Smart People Choke Under Pressure

KingFishKingFish
edited February 2005 in Science & Tech
A new study finds that individuals with high working-memory capacity, which normally allows them to excel, crack under pressure and do worse on simple exams than when allowed to work with no constraints. Those with less capacity score low, too, but they tend not to be affected by pressure.
"The pressure causes verbal worries, like ‘Oh no, I can’t screw up,’" said Sian Beilock, assistant professor of psychology at Miami University of Ohio. "These thoughts reside in the working memory." And that takes up space that would otherwise be pondering the task at hand.

"When they begin to worry, then they’re in trouble," Beilock told LiveScience. "People with lower working-memory capacities are not using that capacity to begin with, so they’re not affected by pressure."

The findings are detailed this week’s issue of Psychological Science.

Working memory, also known as short-term memory, holds information that is relevant to performance and ensures task focus. It’s what allows us to remember and retrieve information from an early step of a long task, such as long-division math.
Source: Live Science

Comments

  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited February 2005
    Takes up space? They make it sounds like memory in a computer and that if we try to use more than what we have there is serious performance issues.
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited February 2005
    Heh. It might be true. Tests don't bother me at all, and I usually score pretty well. Thing is, I just can't remember anything specific from the test 10 minutes later... my short-term memory is terrible.

    Now what was I talking about? :scratch:
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited February 2005
    Thats just means you dont have any memory leaks and your brain de-allocates the memory it used.;)
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited February 2005
    mmonnin wrote:
    Thats just means you dont have any memory leaks and your brain de-allocates the memory it used.;)
    I think my brain definately runs on generic cheapo memory. If I try and clock my brain too high it almost always crashes, it's such a shame as well, as my brains always had a top of the line CPU. :sad2:
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    my brian overheated long time ago, hasnot been same since.
  • Ghaleon4Ghaleon4 South Oklahoma
    edited February 2005
    My brain is water-cooled.
  • D.M.Turner
    edited February 2005
    Put down that salvia pipe!!
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    So if I was forgetful, would Prime tell me to run Memtest86?
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2005
    Yes.
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