Effects of mental practice on rate of skill acquisition
Joyce Maring1990, Physical therapy
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mental practice in increasing the rate of skill acquisition during a novel motor task. Twenty-six subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. The Control Group (n = 13) performed only physical practice; the Experimental Group (n = 13) performed both mental and physical practice. The task was to toss, by flexing the elbow, a Ping-Pong ball held in a cup on a forearm splint to a target. The biceps brachii muscle and the long and lateral heads of the triceps brachii muscle were monitored electromyographically to determine any changes occurring during skill acquisition. The Experimental Group's accuracy improved at a significantly greater rate than that of the Control Group. In addition, the Experimental Group demonstrated changes in timing variables that led to a more efficient movement. These changes included a decrease in time from the onset of muscle activity to peak activity and an increase in the time elapsed...
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scholarsresearchlibrary.com
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Previous research in sport psychology and rehabilitation suggests that training with motor imagery (mental practice) is a potentially effective strategy to improve motor performance. The goal of the present study was to investigate the benefits of combining mental and physical training in learning a complex motor skill in basketball (the lay-up shot). To this end, sixty female university students were randomly assigned to either mental practice with physical training, or physical training alone. Motor performance was assessed before and after a four-week training period. To assess motor learning performance, a video analysis was carried out by three independent raters on the motor task before and after the training in both conditions. Results showed that mental practice condition improved coordination and movement accuracy, suggesting the potential effectiveness of this approach in training complex motor skills; furthermore, findings indicate the feasibility and accuracy of using video-based analysis of movement in the assessment of motor performance improvements.
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Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences, 2018
Research background and hypothesis. For both the athlete and the coach, the purpose and goal of training is the same: to enhance performance. Research aim. This study investigated the effect of differential learning on basketball free throw and volleyball strike. Research methods. In the basketball experiment, in pre-, post- and retention test design, the free throw performance was measured (number of successful shots). Aiming to investigate transfer performance, jump shots were tested. In the volleyball experiment, movement variability during the strike was further increased by the application of an elastic constraint. The second intervention and quasi-control group trained under constant practice conditions. Ball velocity and accuracy were analysed with a constant and a variable test.Research results. No signifi cant differences were observed for either the free throw (p > 0.05) or the transfer performance (p > 0.05). However, a positive trend for the variable group was obser...
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