====== 'Choking' (sports etc) ======

The 'Choke' phenomenon is a ubiquitous syndrome which affects sports participants - and is also commonly seen in non-sports scenarios.

In a typical 'choke' scenario, when a player is presented with the opportunity for an exceptionally big 'win', he/she suddenly loses concentration and misses the opportunity at the last moment. It affects professionals and amateurs alike,

There is currently no agreed-upon explanation for the syndrome.

There are at least six different theories attempting to explain the neural/psychological factors which might lead to 'choke' :

  * Explicit monitoring theory
  * Distraction theory
  * Self-focus theory
  * Processing efficiency theory
  * Attentional control theory
  * Attentional threshold theory

All detailed at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_(sports)#Causes|Wikipedia]]

Note : It's recently been shown that humans are not the only animal to suffer from 'choke'. Lab-based experiments have demonstrated that monkeys can also be affected. See: [[https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.16.537007v1.full.pdf|A neural basis of choking under pressure]] {{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16}}//BiorXiv.// Apr. 2023. The authors present a theory that //"a 'collapse in neural information' occurs when a Jackpot is proffered, and this corresponds to a decrease in performance."//

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Also see : [[content:medicine:diseases:r-z:yips]]