Human Performance
Why Some Motivation Lasts: Understanding Self-Determination Theory
Why do people persist willingly in some pursuits yet feel trapped in others? Self-determination theory examines autonomy, competence and connection.
Human Performance
Research and practitioner analysis on how people perform, adapt and recover under pressure, uncertainty, fatigue and sustained demand.
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Performance is a system, not a single trait
ALTIUS examines attention, expertise, preparation, recovery, learning and behaviour without reducing performance to motivation or personality alone.
Read: What Is Human Performance? →Latest Analysis
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Human Performance
Tired but Wired: Why Your Mind Won’t Switch Off
Exhausted but unable to settle? Research on rumination, stress and recovery helps explain why fatigue and restlessness can sometimes coexist.
Human Performance
Can You Really Get Into a Flow State on Demand?
Time disappears, attention narrows and the task seems effortless. What does research actually tell us about flow—and how much control we have over it?
Human Performance
Does Feeling Nervous Mean You’re Not Ready?
A racing heart before a speech, exam or competition can feel like proof of poor preparation. The research offers a more complicated picture.
Human Performance
Why the Same Pressure Feels Different to Different People
One challenge can sharpen attention for one person and overwhelm another. The psychology of challenge and threat offers a more useful way to understand pressure.
Human Performance
Can You Be Ambitious Without Being Consumed by It?
Serious commitment does not have to take over a life. Research on harmonious and obsessive passion explores the different ways ambition can shape us.
Human Performance
What Rewards Really Tell Us About Motivation
Can a reward make someone less interested in the work? Decades of contested research suggest that what a reward communicates may matter as much as what it offers.
Sport
When Talent Identification Confuses Maturity with Potential
Early physical advantage can look like lasting football potential. Research suggests selectors should be careful about treating the two as equivalent.
Psychology
Who Are You When the Game Is Over?
What happens when the body begins to say no after decades of being an athlete? Alberto Cei examines the deeper challenge of retirement: discovering who you are when sport can no longer define you.
Decision Making
What Is Decision Making?
Decision making is not a single act. It is a sequence shaped by what we notice, what we miss, what we feel and how much pressure the situation carries.
Human Performance
The Four Seconds That Decide the Next Point
Sport psychology has a name for the chain reaction that a single mistake can trigger: cognitive interference. The term sounds clinical. The experience is not.
Sport
Training in the Heat: From a Problem to a Potential Tool for Improving Performance?
Training in high temperatures creates additional strain. When carefully planned, however, repeated heat exposure may increase haemoglobin mass and become a deliberate training stimulus.