Running Head: MENTAL IMAGERY ON LEARNING SKILLLS

Mental Imagery and Its Effect on Learning Skills

Christine Chin

San Jose State University

KIN 166, Section 1

E Wughalter

8 October 2014

MENTAL IMAGERY ON LEARNING SKILLS 2

Mental imagery is when one imagines a specific situation, object, or person in either a

first- or third-person point of view. In sport, athletes can use mental imagery to help them to

determine their next move and when they should execute it, if they are not able to be on the court

or on the field. Even the smallest movement can determine a team’s win or loss, so some coaches

to require their players to use mental imagery in their practice, in case the athlete is injured or to

prevent over-practice. Examining mental imagery in basketball may help to determine if mental

imagery helps athletes with their skills in an open environment where they have to constantly

adapt their movement and control of their body and the basketball.

In one study, ten female basketball athletes (aging from 17-30) were asked to practice

three attack methods (in a 6-point scale) in three trial periods over the course of eight weeks.

The first week was a pre-trial session in which athletes were asked to practice the methods

mentally and physically with passive defenders. In the second trial (weeks 2- 7), they were asked

to practice the first two attack strategies on the same 6-poine scale physically and mentally, and

the third attack movement was used as a baseline. The eighth week (the post-test session),

athletes took a similar test to their pre-trial test and made self-evaluations on their performance,

and their mental imagery and physical practice results were compared with the data collected

from the first week. The results of this study demonstrate that the combination of both mental

imaging and physical practice make the most efficient method of practice for learning new skills.

Using mental imaging with physical practice did show an improvement in performance, but the

athletes’ temporal, spatial, and motives remained about the same (Guillot, Natrowska, and

Collet, 2009).

Kanthack, Bigliassi, Vieira, & Altimari (2014), had examined the effects of mental

imagery in making free throw shots in basketball. Their participants were eleven championship

MENTAL IMAGERY ON LEARNING SKILLS 3

basketball players between 17 to 18 years old. They were split into a control and a motor

imagery group. Both groups had to complete a General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (GPSES)

questionnaire to determine a baseline for each player’s perceived rate of successfully making a

free throw. Those in the motor imagery group went to one room and watched a one minute video

of notable NBA players successfully making free throw shots, in order to have the players have

what Kanthack, Bigliassi, Vieira, & Altimari had eluded to as an ideal comparison. For the next

three minutes, they were then instructed to imagine themselves successfully making a free throw

shot, to the smallest detail (e.g. movement of their arm, the ball arching towards the hoop, and

going through the hoop). They were then asked to complete the questionnaire again, and then

asked to go to the court to physically perform the free throw. The control group, after completing

the GPSES, had to go to a separate room to wait for four minute. After those four minutes, they

were asked to complete the GPSES questionnaire again and proceeded to go to the court to

perform their free throw shots. The results of this study have alluded to mental imagery to the

specific details (e.g. imagining color, sound, and perspective) can be beneficial to the basketball

player when they are required to shoot free throws.

Mental imagery can be beneficial to corporate/private fitness when trying to adjust

workers’ posture, or range of movements when they are at the office or using recreational

facilities. Posture is vital in the corporate environment because many of the workers are usually

hunched over their desk or slouching on their chair. For those seeking to become of those who

are Ergonomists can use mental imagery to help workers ease into having better working

posture. When using the company’s recreational facilities, there is often a gym, or courts that

workers can use. If the sport or equipment is new to the employee, mental imaging can help them

to learn how to play and to familiarize them with the sport or to use the equipment.

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References

Guillot, A., Natrowska, E., & Collet, C. (2009). Using motor imagery to learn tactical

movements in basketball. Journal of Sport Behavior, 32(2), pp. 189-206. Retrieved from

SPORTDiscus.

Kanthack, T., Bigliassi, M., Vieira, L., & Altimari, L. (2014) Acute effect of motor imagery on

basketball players’ free throw performance and self-efficiacy. /Efeito agudo da imag ética

no desempenho de lances livres e percepção de autoeficácia em atletas. Brazilian

Journal of Kineanthropometry & Human Performance, 16(1) pp. 47-57. Retrieved from

SPORTDiscus.