Performance during competition and competition outcome in relation to testosterone and cortisol among women.

A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition. This study investigated the relation between competition, testosterone (T), and cortisol (C) in women. One hundred and twenty female participants competed against a male confederate in a computerized laboratory task.

Anxiety and cognition.

In this review we discuss the interplay between anxiety and cognition, illustrating how anxiety can compromise performance on cognitively-demanding tasks and lead people to perform below their ability. Using math anxiety and test anxiety as examples, we highlight key findings from psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, to show that how one approaches an anxiety-inducing situation can have a large impact on how that person ultimately performs. We end by discussing who is most susceptible to anxiety-induced poor performance and suggest promising techniques which may help to reduce the negative impact of anxiety on performance.