design a study that could arbitrate empirically between these rival theoretical
predictions using the skill of tennis serving. In conducting such a study, however, it is
essential to match participants for kinaesthetic imagery ability as measured by a scale
such as the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised (MIQ-R; Hall and Martin,
1997).
2 Using the mental chronometry paradigm, you could investigate the extent to which the
level of expertise of the performer affects the congruence between his or her imagined
and actual time taken to execute a series of golf putts (see Orliaguet and Coello, 1998).
3 It would be interesting to conduct a field study with athletes such as rugby or basketball
players on the efficacy of mental practice in enhancing skills such as place-kicking or
free-throwing, respectively.
4 You could evaluate the psychometric adequacy of a popular test of mental imagery
(e.g., the MIQ-R) for a sample of athletes over a three-month interval.
5 You might be interested in establishing the degree to which people who engage in
regular physical activity use exercise imagery as part of their training routine (see
Hausenblas et al., 1999; Gammage, Hall and Rodgers, 2000).
6 It would be interesting to conduct a replication and extension of the study by Abma et
al (2002) on the imagery content of athletes who differ in their level of self-
confidence.
Summary- Mental imagery is a cognitive process which enables us to represent in our minds
experiences of things which are not physically present. Although this ability is
valuable in many everyday situations (e.g., in reminding you to perform a certain
task), it is especially useful for the planning of future actions. So, the term mental
practice (MP) or visualisation refers to a form of symbolic rehearsal in which people
“see” and “feel” themselves executing a skilled action in their imagination, without
overt performance of the physical movements involved. - Having outlined the nature and characteristics of mental imagery, I explored research on
mental practice in athletes. - Within this section, special attention was devoted to the imagery validation problem
(namely, how do we know that athletes are really using imagery when they purport to
be engaged in mental rehearsal?) as well as to the relative dearth of field studies on
MP in athletes. - Also, this section featured a review of three main theories of mental practice—the
neuromuscular, cognitive and bio-informational models. - The next section of the chapter examined the measurement of mental imagery skills in
athletes. - After that, the main research findings on athletes’ imagery use were assessed.
- Next, an evaluation was provided of some old problems and new directions in research
on imagery processes in athletes. - The chapter concluded with six ideas for possible research projects on imagery
processes in sport and exercise psychology.
Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 150