Using motor imagery to learn tactical movements in basketball (original) (raw)

It is becoming ever more common for the difference between winning and losing in sport to be decided by the smallest details. In basketball, free throws can be a differentiating factor between teams and motor imagery (IMA) has been studied as a potential ergogenic agent to improve free throw performance, but little attention as been given to its acute effects, particularly among athletes. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a single mental training session on the free throw performance and self-efficacy of young athletes. Eleven young basketball players from the Federação Paulista de Basquete junior league were enrolled on the study. Players were either allocated to an IMA group and watched a 1 minute video before a 3-minute motor imagery session, or to a control group and were rested for 4 minutes, before taking 10 free throw shots in both cases. All participants completed a self-efficacy questionnaire before and after the intervention. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Wilcoxon test, plus measures of Smallest Worthwhile Change (SWC). There were no significant difference between median results for the two groups, but the SWC statistic indicated an 84% likelihood that mental training had a beneficial effect on performance in the first two free throws. It is concluded that motor imagery used in advance has an 84% chance of having a beneficial effect on performance in up to two free throws.

This study evaluated the effect of PETTLEP video imagery onreactive motor skill test (Total RMST time, sprint time, reactive agility time, passing time, and passing accuracy) among 32 Malaysian high school soccer players (mean age of 15.31±1.83) who were randomly assigned into an experimental group (N:16) and a control group (N:16). A pre-test-post-test design was used to evaluate the effect of the intervention on the high schoolplayers' soccer skill performance. The experimental group received 10-minute PETTLEP video imagery trainingbefore their regular soccer training for eight weeks in addition to their regular soccer training, while thecontrol group only attended their regular soccer training. The data analysis revealed a significant effect of video imagery training on players' performance in the experimental group. The results showed that total RMST time, reactive agility time, passing time, and passing accuracy were statistically different within the experimental group...

Mental Imagery can be defined both as a reproduction of cognitive contents of the mind not actually present to sensorial perception, and as the re-elaboration and interpretation of the original perceived data. Motor and athletic rehabilitation and recovery after injuries or traumas, especially in sports, but more generally in physiotherapeutic practice, have shown to be enhanced by mental imagery processes. Mental imagery has been assumed to be essential for the acquisition of motor skills, but to also be relevant in the involutive phases of adult cognition. In fact, empirical studies indicate that different components of imagery are selectively affected by aging. This review discusses the neuropsychological bases of mental imagery, focusing on its possible applications to the rehabilitation of deficits from a variety of different causes, including mental deterioration in the elderly. Simulation techniques, and how they might assist in the accurate assessment of mental imagery skills in order to design optimal learning and/or training interventions, or rehabilitation of motor gestures, are also presented.

There is compelling evidence that motor imagery contributes to improved motor performance , and recent work showed that dynamic motor imagery (dMI) might provide additional benefits by comparison with traditional MI practice. However, the efficacy of motor imagery in different states of physical fatigue remains largely unknown, especially as imagery accuracy may be hampered by the physical fatigue states elicited by training. We investigated the effect of static motor imagery (sMI) and dMI on free-throw accuracy in 10 high-level basketball athletes, both in a non-fatigued state (Experiment 1) and immediately after an incre-mental running test completed until exhaustion (20m shuttle run-test–Experiment 2). We collected perceived exhaustion and heart rate to quantify the subjective experience of fatigue and energy expenditure. We found that dMI brought better shooting performance than sMI, except when athletes were physically exhausted. These findings shed light on the conditions eliciting optimal use of sMI and dMI. In particular, considering that the current physical state affects body representation, performing dMI under fatigue may result in mis-matches between actual and predicted body states.