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By Karmyn Jones
Performance pressure: the stress and urgency to perform well in a particular situation,
often due to the importance placed on the outcome.
I’m really passionate about anxiety. Maybe it's because I struggle with it myself, or
maybe it's because I love learning about the brain. Either way, test anxiety is something I’ve
always been fascinated about. Thankfully, new research is being released every day on this topic.
It is a huge issue in many people’s lives, and unfortunately it affects many students. This is
interesting because despite the understanding of the material and high scores on homework
assignments, many students do poorly on tests and exams. Schools require standardized testing
for comprehension, but there can be some unintended consequences of administering these tests.
Choking under pressure is a phenomenon that is described as performing poorly despite one’s
skill level. It arises from the desire to perform well in situations of high importance, this is
known as performance pressure. There are two main theories as to why people choke under
pressure. The self focus theory proposes that performance pressure increases feelings of anxiety
about doing well on the assessment, which lowers the ability to pay attention to the work being
completed. However, the distraction theory proposes that pressure hinders working memory with
distractions leading to decreased attention to detail. I’m not sure what the correct answer is, but I
do hope that in the near future we can create a system that better tests students to avoid
performance pressure.
Karmyn Jones is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2026. She is studying neuroscience and political science.