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published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

This dissertation identifies and explores a genre of performance I term the “theatrical uncanny.” Intermingling aesthetics and psychology, the uncanny is the realm of “intellectual uncertainty” (for Ernst Jentsch) and “the familiar made strange” (for Sigmund Freud); it is an obscure but palpable disruption of our expectations. The genre of the uncanny has received a great deal of scholarly attention in both film and literature, but has, by contrast, been minimally explored in performance. This neglect is particularly striking considering theatre itself can be viewed as inherently uncanny. The repetitions and representations of performance, its interdependence of the real and the imaginary, imply a kind of ever-present déjà vu. The very pervasiveness of this quality can in fact render it insensible. The genre of uncanny performance is therefore a valuable designation for works that actively elicit this psycho-emotional response. The productions I study are remarkable for their ability to capitalize on theatre’s uncanny potential. I demonstrate that this category of performance is not limited to any particular style or status, locating the effect as potently in popular entertainments (such as the junk opera Shockheaded Peter and punchdrunk’s Sleep No More) as in more esoteric or avant-garde work (like that of artists such as the Quay Brothers and Tadeusz Kantor). Drawing on a variety of methods – including phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and cognitive science – I engage with these performances as sensual experience. Through subjective impression and extensive description, I gradually elucidate the scenographic parameters of the theatrical uncanny. The productions that achieve this effect, while greatly disparate in nature, share certain approaches and techniques in common. They position the spectator (physically, emotionally, perceptually) in an unstable relationship to the objects and bodies of the performance, creating the sensation that the inanimate actually possesses its own unique vitality. Uncanny performance interweaves elements of object theatre, memory theatre, and intermediality, but cannot be encompassed by any of these terms in isolation. These performances question our basic qualifications for declaring something ‘live,’ as the term is used both theoretically and colloquially. They ask what it would mean for a memory to behave as an object, or for an object to have memories. This study is both a critique of how the uncanny works on stage and an attempt to rethink the concept of the uncanny through theatre practice. I argue that the uncanny is best understood as an embodied experience, a feeling mediated through and registered within our flesh. It results from unsettling interactions between our bodies and the matter and space around us. The concrete and present spatial relationships of theatre are ideal for exploring these tensions. Through the materiality of theatre, I offer evidence that the uncanny response, rather than being a marginal or naïve interpretation of the world (as it is sometimes portrayed), is actually a fundamental and profoundly productive state of mind.

Six experiments were conducted in order to examine the role of movement specific reinvestment in performance of a range of tasks of varying complexity under different performance contexts. The first experiment investigated the role of movement specific reinvestment in performance of a fundamental laparoscopic skill under time pressure. It was found that individuals with a lower propensity for movement specific reinvestment were able to meet task demands by performing faster under time pressure than individuals with a higher propensity for movement specific reinvestment. Although movement specific reinvestment is often treated as a uni-dimensional construct, it is comprised of two dimensions of conscious processing; movement self-consciousness and conscious motor processing. These dimensions appear to exert a differential influence on performance in different contexts. The second experiment therefore investigated the differential influence of the two dimensions of movement specific reinvestment on performance of a fundamental laparoscopic skill early and later in practice and on performance of a more complex, cross-handed laparoscopy task. Movement self-consciousness was found to play a more dominant role early and later in practice of a relatively simple, fundamental, laparoscopic skill than conscious motor processing, which played a more dominant role in performance of a more complex, cross-handed laparoscopic skill. The third and fourth experiments examined the differential influence of the two dimensions of movement specific reinvestment on a complex golf-putting skill early and later in practice (Experiment 3) and under low- and high-anxiety conditions (Experiment 4). Experiments 3 and 4 also examined the kinematic mechanisms underlying the influence of the two dimensions on putting performance. Findings from Experiment 3 revealed that movement self-consciousness and conscious motor processing positively influenced putting performance early in practice, when learners were consciously engaged in the control of movements. However, later in practice movement self-consciousness alone positively influenced putting performance. Analysis of kinematic measures suggested that reduced variability of both impact velocity and putter face angle at impact mediated the positive influence of both movement self-consciousness and conscious motor processing on putting performance. Findings from Experiment 4 revealed that movement self-consciousness positively influenced performance in the low-anxiety condition (and appeared to reduce variability of impact velocity), but not in the high-anxiety condition. It was argued that the attention demanding nature of anxiety (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992) potentially subdued the influence of movement self-consciousness under high-anxiety conditions. The fifth experiment confirmed this proposition as the positive influence of movement self-consciousness on quiet standing performance was no longer evident when an attention demanding dual-task was performed concurrently with a primary quiet standing task. The final experiment examined the unique influence of the two dimensions on laparoscopic performance during practice and under anxiety in a real-world anxiety provoking situation, the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) (Muldoon, Biesty, & Smith, 2014; Nasir et al., in press). The findings of the six experiments are discussed within the framework of the Theory of Reinvestment (e.g., Masters, 1992; Masters & Maxwell, 2008). / published_or_final_version / Human Performance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of male and female children to musical performance anxiety. Twenty-six sixth-grade piano students (11 male, 15 female) performing in a piano recital served as subjects. Boys' and girls' heart rates, behaviour, performance quality, and anxiety levels were examined for possible differences between the genders. It was found that girls had substantially higher heart rates than boys immediately prior to performing, but that this difference was minimal while performing. Significantly more anxious behaviours were noted for both genders prior to performing than during performing, but boys had significantly more anxious behaviours than girls in both cases. Very little difference was noted in boys' anxiety scores (State-trait Anxiety Inventory for Children) between low, medium and high performance quality levels, however girls with moderate performance quality had much higher anxiety than did those with low and high quality performances. As well, girls were found to give significantly higher quality performances than boys. Correlation and regression analyses suggest that the genders respond differently to musical performance anxiety. These analyses were run on the data in three ways: All Children, Boys Only, and Girls Only. It was found that several relationships that emerged in the All Children analysis were driven by a strong relationship in a single gender, but were nearly absent, or in fact opposite, in the other.

The present program of research explored the impact of performance-contingent rewards on perceived autonomy and intrinsic motivation. Four studies sought to clarify the debate between behaviorist (Eisenberger and Cameron, 1996; Eisenberger, Pierce, and Cameron, 1999; Eisenberger, Rhoades, and Cameron, 1999) and the social cognitive researchers (Deci & Ryan, 1980, 1985; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999) regarding the impact of such incentives on perceived autonomy. Two experimental studies (Studies 1 and 2) examined this relationship among college students and elementary school children. Results revealed an undermining effect of performance-contingent rewards on participants' affective experience of autonomy (enhanced feelings of pressure and tension). No significant results were found on intrinsic motivation for college students, whereas for elementary school children, rewards increased enjoyment for the target activity. / Two field-based quasi-experimental studies (Studies 3 and 4) were designed to explore the impact of performance-contingent rewards in an organizational setting. Both studies differentiated between private sector workers, who received a merit-based salary (performance-reward expectancy) and workers from the public sector who received a salary based on seniority (no performance-reward expectancy). Study 3 replicated the previous findings by demonstrating that that performance-reward expectancy undermined workers perceived autonomy. Study 4 extended these results by revealing that the presence of performance contingent reward programs in organizations undermined employees' work satisfaction and relatedness. Such incentives also had a tendency to reduce workers' adjustment to retirement.

Note: / Performance anxiety is a common experience for many musicians, firmly engrained in them by the age of eight. While it has been suggested throughout the literature that this is a learned condition developed during childhood, its appearances in younger children have not yet been studied. The purpose of this study was to document the performance experiences of very young children with respect to performance anxiety.[...] / L'anxiété de performance est vécue par plusieurs musiciens et serait déjà enracinée chez certains apprentis musiciens des l' âge de huit ans. Bien que plusieurs chercheurs considèrent qu'il s'agit la d'un phénomène acquis, se développant pendant l'enfance, ses premières manifestations n'ont jamais été étudiées. L'objectif de cette recherche est donc de documenter l'existence du stress lie a la performance musicale chez les très jeunes enfants.[...]

The purpose of this study was to attempt to determine if skilled dancers instructed to concentrate on sustaining balance while performing a simple balance task would experience ironic effects of thought control and a subsequent performance decrement under conditions of distraction utilizing a within subjects design. Sixteen skilled dancers were divided into two groups. Each group was pre-tested for time on balance for three trials on the 1"I13 balance task, and then alternately exposed to treatment 1 (a set of concentration instructions) and treatment 2 (the same set of concentration instructions with the introduction of a taped anti-rhythmic drum beat playing loudly in the background). Both groups were post-tested after the administration of each treatment, A 2x3 ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor revealed no significant differences between post test scores for each of the two treatments. The nonsignificant results contradict prior cognitive research conducted using the Ironic theory of Thought Control developed by D.M. Wegner. Results suggest the need for further research in the motor domain testing this theory with attempts to identify factors which mediate motor performance. / School of Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among mood, task performance, and attribution. It was hypothesized that type of mood would affect task performance and causal attributions for success and failure. Subjects viewed one of three films, selected for their humorous (positive mood), educational (neutral mood) and violent (negative mood) content and performed an anagram task in which success and failure was manipulated. After completing the task, subjects were asked to write down the most important cause of their success or failure and rate the cause on three 9point subscales, one subscale for each of the attributional dimensions of internality, stability, and controllability. In addition, subjects responded to an ascription scale that assesses the extent to which specific factors (e.g., task difficulty) are perceived to influence performance. The study found the expected effect of outcome on the causal ascription measure of attributions but not for the dimension measure. Contrary to the hypothesis, there was no effect of mood on attributions or task performance. These results raise the question of the measurement of attribution by causal ascriptions versus dimensions, and leave unresolved the questions of the relationships of mood to attribution and task performance. Possible explanations for the discrepancy between ascriptions and attributions and the lack of an effect of mood are discussed. Implications for future research are examined and suggestions are proposed. / Department of Psychological Science