<However, the same choice made calmly, under a more relaxed physiological state, may lead to a more optimal result>
The idiocy of thinking calmness leading to optimal results. Usually this comes from people who never accomplished anything.
The paper is the prime example of pseudo science masquerading as science.
Oh, the irony of writing an angry post about benefits of anger.
You must have accomplished a lot since you seem to focus on anger rather than substance. Did I disturb your calm.
It’s got to be U shaped. There is a reason you have a sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
Many of the greatest achievements in science & engineering were accomplished during wartime under intense stress or obsession - not a relaxed parasympathetic state.
That alone should make us skeptical of simplistic claims that calmer physiological states are inherently "more optimal" for complex cognition.
My take about athletic performance is that it is good to be relaxed up until the moment you need to act. Even when I play Beat Saber multiplayer I think it is a mistake to be waving your arms around at the beginning or during pauses because fatigue builds up through the level. Eustress is phasic rather than tonic.
Even outside wartime great accomplishments come through obsession though, but I would say that the people who “make it” in academia are the ones who are kinda sanguine about the family business as opposed to the driven outsiders.