Mental Imagery

Mental Imagery

Mental imagery is a psychological skill used widely in sport to enhance the performance of many motor skills. It may be defined as using one's senses to create or recreate an experience or visual image in the mind that, at times, may seem as real as seeing the image with our physical eyes. When a player imagines taking a free throw — feeling the ball, hearing the crowd, seeing the rim, sensing the arm extension — without actually moving, mental imagery is at work.

Expanding this definition clarifies three points:

• (a) an image can be created in the mind in the absence of any external stimuli;
• (b) an image may involve one or more physical senses (sight, sound, touch, and even smell or taste);
• (c) an image is created from information stored in the sensory store, working memory or long-term memory.

The "Mind's Eye": External and Internal Imagery

Using the "mind's eye" is considered important both for stress management and for focusing athletes on the task. Imagery is the most popular mental training technique used by athletes, and sport psychologists distinguish two perspectives:

• External imagery — the athlete pictures himself from the outside, as if watching a video of his own performance.
• Internal imagery — the athlete views the performance from inside his own body. A good example is the mental rehearsal of a sporting technique: when we imagine performing a skill, the nervous system and muscles react in a similar way to actually doing it, which is why imagery helps us learn and practise techniques.

Another reason imagery works is that it de-sensitises us to the anxiety of competitive situations — the more we are exposed to what makes us anxious, whether in real life or in imagination, the less anxiety it causes. All athletes can improve their imagery ability through systematic practice, and the better the imagery, the more effective the training.

How to Practise Imagery: the PETTLEP Framework

A popular model for designing imagery interventions is the PETTLEP framework, a seven-point checklist of guidelines for building an effective imagery programme:

• P — Physical
• E — Environment
• T — Task
• T — Timing
• L — Learning
• E — Emotion
• P — Perspective

Benefits of Imagery …