title: Motor performance under three levels of trait anxiety and stress.
abstract: In general, the interactive effects of trait anxiety and stress on motor performance have been neglected in assessing the viability of the inverted-U hypothesis. The present investigation tested the inverted-U hypothesis using three levels of trait anxiety and psychological stress. Performance results produced an inverted-U curve for the three levels of stress, with subjects in the moderate-stress condition displaying the highest performance. In addition, a significant trait anxiety x stress interaction indicated that high trait-anxious subjects performed best in the low-stress condition, while low trait-anxious subjects performed best in the high-stressed condition. The discussion concerns theories attempting to explain the relationship between anxiety and motor performance.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Weinberg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ragan