Successfully executing skills under pressure is often attributed to the ability to ignore distractions, such as taunts from the crowd or an opponent. This ability resembles the primary function of working memory capacity; that being, to control attention in the face of interference. Thus, an individual’s working memory capacity likely influences their ability to perform under pressure.
Greg Wood and colleagues designed an experiment to test this theory.
Experimental Design
117 undergraduate students completed the Operation Span Task, which is a common assessment of working memory capacity. The 12 students with the highest scores were allocated into the high working memory capacity group and the 12 students with the lowest scores formed the low working memory capacity group.
The 2 groups performed a task that involved shooting targets on a projector screen. The task
Participants wore eye tracking glasses whilst performing the task so that visual gaze could be recorded. The authors hypothesised that performing poorly under pressure would be accompanied by reduced quiet eye duration. This was based on previous research that showed this effect.
The results
- Participants in the low working memory capacity group, compared to the high working memory capacity group, displayed significantly poorer performance when pressure was heightened .
- However, poor performance under pressure was not associated with reduced quiet eye duration.
Reference