Monkeys show paradoxical decline in performance in high-stakes scenarios

PNAS August 31, 2021118 (35) e2109643118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109643118

Commentary

People may exhibit frustrating phenomena such as "choking under pressure" in high-stakes situations, where the greater the potential payoff, the better the performance. However, if the potential reward becomes too high, performance paradoxically declines, resulting in a "choking" situation.

Research has investigated why people choke under pressure in animal models, and has also investigated the possibility that this is a human-specific event.

To determine if animals also suffocate, three rhesus monkeys were trained to perform a difficult-to-reach task. They knew in advance the amount of reward that would be given for successful completion of this task, and showed that the monkeys performed worse when the potential reward was very valuable, as humans

Failures occurring at the highest level of reward were attributed to overly cautious reaching, consistent with the psychological theory that explicit monitoring of behavior leads to asphyxiation.

These results indicate that asphyxiation under pressure is not unique to humans and that the neural basis may be conserved across different species.