Mental Practice

Introduction Mental practice is the “cognitive rehearsal” of a movement without any physical movement being done. This means that you visualize the movement in your head, whether from the point of view of a bystander, or the first person point of view and use it to increase the chances of successful completion of that movement. Many people across different fields use this to prepare for a performance and increase motivation before they attempt to perform the skill physically. Mental practice has many implications including the “reduction of competitive anxiety” in sports, due to the increased familiarity with the movement. Mental practice can range from thinking of the “cognitive or procedural” characteristics of the skill to “engaging in visual or kinesthetic imagery of the performance” of the skill. All levels of performers can benefit from using imagery in preparation for practice or competitive performance of a skill. Novice individuals may use mental practice to acquire new skills by visualizing the movement when they are not physically practicing the movement. This allows the individual to break the movement up into parts or focus on areas of confusion to minimize error. More …show more content…
Beginning with the “neuromuscular hypothesis”, which uses electromyography to show that when visualizing the movement, similar muscles are engaged when compared to the recordings of the physical performance of the movement. Next, the “brain activity hypothesis”, which states the brain activity shown during imagery of the skill is similar to when the physical performance of a skill is done. Lastly, the “cognitive hypothesis” justifies the effectiveness of mental practice due to its ability to “Help [the] learner answer “what to do” questions” that are common at the beginning of the acquisition of a new