When Pros Choke under Pressure

When the stakes are high, many athletes find that their mind is playing a trick on them. Still, not all’of them do.

Professional athletes often lose their nerves when the pressure gets too high. This phenomenon - known as choking under pressure - is being researched by Professor Christoph Bühren from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. He and his colleagues conducted several studies to analyze which performance parameters suffer under pressure and which do not. The researchers also showed that male athletes are less able to deliver their maximum performance under pressure than female athletes. ...