ABSTRACT

Two dominant explanations of choking under pressure – self-focus and distraction – have been enduringly presented as competing mechanisms of motor skill failure under performance stress. Dual-task experiments designed to simultaneously assess both mechanisms have often favoured self-focus, whereas qualitative research and examinations of gaze behaviour suggest that distraction plays a role. Though both mechanisms remain plausible, several reviews of the choking literature have side-stepped how autonomous motor skill failure would play out under a distraction-based model or a dual-mechanism model. In this discussion, we contend that persistent experimental focus on the brief moments of motor execution, without adequate consideration of diverse preparatory cognitive activities that also characterise sporting expertise, has delayed understanding of distraction’s involvement. With an expanded scope in mind, we critically review the evidence for both mechanisms and describe how distraction alone or distraction in combination with self-focus might derail an expert motor skill under pressure. Different suggestions are made for self-paced and externally paced sports given their different attentional challenges.

摘要

在压力下窒息的两个主要解释是自我集中和分散注意力，这是表现压力下运动技能失败的竞争机制。旨在同时评估这两种机制的双任务实验通常倾向于自我关注，而定性研究和凝视行为检查表明，分心发挥了作用。尽管这两种机制仍然合理，但对窒息文献的一些评论避开了在基于分心的模型或双重机制模型下自主运动技能失败的后果。在本次讨论中，我们认为，持续的实验重点放在运动执行的短暂时刻，而没有充分考虑也代表体育专业知识的各种准备性认知活动，延迟了对分心的参与的理解。考虑到范围的扩大，我们将仔细审查这两种机制的证据，并描述仅分心或与自我专注相结合的分心如何在压力下会破坏专家的运动技能。鉴于他们关注的挑战不同，他们对自定进度和外部节奏的运动提出了不同的建议。