ELi5: Is there a scientific or logical explanation for why when we try something by ourselves we do it perfectly, but when we call in other people to watch us do that thing, we all of a sudden mess it up?

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More concrete example, when I was a kid I liked the trampoline a lot. One day I learned how to do backflips on the trampoline and after loads of practice, I nailed the back-flip over and over again. Then I wanted to show my parents my back flip. So I called them outside and tried to do it, but couldn’t, I kept stuffing it up. I’m sure the answer goes along the lines of being nervous in front of a crowd, but why does this even happen in the first place?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

In many activities, as you’re finally “getting” it, you’re building up pathways in your brain to build up muscle memory. That is, you are training yourself to do a sequence of things in an order with less need to consciously control the minute details of those actions. The problem is that when you’re being watched, you may become hyperaware of your actions and try to consciously control too many things than your brain can correctly handle, overriding the budding muscle memory and leading to mistakes.

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