People who did worse in the previous competition tended oremember slightly better outcomes. People seem to be exaggerating their own past performance in their head when this performance is bad. They remember good outcomes and they tend to forget bad ones. This is where memory comes into play. Or maybe you'd call it optimism or delusion. But there's also the possibility that people whave been at something for a while, who may consider themselves expert, that they simply don't believe that non experts are worth paying attention to.