Glorious Gaffes

From athletes who "choke" to concert violinists who flub well-rehearsed passages, to presidential candidates who space out, all of us are susceptible to performing poorly under pressure. Your motor memory might have a routine down pat, but as soon as the conscious, anxious part of your brain takes over, those normally smooth and automatic processes go awry.

Rick Perry's Brain Freeze

The science of the oops moment.
by Ira Hyman

Here, Try on This Freudian Slip

Collecting decades of verbal blunders
by Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D.

The Obama-Osama Slip

Racism and the politics of Freudian speech errors.
by Julie Sedivy, Ph.D.

Five Steps to Preventing Blunders

Don't let the Oops get you down
by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D.

Stress

Stress is simply a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental equilibrium. In other words, it's an omnipresent part of life. A stressful event can trigger the "fight-or-flight" response, causing hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to surge through the body.

Read More on Stress