Mental Practice

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 gt MP gt 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

5
(No Transcript)
6
Mental Practice Aids Motor Skill Acquisition,
contd

• 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 practice Lawn 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 peoples 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 persons 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