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Why we choke under pressure, according to a cognitive scientist

8:45pm July 19, 2024

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Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Sports psychology for everyday life

Choking, whiffing it, the yips. For every spectacular performance in sports history, there’s an example of a highly-skilled athlete who folds under pressure. And it’s not just sports: we also might freeze up during a presentation, an important recital or a big speech. But what happens in our brains during those high-stakes moments?

Succeeding when no one’s looking

“I define choking as performing worse than you expected because of the situation and its consequences,” says Sian Beilock, president of Dartmouth College and a cognitive scientist who studies how we handle pressure.

As a graduate student, Beilock was part of a study that invited college-level and professional golfers to a lab—outfitted with a putting green—in order to put them under varying levels of pressure.

Beilock’s team observed that golfers who performed well in the experiment often couldn’t recall the details of what they did in the moment of action. They were functioning on autopilot, rather than intently focused on the mechanics of their stroke.

On the other hand, golfers who performed poorly were closely monitoring each step of their swing.

“Counterintuitively, one of the reasons people flub under pressure, especially in athletics, is they start paying too much attention to their performance, things that should just run on autopilot,” Beilock says.

When paying too much attention backfires

In recent years, Beilock’s research team studied this phenomenon of over-attention, which they call “paralysis by analysis.” In another study, they asked college soccer players to dribble while focusing on what side of the foot was contacting the ball. This led to players performing slower and making more mistakes.

Over-attention also pops up in everyday situations, like focusing too closely on a word as you speak or watching your steps as you walk down the stairs.

“A lot of it comes down to the prefrontal cortex, that front part of our brain that sits over our eyes and usually helps us focus in positive ways,” Beilock said in a 2017 TED Talk. “It often gets hooked on the wrong things… The end result is that we actually screw up.”

Let your brain take over

Beilock has a few simple hacks for stopping over-attention from getting in the way of our performance potential.

First, practice is key.

Whether preparing to deliver a wedding toast or sit for the SAT, Beilock recommends practicing under the conditions in which you’re going to perform. “You got to make yourself a little nervous,” she says. “Even practicing in front of a mirror, it increases self-consciousness so you’re ready to go when you’re on the big stage or it’s that big day.”

Second, pick a mantra to get you through tough moments.

In order to distract yourself from overthinking, Beilock suggests choosing a song or keyword to focus on rather than dwelling on the details of what you’re doing (Bielock’s own soundtrack is Take It Easy by the Eagles).

Finally, Beilock suggests that we trust our brains to execute what we’ve trained ourselves to do. According to her research, operating outside of conscious control often leads to the best outcomes.

“The most exciting part of my work is showing that you can get better at things with practice and you can learn how to perform and lead in different situations,” Beilock says. “The idea that you're not born a choker or a thriver, that everyone has to practice and that's how you are able to show what you know when it matters most, I think, gives me hope.”

This digital story was written by Chloee Weiner and edited by Rachel Faulkner White. The audio version was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHourand email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.

Transcript

MANOUSH ZOMORODI, HOST:

It's the TED Radio Hour from NPR. I'm Manoush Zomorodi. On the show today, The Psychology of Winning. We just heard how soccer great Abby Wambach was able to turn a crucial moment into a clutch goal. But what if she'd whiffed - totally missed the ball? For every win, there's an example of someone, at the worst possible time, choking.

SIAN BEILOCK: Yeah. Did you perform worse than you expected, given what you could do? (Laughter) To me, that's a choke.

ZOMORODI: This is the president of Dartmouth College.

BEILOCK: My name is Sian Beilock.

ZOMORODI: Sian is also a cognitive scientist who spent most of her career studying what happens in our brains when we crack under pressure. For Sian, there was one particular day in high school when this happened to her - and she will never forget it.

BEILOCK: I was playing soccer. I was the goalkeeper, which is a pressure-filled position. All eyes are on you. And I was playing as part of the California state team, which is part of the Olympic development program.

ZOMORODI: Wow.

BEILOCK: So it was a big deal. And I remember turning around and realizing that the national coach, the coach that would select somebody to come up and play on the national team, was standing behind me. And I first just shook it off, but I remember, really, all of a sudden becoming really self-aware of everything I was doing, from breathing to moving. And soon after that, the ball came towards me. Someone was dribbling down the field. And I essentially was in slow motion. Almost thinking about how I was playing like the coach was watching me. And I missed such an easy shot.

ZOMORODI: Oh.

BEILOCK: And shortly after that, it happened again...

ZOMORODI: Oh.

BEILOCK: ...And really blew my chances to play at the next level and shook me to my core about whether I could perform well when it mattered.

ZOMORODI: OK. So is that why you became a cognitive scientist?

BEILOCK: I definitely do me-search (ph) - so trying to understand how I can perform better under pressure. And when I got to university, I found this amazing major called cognitive science, where you could actually ask questions about how you were performing, what happened in the brain and body as people learn and perform at their best. And one of the things I realized was that there was a lot of research focused on how people learn. Whether it's how you learn as a young child, how you learn to become an expert in everything from chess to athletics to music. But there was less research focused on what happened when someone was pretty highly skilled and all of a sudden they didn't perform well. And I wanted to ask that question.

ZOMORODI: How do you even go about studying what happens in the brain? Can you take me through the process that you went through to try and pinpoint where things I guess go wrong?

BEILOCK: Yeah. I mean, so I'm interested in performance at all kinds of different levels and in different tasks. And one of the first things that we actually did when I was in graduate school and first studying this is we set up a lab with a putting green...

ZOMORODI: (Laughter).

BEILOCK: ...And we invited professional golfers in. And we put them under pressure and looked to see what happened, if they got worse in terms of how they putted.

ZOMORODI: Oh, it's called the yips - right? - when you, like, just completely whiff with the ball, but you're actually a very good golfer?

BEILOCK: Yeah, I mean, the yips is one way that it's been described or just choking under pressure. And golf is a great sport to study this because people certainly can play differently, depending on what's on the line and who's around them.

ZOMORODI: What did those golfers tell you?

BEILOCK: It was really interesting. So we had pretty high-level golfers, whether it was division one golf team or some professional golfers. And one thing that they told us is that when they putted well, they actually couldn't really remember what they were doing. They were sort of in a zone. And when we asked them for their memory, they couldn't tell us much. It's, you know, why I always think professional athletes, after a really good game either thank their moms or they thank God.

Like, when people ask them questions, they can't tell you what they did because they were playing, in a sense, out of their mind. They weren't focusing on what they were doing. But when they performed poorly, they actually were paying a lot of attention to every step of what they were doing, and this gave us insight that maybe counterintuitively, one of the reasons people flub under pressure, especially in athletics, is they start paying too much attention to their performance, things that should just run on autopilot.

ZOMORODI: Do we know how I guess, good someone has to be as an athlete, or I guess, any skill that they have? Public speaking or anything where they're under pressure. Is there a level of achievement that they reach when they can do this autopilot thing and don't have to talk themselves through every step while they're actually doing it?

BEILOCK: It's a really good question, and I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer. And we're all really expert at certain things. Like, you shuffle down the stairs all the time. And if I asked you what you were doing with your knee, you'd probably fall on your face. So we're all experts in certain things.

ZOMORODI: So this actually happened to me - not under pressure. Just - I was carrying a laundry basket down the stairs, and I, you know, was like, be careful, be careful. And I, like, looked, and I felt very nervous about falling - so I guess that is high pressure.

BEILOCK: Yeah.

ZOMORODI: And I was thinking so much that I flubbed it and fell and actually broke my foot. So...

BEILOCK: Wow.

ZOMORODI: Yeah. So I have actually experienced that.

BEILOCK: It turns out it would have been better if you just hummed a song or thought of a keyword and just kept on going down the stairs.

ZOMORODI: Yeah. I mean, there's something actually very reassuring about this idea of our brain being able to take over without us having to pay attention.

BEILOCK: Yeah. I mean, it's how we do all sorts of things in our lives. I mean, we're getting bombarded with all sorts of information that we don't pay attention to at particular moments. And sometimes, like, you're probably not thinking about your foot right now, but now you are because I told you about it. We do a lot of things outside of conscious control. And a lot of what my research has shown is actually you have to trust yourself and be able to perform that way because that's how you're going to have the best outcome.

ZOMORODI: Sian Beilock picks up from the TED stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)

BEILOCK: My research team and I have studied this phenomenon of over-attention, and we call it paralysis by analysis. In one study, we asked college soccer players to dribble a soccer ball and to pay attention to an aspect of their performance that they would not otherwise attend to. We asked them to pay attention to what side of the foot was contacting the ball. We showed that performance was slower and more error-prone when we drew their attention to the step-by-step details of what they were doing.

When the pressure is on, we're often concerned with performing at our best, and as a result, we try and control what we're doing to force the best performance. A lot of it comes down to the prefrontal cortex, that front part of our brain that sits over our eyes and usually helps us focus in positive ways. It often gets hooked on the wrong things. The end result is that we actually screw up.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ZOMORODI: It feels important to mention gymnastics. Simone Biles is, of course, the most famous example of being at the absolute top of her field and then dropping out after experiencing what people in gymnastics call the twisties - this sense of not knowing where your body is in space. Is that different than what you're talking about, paralysis by analysis?

BEILOCK: No. I mean, I actually think it's really similar in terms of this idea that all of a sudden, what had gone on autopilot, what she knew how to do, didn't feel right. And then, when she needs to focus on where she's going to land, for example, she isn't able to. And so it's a form of your performance changing because of what's happening mentally. That's what - she didn't say, I injured my foot, right? She injured her ability to attend to what she wanted and to not attend to what she didn't.

ZOMORODI: And do you think stress, anxiety, pressure of the moment makes that out-of-syncness happen between the brain and the body, or could that have happened at any point?

BEILOCK: Well, I think the yips, which sometimes just creep up out of nowhere in golf and other sports, and, you know, in baseball, it's happened, sometimes it happens out of nowhere. But there is a body of research that suggests that when you are really stressed, when all eyes are on you, that actually can be an avenue that changes how you think about how you're going to perform and can induce some of whether it's the twisties or the yips or performing poorly under pressure.

ZOMORODI: So talk us through what you think are some easy hacks, I guess, to not let our prefrontal vortex get hooked on the wrong things.

BEILOCK: Well, first, I think practice is key. Not just practicing a toast you have to give at a wedding or a speech without anyone watching you. You've got to practice under the conditions you're going to perform under. So if you're giving that toast and you want to practice to perfection, you've got to practice in front of your friends. You've got to make yourself a little nervous. Even practicing in front of a mirror, it increases self-consciousness so that you're ready to go when you're out on the big stage or it's that big day.

ZOMORODI: I read that the golfer Jack Nicklaus used to think about his pinky toes.

BEILOCK: Yeah. That's another idea. It's sort of a crutch to not overthink the step-by-step details. So either thinking about your pinky toe or having a keyword or a mantra or a swing thought. Anything that sort of takes you from spending too much time dwelling on the details of what you're doing. So when I was playing soccer and then lacrosse, I started the game with a song. Like, I always had "Take It Easy" by the Eagles in my head.

ZOMORODI: (Laughter).

BEILOCK: And now when I go into an important talk or presentation, it pops up in my head. I start singing it.

ZOMORODI: That's your soundtrack for doing, like, well without stressing out.

BEILOCK: That is my soundtrack.

ZOMORODI: So I do have to ask. You have a very stressful job.

BEILOCK: (Laughter).

ZOMORODI: But when you were first learning about all of these things about what was going on in our brains, did it change the way that you approached your work?

BEILOCK: Yeah. It's a great question. And I think for me the most exciting part of my work is showing that you can get better at things with practice and you can learn how to perform and lead in different situations. And so, for me, the idea that you're not born a choker or a thriver, that everyone has to practice, and that's how you are able to show what you know when it matters most, I think, gives me hope.