Additionally, the MRI scans showed that the inferior parietal lobe area of the participants’ brains became less engaged when the participants thought they were being watched and evaluated.
“This area, in the inferior parietal lobe, puts together information from the body, its sensations and actions with knowledge about the self,†Critchley said. “This parietal lobe area influences the brain regions that directly control muscle tension and how movements are performed.â€
The researchers concluded that this area of the brain is part of what neuroscientists refer to as the “action-observation network,†or AON, which is involved in how we process what another person is thinking.
“We realized that AON might also be related to performance anxiety because when being scrutinized, we tend to care about how the audience is feeling about us and our performance,†Dr. Michiko Yoshie, an honorary research fellow at the school and lead author of the research, said in a statement.
Based on the new findings, the researchers suggested that visualizing a successful performance as well as a positive audience reaction may help ease anxiety if you tend to tense up under pressure.
“It’s important to believe that the audience is supporting you and wishing for your successful performance,†Yoshie said in the statement. “To strengthen such belief, you should sometimes have opportunities to perform in front of your supporters. For example, before an actual public performance, a musician could perform in front of his or her family and close friends and receive a lot of applause. Such experience would help to induce a desirable activation pattern in your brain and boost self-confidence.â€
The research was published on Wednesday in the journal Scientific Reports.
Previously on HuffPost: Performance Anxiety Study Suggests Getting Excited Helps More Than Trying To Calm Down
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