Introduction: Whilst the disruptive effects of anxiety on attention and performance have been well documented, the antecedents to anxiety in motivated performance scenarios are less well understood. We therefore sought to understand the cognitive appraisals that mediate the relationship between pressurised performance situations and the onset of anxiety. Methods: We tested the effects of performance pressure and error feedback on appraisals of the probability and cost of failure, the experience of anxiety, and subsequent impacts on visual attention, movement kinematics, and task performance during a virtual reality interception task.
Results: A series of linear mixed effects models indicated that failure feedback and situational pressure influenced appraisals of the probability and cost of failure, which subsequently predicted the onset of anxious states. We did not, however, observe downstream effects on performance and attention.
Discussion: The findings support the predictions of Attentional Control Theory Sport, that i momentary errors lead to negative appraisals of the probability of future failure; and ii that appraisals of both the cost and probability of future failure are important predictors of anxiety. The results contribute to a better understanding of the precursors to anxiety and the feedback loops that may maintain anxious states. The disruptive effects of anxious emotional states on the execution of sensorimotor skills has been well documented Hill et al.
Factors that increase the importance of performing well, known as psychological pressure Baumeister, , can induce a state of anxiety , which is comprised of cognitive worry and physiological arousal Eysenck, Several mechanistic accounts of how anxiety subsequently impairs performance have been proposed Eysenck et al. These accounts have focused on the role of attention, which is believed to disrupt performance when directed towards irrelevant or threatening stimuli distraction theories Lee and Grafton, or turned inwards to consciously control movements self-monitoring theories Sullivan et al.
Important questions remain, however, about when and how anxiety disrupts performance; in particular, why do athletes cope on one occasion Whilst exhibiting catastrophic performance breakdowns in another? ACTS was originally developed for a sporting setting but has wider relevance for understanding disrupted motor control in the presence of anxiety. ACT, as a theory applied primarily to trait differences in anxiety, does not, however, explain the origins of anxious states.
