Effect of imagined movement speed on subsequent motor performance.
Researchers realize that motor imagery (MI) duration is closely linked to actual motor action duration. In 2 experiments, the authors investigated the effect of changing MI speed on actual movement duration over a 3-week training period. Experiment 1 involved 2 series of body movements that 24 participants mentally performed faster or slower than their actual execution speeds. The fast MI group's actual times decreased on subsequent performance. Participants in Experiment 2 were 21 skilled athletes who increased (decreased) their well-rehearsed actual movement times after MI training at a slow (fast) speed. The effect was task-related, however: MI affected only self-initiated movement. The effect of MI on actual speed execution supports the ideomotor theory because anticipation of sensory consequences of actions is mentally represented.
Louis
Magali
M
Centre de Recherche et d'Innovation sur le Sport, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, Lyon, France.
Guillot
Aymeric
A
Maton
Sylvain
S
Doyon
Julien
J
Collet
Christian
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D016139:Martial Arts / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values