracks 50% of the time.
10. Practice self-talk that affirms efficacy. When facing difficult challenges, I suggest the motivational self-talk of I will do this. You can control the quality of your preparation and effort to apply these recommendations to perform to the best of your ability. Thoughts about controlling outcomes are but another form of cognitive interference.
11. Self-efficacy is not built upon wishful thinking. The most convincing source of efficacy is your actual performance. Are you optimally prepared and conditioned? Have you left nothing to chance in preparing for your performance? Have you checked to make sure you have packed everything? Did you arrive at the venue with ample time to familiarize yourself with the venue, invite “butterflies” and then allow anxiety to dissipate as you habituate to the venue and feel more comfortable? Are you able to see your butterflies as normal signs of excitement rather than symptoms of debilitative anxiety? Have you gathered as much information as possible about what to expect with a new venture such as an audition and are you prepared for a change in plans? Do you have a practice for inducing relaxation and managing physiological anxiety such as centering or mindfulness? Are you prepared to fully inhabit a role, song, or dance and immerse yourself in the moment without judgment and concern about the responses of the audience?
12. The responses of audiences are so very important to performers. Ironically, their admiration is less likely when you focus on pleasing them as this is cognitive interference. To the degree possible, embody your part without a thought about their reactions. Take the lead and let the audience follow. They will let you know how they liked you later.
12a. When you have time, take a step back and examine your motivation for achievement. Ironically, some very achievement-oriented people are primarily motivated by the fear of failure. A focus on avoiding failure and mistakes is yet another form of cognitive interference. Avoiding failure is more likely with a focus on what you intend to do or achieve.