Performance Anxiety: What Brain, Body, & Behavior Can Tell Us

Hello and welcome to the blog!

Because this is my first post with this medium, I'll introduce myself a bit. I'm Ryan; I'm a college student entering my fourth year studying trombone performance and neuroscience at Lawrence University (in Appleton, Wisconsin). I've studied trombone with Tim Albright of the Atlantic Brass Quintet and Michael Clayville of Alarm Will Sound and done neuroscience research under the direction of behavioral neuroendocrinologist Dr. Elizabeth Becker. I'm passionate about contemporary, classical, and jazz performance, music education, and neuroscience research (particularly at the intersection of behavioral neuroendocrinology and cognitive neuroscience).

So, what's the goal with the blog? The answer is that I'm looking to bridge some gaps between the wonderful worlds of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and music. I'm specifically looking to explore some ideas about how we can use neuroscience principles to better our performance and education practices, and I'm looking to invite some hopeful readers along for the ride!

I thought it might be nice to start in a place that's all too familiar for any of us who perform: performance anxiety. Although I'm hoping to reach many musicians with this one, this concept is one most people are acquainted with: the sweat on our palms when we give a speech, the shaky limbs which come with hopping onstage, and the butterflies in our stomach when we hop onto the court or the field are all physiological markers of performance anxiety.

In short, performance anxiety is a biological and psychological phenomenon which befalls us when we are faced with the challenge of a performance task, and it's a HUGE pain in the butt. Not only is it unpleasant to experience, but many of us understand that is can seriously impact the quality of our performance (and not always in a positive way...).

Today I'd like to intro to you some ideas about the psychology and neurobiology of performance anxiety: specifically the component of hormone responses. Oftentimes, we feel trapped in the notion that performance anxiety is a big mystery. We may be familiar with mindfulness techniques, meditation, or the legendary practices of performance psychologist Dr. Don Greene (here's a link to his website), but we realistically still view performance anxiety as an individual mental battle: "all in our heads."

The exciting truth is that we're not so right about those assumptions! Performance anxiety is not exclusively an individual battle, and it's certainly not restricted to our psyches (or even to our brains). Logically, we know it comes at the intersection of body, brain, and psyche: it's a mental and physical battle where unwelcome thoughts and physiological responses meet.

The thoughts and feelings accompanying performance anxiety can be characterized as an arousal state. This idea comes from psychology: arousal is when our thoughts and physiology are both heightened. When we experience arousal, our thoughts move quickly and we might experience physiological symptoms like increased heart rate or shaky limbs. This is the cornerstone of anxieties, and literature points to the idea that some arousal might lead to a better performance while too much can lead to hindered success.

The big idea I'd like to present is where this state might come from biologically! Part of the answer is in neuroendocrinology. This is a field at the intersection of neuroscience and endocrinology: it's all about how hormone activity relates to our nervous system. To put us on the same page, here's a reminder that hormones are chemical messengers sent into the blood to target various systems throughout the body. The release of a given hormone increases the probability that a given behavior or state will occur. A key hormone in the stress response process for humans is cortisol: cortisol is produced from the adrenal glands in the human body, and we experience an influx of cortisol activity when we undergo stressful events. Examining cortisol activity can help us identify what experiences are imposing stress on the human body, and it can help us draw conclusions about what activities or situations might be universally stressful for people. Here's a link to the Cleveland Clinic for some more information on cortisol's role and properties.

To cut to the chase, we know cortisol and anxiety are related, including in performance situations. We typically see a response in cortisol when people are put in situations where performance anxiety might be high: this goes to show that you're not alone in your battle! Now, how does this help us when communicating to our students and colleagues about performance anxiety? To me, the answer is simple: if we can communicate about the physiological components of this experience, then we can remind others they're not alone. It also helps us all to understand what's happening when our bodies and minds undergo certain experiences. When we have knowledge of what's happening to us, it can make things less scary!

There's a lot more to be explored at the intersection of neuroendocrinology and music. We can also open the door to how other psychological and neurobiological ideas can inform us in our performance.

My parting gift is this interesting article from researchers Rowland and Lankveld reviewing performance anxiety in stage, sport, and sexual performance contexts. It outlines some shred and unique psychology and physiological phenomenon across these three areas (and as a hint, cortisol is in the picture).

Have fun sharing; I hope to see you all back for the next one!