A quick note on attentional theories of choking 🧠

The sport psychology literature on attentional theories of choking under pressure tends to focus on the dichotomy between self-focus and distraction theories. Numerous researchers have concluded that self-focus is the more credible explanation behind choking under pressure, as expert motor action is impaired when attention is drawn to the skill but is preserved when attention is drawn off-task (e.g., Roberts et al., 2017). In most studies supporting this notion, attentional focus has been experimentally manipulated, i.e., half of the sample are instructed to adopt an internal focus of attention and the other half are instructed to adopt an external focus of attention. The question arises if the same support for self-focus theories of choking also occur in high-pressure situations outside of experimental conditions.

Englert and Oudejans (2014) found that, without an experimental manipulation, levels of self-reported distraction in tennis players mediated the relationship between perceived anxiety and task performance, after an anxiety manipulation, whereas self-reported self-focus did not mediate this relationship. As such, their findings support the notion that distraction is the more dominant explanation of choking under pressure outside of experimental conditions, as it was automatically activated without experimental manipulation.

I am interested in finding out whether this finding transfers across contexts. Is distraction the dominant theoretical explanation of choking in musicians and dancers as well as sportspeople? Once a dominant explanation of choking is established, what next? What other factors can contribute to choking, and how can these be addressed proactively? 📚🧠