Psychological stress and performance

2021 ◽  
pp. 683-709
Author(s):  
Faye Didymus ◽  
Luke Norris ◽  
Alexandra Potts ◽  
Helen Staff
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
And Performance

scholarly journals Mastery Imagery Ability Is Associated With Positive Anxiety and Performance During Psychological Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Williams ◽  
Mary L. Quinton ◽  
Jet J. C. S. Veldhuijzen van Zanten ◽  
Jack Davies ◽  
Clara Möller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Somatic Anxiety ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Path Analyses ◽  
Stress Task ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Acute Psychological Stress ◽  
The Relationship

Mastery imagery (i.e., images of being in control and coping in difficult situations) is used to regulate anxiety. The ability to image this content is associated with trait confidence and anxiety, but research examining mastery imagery ability's association with confidence and anxiety in response to a stressful event is scant. The present study examined whether trait mastery imagery ability mediated the relationship between confidence and anxiety, and the subsequent associations on performance in response to an acute psychological stress. Participants (N = 130; 55% male; Mage = 19.94 years; SD = 1.07 years) completed assessments of mastery imagery ability and engaged in a standardized acute psychological stress task. Immediately prior to the task, confidence, cognitive and somatic anxiety intensity, and interpretation of anxiety symptoms regarding the task were assessed. Path analyses supported a model whereby mastery imagery ability mediated the relationship between confidence and cognitive and somatic anxiety interpretation. Greater mastery imagery ability and confidence were both directly associated with better performance on the stress task. Mastery imagery ability may help individuals experience more facilitative anxiety and perform better during stressful tasks. Improving mastery imagery ability by enhancing self-confidence may help individuals successfully cope with anxiety elicited during stressful situations.

scholarly journals Anxiety and Performance: The Disparate Roles of Prefrontal Subregions Under Maintained Psychological Stress

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 1858-1866 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Takizawa ◽  
Y. Nishimura ◽  
H. Yamasue ◽  
K. Kasai
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
And Performance

Self-Focused Attention and Performance Failure under Psychological Stress

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu-Min Liao ◽  
Richard S.W. Masters
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Time To Event ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Significant Performance ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Degree

Although it has often been implied that self-focused attention plays a mediating role in performance degradation under stress, the assumption that stress will evoke self-focus has received limited empirical support. Two studies were carried out to explore this relationship. The first study, using a time-to-event paradigm, showed that a higher level of self-focused attention accompanied increased anxiety levels in the buildup to competition. In the second study, basketball novices who were instructed to focus on the mechanics of the ball-shooting process during practice suffered a significant performance decrement in a subsequent stressful test phase, whereas those who were required only to do their best during practice showed no degradation in performance. It was concluded that self-focused attention may increase in response to psychological stress, and that the negative effect of self-focused attention on performance under stress is likely to be magnified by learning the skill under a high degree of self-focused attention, which can result in an overawareness of the performance process.

scholarly journals Mood States and Performance in Elite Canoe Polo Players: The Mediating Role of Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4494
Author(s):  
Donatella Di Corrado ◽  
Andrea Buscemi ◽  
Paola Magnano ◽  
Nelson Mauro Maldonato ◽  
Matej Tusak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Male Athletes ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
National Competition ◽  
And Performance

Sport performance is characterized by competitive stressful conditions that elicit emotional states. The purpose of the study was to examine whether stress mediated the relationship between mood states and performance. Thirty-two elite canoe polo players from four different Italian teams (16 senior males and 16 senior females), aged between 29 and 38 years old (M = 32.3, SD = 2.71), participated in the study. Measures included level of psychological stress, six mood dimensions, and performance outcome. We also detected the digit ratio—the lower second-to-fourth digit length (2D:4D) ratio—as it was demonstrated to be correlated to high sports performance. The assessment took place one day before the first game of the national competition “ITALY CUP”. Male athletes reported lower scores on dysfunctional emotion-related states and on 2D:4D ratio than female athletes. The results of the mediation analysis showed that psychological stress plays a mediating role between moods and performance. Overall, given the limited literature, the findings supported an integrative approach to the study of the linkage between emotion and action in canoe polo.

Effect of Physical Stress and Time-Pressure on Performance

1981 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 787-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rutger Lulofs ◽  
Rianne Wennekens ◽  
Jan Van Houtem
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Physical Stress ◽  
Direct Manipulation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Psychological Demands

Several aspects of the inverted U-model regarding the relation between activation and performance were tested in an experiment in which activation was manipulated both by increasing metabolic demands and by varying psychological demands. Psychological stress influenced performance but the direct manipulation of activation by increasing physical stress had no effect on performance. From these results we conclude that it is very unlikely that activation is causally related to performance. A better explanation seems that a stressor influences both activation and performance and that the effect of a stressor is highly specific and depends on the kind of stressor and the kind of task.

scholarly journals Chiropractic Interns' Perceptions of Stress and Confidence

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Mattinat Spegman ◽  
Sean Herrin
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Chiropractic Students

Objective: Psychological stress has been shown to influence learning and performance among medical and graduate students. Few studies have examined psychological stress in chiropractic students and interns. This preliminary study explored interns' perceptions around stress and confidence at the midpoint of professional training. Methods: This pilot study used a mixed-methods approach, combining rating scales and modified qualitative methods, to explore interns' lived experience. Eighty-eight interns provided ratings of stress and confidence and narrative responses to broad questions. Results: Participants reported multiple sources of stress; stress and confidence ratings were inversely related. Interns described stress as forced priorities, inadequate time, and perceptions of weak performance. Two themes, “convey respect” and “guide real-world learning,” describe faculty actions that minimized stress and promoted confidence. Conclusion: Chiropractic interns experience varying degrees of stress, which is managed with diverse strategies. The development of confidence appears to be influenced by the consistency and manner in which feedback is provided. Although faculty cannot control the amount or sources of stress, awareness of interns' perceptions can strengthen our effectiveness as educators.

scholarly journals Stress-induced brain activity, brain atrophy, and clinical disability in multiple sclerosis

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (47) ◽  
pp. 13444-13449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Weygandt ◽  
Lil Meyer-Arndt ◽  
Janina Ruth Behrens ◽  
Katharina Wakonig ◽  
Judith Bellmann-Strobl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Performance Feedback ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Disease Parameters

Prospective clinical studies support a link between psychological stress and multiple sclerosis (MS) disease severity, and peripheral stress systems are frequently dysregulated in MS patients. However, the exact link between neurobiological stress systems and MS symptoms is unknown. To evaluate the link between neural stress responses and disease parameters, we used an arterial-spin–labeling functional MRI stress paradigm in 36 MS patients and 21 healthy controls. Specifically, we measured brain activity during a mental arithmetic paradigm with performance-adaptive task frequency and performance feedback and related this activity to disease parameters. Across all participants, stress increased heart rate, perceived stress, and neural activity in the visual, cerebellar and insular cortex areas compared with a resting condition. None of these responses was related to cognitive load (task frequency). Consistently, although performance and cognitive load were lower in patients than in controls, stress responses did not differ between groups. Insula activity elevated during stress compared with rest was negatively linked to impairment of pyramidal and cerebral functions in patients. Cerebellar activation was related negatively to gray matter (GM) atrophy (i.e., positively to GM volume) in patients. Interestingly, this link was also observed in overlapping areas in controls. Cognitive load did not contribute to these associations. The results show that our task induced psychological stress independent of cognitive load. Moreover, stress-induced brain activity reflects clinical disability in MS. Finally, the link between stress-induced activity and GM volume in patients and controls in overlapping areas suggests that this link cannot be caused by the disease alone.

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