I speed solve Rubik’s cubes as a hobby, and I’ve noticed that my solve times are consistently worse when I’m feeling anxious about my performance than when I’m relaxed and in the moment. However, I’ve heard stress and anxiety described as a response by the nervous system meant to heighten an organism’s performance in high-stakes situations. Why would stress cause me to perform worse at this task instead of better?
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Stress / pressure has a non-linear relationship with performance on many tasks. Low levels of stress and pressure are associated with poorer performance, as are excessively high levels of stress. There is an optimum middle-ground where a moderate level of stress/pressure yields maximum performance.
This relationship is described in the Yerkes-Dodson Curve ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law) )
Keep in mind that this relationship only holds for some tasks, and that alternative models have also been proposed.
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