Monkeys exhibit a paradoxical decrease in performance in high-stakes scenarios

Adam L Smoulder,Nicholas P Pavlovsky,Patrick J Marino,Alan D Degenhart,Nicole T Mcclain,Aaron P Batista,Steven M Chase

doi:10.1073/pnas.2109643118

Abstract

In high-stakes situations, people sometimes exhibit a frustrating phenomenon known as "choking under pressure." Usually, we perform better when the potential payoff is larger. However, once potential rewards get too high, performance paradoxically decreases-we "choke." Why do we choke under pressure? An animal model of choking would facilitate the investigation of its neural basis. However, it could be that choking is a uniquely human occurrence. To determine whether animals also choke, we trained three rhesus monkeys to perform a difficult reaching task in which they knew in advance the amount of reward to be given upon successful completion. Like humans, monkeys performed worse when potential rewards were exceptionally valuable. Failures that occurred at the highest level of reward were due to overly cautious reaching, in line with the psychological theory that explicit monitoring of behavior leads to choking. Our results demonstrate that choking under pressure is not unique to humans, and thus, its neural basis might be conserved across species.

Highlights

In high-stakes situations, people sometimes exhibit a frustrating phenomenon known as “choking under pressure.” Usually, we perform better when the potential payoff is larger
The placekicker had a 100% success rate for field goals at this distance throughout the regular season. This time, he missed the kick, costing the Vikings the game and ending their season. Failing like this when the stakes are high is no unique occurrence in the National Football League (NFL): from 2001 to 2019, the success rate for regular season field goals at a distance between 40 and 55 yards from the goal posts was 75%
We find that success rates on this task follow a classic inverted-U in which performance improved as reward sizes increased from Small to Large but paradoxically, declined for Jackpot rewards

Summary

Introduction

In high-stakes situations, people sometimes exhibit a frustrating phenomenon known as “choking under pressure.” Usually, we perform better when the potential payoff is larger. Once potential rewards get too high, performance paradoxically decreases— we “choke.” Why do we choke under pressure? To determine whether animals choke, we trained three rhesus monkeys to perform a difficult reaching task in which they knew in advance the amount of reward to be given upon successful completion. This time, he missed the kick, costing the Vikings the game and ending their season Failing like this when the stakes are high is no unique occurrence in the NFL: from 2001 to 2019, the success rate for regular season field goals at a distance between 40 and 55 yards from the goal posts was 75%. It has been difficult to link psychological explanations for choking to detailed neural mechanisms This is in part because to date, no animal model for studying choking has been demonstrated. Analysis of reaching kinematics indicates that monkeys choked under pressure in part because they reached too cautiously on Jackpot trials, a finding that is aligned with the “explicit monitoring” psychological account of choking [7, 22, 23]

Methods

Results

Conclusion