Ironic error and overcompensation error under pressure

The conflicting predictions of the ironic process theory and the implicit overcompensation hypothesis has been presented as theories to explain the characteristics of errors that occur when a certain behavior is prohibited. The ironic process theory predicts that instructions that prohibit a particular behavior will increase the outcome which should be avoided itself (the ironic error). The implicit overcompensation hypothesis, however, predicts that the opposite of the outcome to be avoided (the overcompensation error) will increase. We examined how these two errors, which negatively affect performance, are influenced by pressure and a perceived sense of difficulty. As an experiment, 12 college tennis players were asked to perform a tennis stroke task in which they had to hit a ball launched from the opponent's court back toward a target zone. In doing so, we instructed them to avoid hitting toward the prohibited (ironic) zones and to return as many balls to the target zone as possible. They performed this task under low- and high-pressure conditions, using either their preferred or less-preferred hitting style based on their perceived difficulty. The results showed that pressure significantly increased the number of balls returned to the zone opposite the ironic zone (overcompensation errors). The perceived difficulty was also found to significantly increase errors around the ironic zone under low-pressure condition and around the overcompensation zone under high-pressure conditions. These results suggest that pressure increases the overcompensation errors that occur when a particular behavior is prohibited, while perceived difficulty increases the random errors caused by conscious processing.

反讽过程理论（Ironic Process Theory）与内隐过度补偿假说（Implicit Overcompensation Hypothesis）提出了相互矛盾的预测，二者均用于阐释特定行为被禁止时所产生的错误特征。反讽过程理论预测，禁止某一特定行为的指令会增加本应避免的结果（即反讽错误（Ironic Error））。而内隐过度补偿假说则预测，与应避免结果相反的结果（即过度补偿错误（Overcompensation Error））会增多。本研究针对这两类均会对任务表现产生负面影响的错误，探究了压力与主观感知难度对其产生的影响。本实验招募12名高校网球运动员，要求其完成一项网球击球任务：将对手场地发出的网球击回至指定目标区域。实验过程中，要求受试者避免将球击向被禁止的反讽区域，并尽可能多地将球击回目标区域。受试者分别在低压与高压两种条件下完成任务，击球风格则根据其主观感知的难度，选择自身偏好或非偏好的击球方式。实验结果显示，压力显著提升了被击至反讽区域对侧区域的回球数量，即过度补偿错误的发生次数。同时研究发现，在低压条件下，主观感知难度会显著提升反讽区域周边的错误率；而在高压条件下，则会提升过度补偿区域周边的错误率。上述结果表明，压力会加剧特定行为被禁止时产生的过度补偿错误，而主观感知难度则会提升由有意识加工所引发的随机错误。