Simple Routine to Avoid Choking

rayjay

some of the kids
Silver Member
A friend recently sent this to me...why I have no idea, lol, but it may help others. I have long been interested in the right/left brain correlations.
:smile:

Simple routine could help athletes avoid choking under pressure
Squeezing a ball before competition may improve performance, study finds

WASHINGTON — Some athletes may improve their performance under pressure simply by squeezing a ball or clenching their left hand before competition to activate certain parts of the brain, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

In three experiments with experienced soccer players, judo experts and badminton players, researchers in Germany tested the athletes' skills during practice and then in stressful competitions before a large crowd or video camera. Right-handed athletes who squeezed a ball in their left hand before competing were less likely to choke under pressure than right-handed players who squeezed a ball in their right hand. The study was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

For skilled athletes, many movements, such as kicking a soccer ball or completing a judo kick, become automatic with little conscious thought. When athletes under pressure don't perform well, they may be focusing too much on their own movements rather than relying on their motor skills developed through years of practice, said lead researcher Juergen Beckmann, PhD, chair of sport psychology at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

"Rumination can interfere with concentration and performance of motor tasks. Athletes usually perform better when they trust their bodies rather than thinking too much about their own actions or what their coaches told them during practice," Beckmann said. "While it may seem counterintuitive, consciously trying to keep one's balance is likely to produce imbalance, as was seen in some sub-par performances by gymnasts during the Olympics in London."

Previous research has shown that rumination is associated with the brain's left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere is associated with superior performance in automated behaviors, such as those used by some athletes, the study notes. The right hemisphere controls movements of the left side of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the right side. The researchers theorized that squeezing a ball or clenching the left hand would activate the right hemisphere of the brain and reduce the likelihood of the athlete's choking under pressure. The study focused exclusively on right-handed athletes because some relationships between different parts of the brain aren't as well understood for left-handed people, according to the authors.

The research could have important implications outside athletics. Elderly people who are afraid of falling often focus too much on their movements, so right-handed elderly people may be able to improve their balance by clenching their left hand before walking or climbing stairs, Beckmann said.

"Many movements of the body can be impaired by attempts at consciously controlling them," he said. "This technique can be helpful for many situations and tasks."

In the first experiment, 30 semi-professional male soccer players took six penalty shots during a practice session. The next day, they attempted to make the same penalty shots in an auditorium packed with more than 300 university students waiting to see a televised soccer match between Germany and Austria. The players who squeezed a ball with their left hand performed as well under pressure as during practice, while players who squeezed a ball in their right hand missed more shots in the crowded auditorium.

Twenty judo experts (14 men and six women) took part in the second experiment. First, they performed a series of judo kicks into a sandbag during practice. During a second session, they were told that their kicks would be videotaped and evaluated by their coaches. The judo athletes who squeezed a ball with their left hand not only didn't choke under pressure, they performed better overall during the stressful competition than during practice, while those in the control group choked under pressure, the study found.

The final experiment featured 18 experienced badminton players (12 men and six women) who completed a series of practice serves. Then, they were divided into teams and competed against each other while being videotaped for evaluation by their coaches. Athletes who squeezed a ball in their left hand didn't choke under pressure, unlike the control group players who squeezed a ball in their right hand. A final phase of the experiment had the athletes just clench their left or right hand without a ball before competition, and players who clenched their left hand performed better than players who squeezed their right hand.

The ball-squeezing technique probably wouldn't help athletes whose performance is based on strength or stamina, such as weightlifters or marathon runners, the authors noted. The effects apply to athletes whose performance is based on accuracy and complex body movements, such as soccer players or golfers, they said.

###

Article: "Preventing Motor Skill Failure Through Hemisphere-Specific Priming: Cases From Choking Under Pressure;" Juergen Beckmann, PhD, Peter Groepel, PhD, and Felix Ehrlenspiel, PhD, Technical University of Munich; Journal of Experimental Psychology: General; online Sept. 3, 2012.

Complete article can be found here:
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-ofp-beckmann.pdf
 

Jimbojim

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I love studies like that but I'm always curious as to how they find out that kind of stuff
 

Ghosst

Broom Handle Mafia
Silver Member
The mechanics aside, most of what is written here agrees with the basis of most mental performance aides; getting the conscious mind out of the equation and that is what I would pay the most attention to. Each different study or routine says the same basic thing: if you want to do your best in any endeavor you will need to spend time working on that machine atop your shoulders.

Using the ball is a trigger similar to Lawrence Kincade's "OK" trigger to evoke the memory of the hypnotic state.

Since this one is more physical in its approach, I wonder how it deals with southpaws though? As a left-handed player should I do the opposite? In the way it is written it almost seems like the author is implying my brain is wired the opposite way.
 

1ab

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The mechanics aside, most of what is written here agrees with the basis of most mental performance aides; getting the conscious mind out of the equation and that is what I would pay the most attention to. Each different study or routine says the same basic thing: if you want to do your best in any endeavor you will need to spend time working on that machine atop your shoulders.

Using the ball is a trigger similar to Lawrence Kincade's "OK" trigger to evoke the memory of the hypnotic state.

Since this one is more physical in its approach, I wonder how it deals with southpaws though? As a left-handed player should I do the opposite? In the way it is written it almost seems like the author is implying my brain is wired the opposite way.

tap...tap...tap !
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I love studies like that but I'm always curious as to how they find out that kind of stuff

Great study. I don't know how they stumbled on this idea but it makes sense (after the fact).

I have conducted several studies with similar results and they usually come from an intuitive hunch or as an extension of previous studies. For instance, while working in the juvenile court one of the probation officers noted over lunch that delinquents who had girlfriends seemed to have less serious delinquency. Another PO thought that it did not make much difference if the girlfriend was a "bad" girl or a "good" girl. Girls seemed to have a good influence reducing the level of delinquency in the boys on his case load.

So we structured a study and found out that, within reason, girl friends are a relatively good influence on delinquents. The study came from discussions over lunch.
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The mechanics aside, most of what is written here agrees with the basis of most mental performance aides; getting the conscious mind out of the equation and that is what I would pay the most attention to. Each different study or routine says the same basic thing: if you want to do your best in any endeavor you will need to spend time working on that machine atop your shoulders.

Using the ball is a trigger similar to Lawrence Kincade's "OK" trigger to evoke the memory of the hypnotic state.

Since this one is more physical in its approach, I wonder how it deals with southpaws though? As a left-handed player should I do the opposite? In the way it is written it almost seems like the author is implying my brain is wired the opposite way.

The problem with southpaws is you have to make a specific determination if they are left of right brain dominant. Apparently half the south paws are similar to right handed people in terms of dominance.


Here is one test of brain dominance that might be a little useful. I took their test and it produced the expected results for me. Prior studies have shown that I am only slightly left side dominant and the results here were consistent with prior findings.

http://www.ipn.at/ipn.asp?BHX

I doubt I would buy any of their stuff but the test results are interesting.
 
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poolwizard

Registered
Since this one is more physical in its approach, I wonder how it deals with southpaws though? As a left-handed player should I do the opposite? In the way it is written it almost seems like the author is implying my brain is wired the opposite way.

If you read the last line of the fifth paragraph it says, "The study focused exclusively on right-handed athletes because some relationships between different parts of the brain aren't as well understood for left-handed people, according to the authors."

Meaning that all the athelets in the study were right handed, and this theory does not hold true for left-handed people.
 

Kaiser Bob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The problem with southpaws is you have to make a specific determination if they are left of right brain dominant. Apparently half the south paws are similar to right handed people in terms of dominance.

I write and swing a golf club/baseball bat left handed; I throw, bowl, play guitar right handed; I favor shooting a cue right handed but can shoot lefty reasonably well... maybe I should squeeze a ball in both hands?
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Here is an interesting extension of this study for pool players.

People who learn to step into the shot and stop thinking are doing the same thing that other athletes do when they squeeze a ball.

To find out if this has any truth to it we could compare those who usually step into a shot and stop thinking with those who do not.

This study would be conducted by teaching a randomly selected group of new players to step into a shot and stop thinking. The other half of the group would only be taught to step into the shot. It is expected that players who “stop thinking” are more consistent in their shot making.

It may well be that playing pool well is partially dependent on learning to use the non-dominant side of the brain for shooting. Those who shoot well are already doing this though they may use different triggers.
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I write and swing a golf club/baseball bat left handed; I throw, bowl, play guitar right handed; I favor shooting a cue right handed but can shoot lefty reasonably well... maybe I should squeeze a ball in both hands?

I doubt that this would work. The idea behind squeezing the ball with the left hand is to kick in the non-dominant right hemisphere. Squeezing with both hands may not change brain emphasis to one side or the other.

BTW I doubt that squeezing a ball is required. Simply tightening the left hand into a fist until you could feel your nails digging in would probably also work.

Humming a tune to yourself should also work.
 
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Ghosst

Broom Handle Mafia
Silver Member
The problem with southpaws is you have to make a specific determination if they are left of right brain dominant. Apparently half the south paws are similar to right handed people in terms of dominance.

I get the same results, consistently being only slightly more left-brained than right however the results I have received in other tests have major conflicts, showing I am both verbal and non-verbal at the same time, linear and non-linear, neither logical or random.

Meaning that all the athelets in the study were right handed, and this theory does not hold true for left-handed people.

Yes, as above, lefties are hard to study, we actually do think very differently. My reply was half in jest but I was surprised that I missed the sentence you pointed out.
 

chevybob20

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Joe, would a right handed player that scored as a

"left half" of the brain thinker tend to play worse that a right handed player that scored equally on both sides of the brain?
 
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rayjay

some of the kids
Silver Member
Every time we learn something new about the brain, we really learn how little we know and how wrong we were. I personally like the "prime the pump" idea of activating the "right brain", which seems very different than pulling the trigger on subconscious hypnotic implants. It does, however, reinforce the notion of "deadstroke". I'm reading a book on neuroplasticity now, "The Brain that Changes Itself", that has a study of someone who had literally lost half her brain, and the remainder of it took over and recovered the lost functions, deflating the notions that our brain functions are localized. Amazing stuff and we can only speculate why, as we are really still swinging in the trees in the canopy of the jungle.
:grin:
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Joe, would a righ handed player that scored as a

"left half" of the brain thinker tend to play worse that a right handed player that scored equally on both sides of the brain?

I don't know and really have no idea. I guess it is more about learning to use the non-dominant hemisphere. Those who do should (theoretically) play better.
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Every time we learn something new about the brain, we really learn how little we know and how wrong we were. I personally like the "prime the pump" idea of activating the "right brain", which seems very different than pulling the trigger on subconscious hypnotic implants. It does, however, reinforce the notion of "deadstroke". I'm reading a book on neuroplasticity now, "The Brain that Changes Itself", that has a study of someone who had literally lost half her brain, and the remainder of it took over and recovered the lost functions, deflating the notions that our brain functions are localized. Amazing stuff and we can only speculate why, as we are really still swinging in the trees in the canopy of the jungle.
:grin:

If you like these kinds of studies read "Split brain" research. There are some truly astonding findings in this area that will give you much to think about with regard to consciousness, etc
 

JoeW

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have read many books and scholarly articles about Meditation. One of the top ten books by a scientist and psychotherapist, who specializes in meditation (among other subjects) is Lawrence LeShan (1974) How to Meditate. There are over one million copies in print. Little has changed since he wrote this text for the average person.

There are newer research findings since this was written. None-the-less, it is the place to start with an exposition by a scholar who has no ties to any particular philosophy.
 
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