Seeing the Difference: Developing Effective Imagery Scripts for Athletes

Motor Imagery Practice and Cognitive Processes

“…For example, Rodgers et al (1991) reported that a 16-week figure skating imagery training program enhanced figure skaters' ability to imagine basic movements. This finding has been replicated in other sporting contexts such as golf (Williams et al, 2013b) and synchronized skating (Cumming and Ste-Marie, 2001). More recently, Mateo et al (2018) reported that a 5 week MI training program for people with quadriplegia improved self-rated aspects of their imagery experience (namely, its vividness).…”

“…It should be noted, however, that individual differences and/or differences in processing strategy may also influence the interactive processing of procedural and semantic information. For example, research demonstrates that action context and experience influence the strength of association between semantic and procedural representations, with facilitation of linguistic processing being observed with greater action experience and where action components and linguistic content are congruently matched (Williams et al, 2013b;Beauprez et al, 2020). It would be interesting for future research to explore the effect of motor-related experience on the encoding of action instructions and whether or not MIP has a directional influence on this process.…”

Action Observation and Imagery Training Improve the Ease With Which Athletes Can Generate Imagery

“…A retention test was included to determine the relative permanence of any changes in imagery ability characteristics resulting from the interventions. We also recruited a larger sample and, as implied by others (Callow & Roberts, 2010;Williams, Cooley, Newell, Weibull, & Cumming, 2013), considered the participants' imagery/observation perspective preferences. Based on the findings of Rymal and Ste-Marie and recommendations providing by Cumming and Williams (2012), it was hypothesized that both action observation and imagery training would facilitate the ease with which the athletes could generate imagery to a greater extent than physical practice.…”

The effects of an imagery intervention on implicit and explicit exercise attitudes

“…Participants in the experimental group received guided imagery of a visit to a fitness facility, and participants in the comparison group received guided imagery of preparing and eating a meal at the end of the day. Both scripts (see Appendix) were approximately 3 minutes long, guided participants to focus on positive sensations associated with the respective activities, and were informed by recommendations provided by Williams, Cooley, Newell, Weibull, and Cumming (2013) on the development of imagery scripts. The exercise script was prepared using the same procedure as imagery scripts we had employed in previous research.…”