Why do some athletes, performers and people under pressure succumb to odd or amorphous failures, also known as choking? An article in the New Yorker offers new insight...
There is something poignant about this deconstruction of choking. It suggests that the reason some performers fall apart on the back nine or at the free-throw line is because they care too much. They really want to win, and so they get unravelled by the pressure of the moment. The simple pleasures of the game have vanished; the fear of losing is what remains.
An interesting read on the neuroscience of choking, via an interesting tumblr: YMFY
More reading:
The Art of Failure -- an article on the psychology of choking
Choking is about thinking too much. Panic is about thinking too little. Choking is about loss of instinct. Panic is reversion to instinct. They may look the same, but they are worlds apart...