Chapter 19

1. Chapter 19 Mental Practice Concept:Mental practice can be effective for learning and relearning motor skills and for preparing to perform motor skills

2. Mental Practice • Definition: The cognitive rehearsal of a physical skill in the absence of overt physical movements • It can take the form of thinking about the cognitive or procedural aspects of a motor skill, or • Engaging in visual or kinesthetic imagery of the performance of a skill or part of a skill • Imagery can be internal or external • Mental practice is distinct from “meditation”

3. Roles for Mental Practice • Research has investigated two distinct roles for mental practice • A practice strategy to aid the acquisition of motor skills • A means of preparing to perform a well-learned skill

4. Mental Practice Aids Motor Skill Acquisition • To determine the influence of mental practice on skill learning, researchers have typically compared three practice conditions: • Physical practice only (PP) • Mental practice only (MP) • No practice (NP) • What do results consistently show? • PP > MP > NP • What do results show if a group is added that receives a combination of equal trials of physical and mental practice? • Similar to PP only

6. Mental Practice Aids Motor Skill Acquisition, cont’d • Some examples of learning situations that research has shown benefit from mental practice: • Rehabilitative settings • Power training • Part of a general preparation strategy that aids learning

7. Singer 5 step general learning strategy that involves elements of mental practice in 3 steps • 1. Get ready physically, mentally, emotionally • 2. Mentally imaging performing action, visually and kinesthetically. • 3. concentrate intensely on only 1 relevant cue • 4. execute action • 5. evaluate performance outcome

8. Results of study by Lidor, Tennant, and Singer Error Control 5 – Step Strategy Control 5 – Step Strategy Ball throw practiceLawn dart transfer

9. Types of Imagery Related to Motor Skill Performance Preparation • 5 types of imagery that athletes use to improve performance: • Motivational – specific • Motivational – general mastery • Motivational – general arousal • Cognitive – specific • Cognitive – general See Table 19.1 for specific descriptions of each

10. Mental Practice Aids Peformance Preparation • Imagery is the most common mental practice strategy for skilled athletes preparing to perform a skill (Martin et al. 1999) • Between competitive events • Immediately prior to a during a competitive event • Rehabilitating an injury

11. Why is Mental Practice Effective? • No comprehensive theories that explain why mental practice in the form of imagery is effective (Martin et al., 1999) • Three generally accepted hypotheses: • Neuromuscular hypothesis: EMG recordings in muscles showing involvement • Brain activity hypothesis:Brain activity during imagery similar to activity during physical performance of a skill • Cognitive hypothesis: Helps learner answer “what to do” questions that are common during the initial stage of motor skill learning

12. Why is Mental Practice Effective? • No comprehensive theories that explain why mental practice in the form of imagery is effective (Martin et al., 1999) • Three generally accepted hypotheses: • Neuromuscular hypothesis: EMG recordings in muscles showing involvement • Brain activity hypothesis:Brain activity during imagery similar to activity during physical performance of a skill • Cognitive hypothesis: Helps learner answer “what to do” questions that are common during the initial stage of motor skill learning

13. Imagery Ability • Some people have great difficult imaging a described action • Research indicates that the effectiveness of imagery is based on people’s ability to visually or kinesthetically image physical movement • Imagery ability is an individual differences variable • Hall and colleagues developed an imagery ability questionnaire to assess a person’s imagery ability • See example questions in A Closer Look • Research shows that people with low imagery ability can still benefit from mental practice

14. Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ) 6 2 3 4 5 7 1 Very Easy Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Hard Very Easy Easy Hard Hard