Performance anxiety and its side effects

SMM - When a person is said to have to "swallow empty", this indicates that they are tense and possibly overwhelmed in a situation. In German, this phenomenon is metaphorically described as "Kloss im Hals" (a lump in the throat). Musicians are all too familiar with situations like this when they find themselves on stage and are confronted with expectations of a perfect performance. The physiological side effects of stage fright are more than noticeable. Even well-prepared professionals can notice in such anxiety-inducing moments how their motor skills and cognitive perceptiveness are impaired without being able to influence them. It is therefore surprising that science is not yet able to explain the interplay between physiological states and cognitive attitudes.

Based on interviews with 258 pianists, neuropsychology researchers Shinichi Furuya, Reiko Ishimaru and Noriko Nagata from Japan's Kwansei Gakuin Institute have identified eight behavioral, psychological and physiological factors that contribute to the phenomenon. These include attention distracted by the presence of the audience, an inability to recall motor sequences as a matter of course, perceptual disorders (such as tunnel vision), neuroticism and memory failure.

According to the team, two hypotheses to explain the phenomenon are commonly discussed. One - let's call it the distraction hypothesis - explains the impaired performance by the fact that under stress, attention is diverted from the actual task to irrelevant events. The second - the hypothesis of conscious monitoring - assumes that performance is impaired because well-practiced processes no longer run automatically as they do in relaxed situations, but are subjected to explicit control again, laden with anxiety. The urgent feeling of not failing in such a situation leads to the conscious control of movement sequences being sought.

The Japanese team's data suggest that it is mainly distraction that determines the reactions. However, the team does not conceal the fact that other studies have suggested that both phenomena play a role - both the distracted focus and the need to control movement sequences that take place in flow under normal conditions.

Assistance must be defined individually for those affected. The catalog of possible measures includes behavioral therapies, the written formulation of fears before such a situation, coaching or mental training. Exercises to better control muscle tension can also be helpful. For example, uneconomical muscle strain when playing the piano can be reduced by practising sequences of movements with different rhythms. This can counteract excessive attention, which can lead to unnecessary muscle tension, for example, and thus impair temporal precision when playing the piano. The team is skeptical about drug treatment. For example, taking beta blockers could even increase the risk of motor misbehavior - because they dampen the activities of the sympathetic nervous system.

Original article

Shinichi Furuya, Reiko Ishimaru, Noriko Nagata: "Factors of choking under pressure in musicians", Plos One, January 2021, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244082