The association between athletes’ ability and perceived expectations has been the centre of attention for a wide range of research in sport psychology. For instance, the perceived expectations among the athletes are a source of anxiety, which is harmful to athletic performance (Thurston, 2017). The effect of perceived expectation upon the individual athletes’ ability is dependent on the interpretation of the athletes on whether it is regarded as negative or positive. The directionality of perceived expectations increases a new aspect to comprehending the association between athletes’ ability and anxiety (McDowell, Huang " Caza, 2017). On the other hand, perceived failure can lead to adverse impacts on athletes in accomplishment settings, influencing different phases of their lives. Moreover, perceiving the effects of failure to be detrimental offers the foundations for fear of underachieving and inability. Similarly, the expectations of a threatening outcome among the athletes provoke fear (Thurston, 2017). Challenges attributed to perceived anticipation of failure in attainment achievement backgrounds are common.
Mental set and episodic memories, semantic memories and procedural memory
Mental Set
A mental set is a structure for deliberating about a problem. It can be determined by a desire or a habit. Studies indicate that mental sets help in solving the existing problem but connection to the erroneous mental set can be harmful to creativity and problem solving. A set refers to an array of expectations that influence experience by inspiring people to be more sensitive to certain types of information (Schacter " Madore, 2016). A perceptual set or expectancy is a tendency to perceive things in a particular way. Perceptual expectancy exists in all the senses.
Perception can be determined by top-down procedures such as expectations and drives. An impact of these issues is that individuals are especially profound to perceive some items, sensing them from fragile stimuli (Rensen et al. 2017). Sets can be formulated by inspiration and so can lead to people deducing vague circumstances so that they observe what they desire to see. Meanwhile, an individual’s experience of the occurrence in an athletic competition can be biased if they powerfully support some athletes. Michaelian, (2015) pointed out that perceptual sets have been illustrated in different social context. Persons who are geared up to deliberate of somebody as ‘warm’ are likely to identify a wide range of positive features in them, as compared to when the word warm is substituted with cold (Michaelian, 2015).
Mental sets are involuntary trends to deal with an emerging problem in a certain manner. They are determined by the previous habits and experiences. An unsuitable mental set can hinder the solution of simple problems. A precise type of mental set is referred to as functional fixedness where somebody fails to notice the series of uses to which an item can be placed. According to Schacter " Madore, (2016) when a person has strong believes that bad things would occur in their lives, they are more likely to act more negatively than others hence bad things take place in their lives. Therefore, it is an entrenchment or a structure of mind encompassing a model that signifies a problem, problem solving, procedure, and problem context (Schacter " Madore, 2016). In cases where problem solvers have a deep-rooted mental set, they are preoccupied on an approach that usually works well although does not offer an efficient solution to the precise problem now.
Functional fixedness is the incapability to comprehend that something known to have a certain use may also be utilized to accomplish other functions. When an individual encounters a particular challenge, the functional fixedness blocks the ability of an individual to utilize old tool in creative manner (Rensen et al. 2017). On the other hand, negative transfer takes place when the procedure of solving a past challenge makes the future issue even harder to solve. The kind of fixed thinking can increase the challenge of generating solutions to the current problem (Michaelian, 2015).
Episodic memories, semantic memories and procedural memory
The episodic memories are used to explain any incident that can be reported in the life of an individual. It deals with information such as places involved and time. It is a type of declarative memory thus it can be clearly recalled and inspected deliberately. It can also be divided into memories of exact episodes of the life of an individual (autobiographical episodic memory) and learning a point has been linked with memory of a certain life incident when it was acquired in the experimental episodic memory. It refers to the collection of previous personal experiences taking place at a specific place and time. It is also grouped under the declarative memory (Schacter " Madore, 2016). It helps an individual to remember a specific feeling that occurred in the past. Therefore, events that are noted in the episodic memory may activate episodic learning such as behaviour chance that takes place from product of an event. The recollection process aids in the episodic memory (Siegel " Silins, 2017).
Semantic Memory
Semantic memory is a form of declarative (consciously, explicit recalled) memory. Nonetheless, the conscious recall refers to the facts with meaning as compared to the recall of historical life events linked with episodic memory. It also refers to the knowledge, which was accrued throughout human lives. The general information such as (concepts, meaning, ideas, and facts) is intertwined in dependent and experience on culture (Rensen et al. 2017). Semantic memory enables human being to understand the values of diverse things such as words and acknowledging the facts about the world. Studies indicate that semantic memory is kept mainly in the medial and hippocampus temporal lobe. Memories are first encrypted in the hippocampus. It is the type of information that the persons needs to recall, remember, and learn aiming to accomplish learning goals and success in different classrooms. Working memory for this kind of learning has a low holding capability (Michaelian, 2015).
Procedural memory
Procedural memory explains the inherent understanding of tasks that normally do not need cognisant recall to conduct them. It is categorized under long-term memory and unconscious (implicit memory) which helps in the performance of specific kinds of tasks deprived of conscious alertness of these earlier practices. In this respect, procedural memory directs the processes humans performs and more often exist in below the conscious alertness level (Schacter " Madore, 2016). They are automatically repossessed and used for the implementation of the integrated processes entailing in both motor and cognitive skills. They are retrieved and applied without the necessity of conscious (Siegel " Silins, 2017). Procedural memory is generated via procedural knowledge or recapping sophisticated actions over and over again until all the appropriate neural systems function together to automatically generate the activity. More importantly, implicit procedural learning is important for the growth of any cognitive activity or motor skills (Rensen et al. 2017). Through practice, an individual is able to obtain the appropriate skills.
Application of concepts
Perceived expectations among athletes influence their ability to perform effectively. In addition, the fear or anxiety of under-performance is harmful to their lives. The athletes tend to evade failure in evaluative situations or achievements (Michaelian, 2015). The personality disposition is regarded as a leaning that orients persons to seek the evasion of underachievement settings since they feel humiliated and ashamed upon failure. Therefore, they link anticipatory humiliation with failure hence they believe failure is the major threat (Schacter " Madore, 2016). Additionally, the perceived expectation of failure encompasses assessing threat in evaluative circumstances with the possibility for failure since those issues activate cognitive beliefs linked with the aversive outcomes of failing such as embarrassment and shame or demeaning self-estimate. Consequently, they encounter anxiety and apprehension in evaluative circumstance (Rensen et al. 2017).
Developing of positive mental set is beneficial in eliminating the challenges associated to perceived expectations, which hinder the ability of the athletes. Additionally, appropriate mental set helps the individual to trust their inner guide, which acts as solutions to the existing problems. The inner guide is stronger than any external power and has the capacity to dispel the perceived inability of the individual (Siegel " Silins, 2017). The challenge of anxiety emanates from lack of confidence and trust in oneself. It also helps an athlete to reset their goals. In this respect, they can expand their objective and become more creative in dealing with anxiety and fear. It also motivates an athlete in setting achievable goals.
Semantic, procedural and episodic memory can be used to reduce level of anticipatory anxiety, which contribute to poor performance among the athletes. Memory enables almost everything that human engages in (Tamminen et al. 2018). Again, memory and remembering are key features of athletes cognitive and psychological functioning. The episodic memory is essential because it assist to retain knowledge entering their senses for a short period while they are analyzed and processed (Schacter " Madore, 2016). Moreover, the working memories enable comprehension of emerging experiences by storing the essentials that have been recognized from the sensory input while they are formulated into a meaningful message. Proper use of episodic, semantic and procedural memories is essential in real interpretation of information to reduce perceived expectations that can contribute to underachievement (Tamminen, Sabiston " Crocker, 2018).
Conclusion
The perceived expectations hinder individual athletes ability because it is a source of fear and anxiety. Perceiving the outcome of failure to be harmful to the athletes’ life offers the foundations for fear of underachieving and inability. Therefore, it contributes to poor performance among the athletes because they are preoccupied with failure (Schacter " Madore, 2016). A mental set is a structure for deliberating about a problem. Athletes can utilize the mental set to create positive expectations, which play a role in inspiring strong performance and avoiding negative thoughts. Memories such as semantic, episodic and procedural can assist in eliminating stress associate with perceived anticipations in athletics (Michaelian, 2015).
References
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Michaelian, K. (2015). Opening the doors of memory: is declarative memory a natural kind?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 6(6), 475-482.
Rensen, Y. C., Kessels, R. P., Migo, E. M., Wester, A. J., Eling, P. A., " Kopelman, M. D. (2017). Personal semantic and episodic autobiographical memories in Korsakoff syndrome: A comparison of interview methods. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 39(6), 534-546.
Schacter, D. L., " Madore, K. P. (2016). Remembering the past and imagining the future: Identifying and enhancing the contribution of episodic memory. Memory Studies, 9(3), 245-255.
Siegel, S., " Silins, N. (2017). The Structure of Episodic Memory: Ganeri's ‘Mental Time Travel and Attention’. Australasian Philosophical Review, 1(4), 374-394.
Tamminen, K. A., Sabiston, C., " Crocker, P. R. (2018). Perceived Esteem Support Predicts Competition Appraisals and Performance Satisfaction among Varsity Athletes: A Test of Organizational Stressors as Moderators. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, , 1-37.
Thurston, J. E. (2017). Student-Athlete Perception of Coaching Leadership Behaviors’ Influence on Mental Health Symptoms Associated with Anxiety, Depression, Suicidality, and Substance Abuse.
