Performance Breakdown Under Pressure Among Esports Competitors

This study investigated the effects of psychological pressure on cognitive anxiety, challenge and threat appraisals, gaze behavior, and action performance during an esport task among national- and university-level competitors. In Experiment 1, 90 participants (67 males, 23 females; Mage = 20.57 years, SD = 2.26), divided into national-level (n = 33) and university-level (n = 57) competitors, completed an esport task under both low- and high-pressure conditions while anxiety, appraisals, gaze, and performance were assessed. Participants reported higher anxiety, threat appraisals, and displayed suboptimal gaze behavior and poorer performance in the high-pressure condition than the low-pressure condition, and effects were stronger for university- than national-level competitors. In Experiment 2, the same protocol was repeated with 28 national-level competitors (25 males, three females; Mage = 22.01 years, SD = 4.35), using further ecologically valid adjustments to the pressure manipulation given the eliteness of participants (i.e., live audience, intra-round feedback, audience reactions), and the additional measurement of cognitive effort. Participants reported higher state anxiety, threat appraisals, and exhibited suboptimal gaze behavior and poorer performance despite investing the more cognitive effort. In line with pertinent theory (e.g., Integrative Framework of Stress, Attention, and Visuomotor Performance), the findings suggest that esport performance might break down under pressure due to elevated anxiety, threat appraisals, and disrupted gaze behavior, even when the more cognitive effort is mobilized.