1. IMAGERY
Steve Greer, Elizabeth Andrews, Sarah Griffin

2. Imagery A Mental Process
Imagery is defined
- A product of your memory, experienced internally through the recall and reconstruction of pervious events.
Not limited to just experiences, imagination plays a big part

3. Other Names For Imagery
Visualization
Mental Rehearsal
Symbolic Rehearsal
Mental Practice
Mental Film

4. History of Imagery Greek Philosophers led the discussions of Imagery
Aristotle was the first systematic cognitive theorist, he gave imagery a central role in cognition.
He quoted imagery saying “The soul never thinks without a mental image, and that spoken words being the symbol of inner images

5. Different Senses of Imagery
Kinesthetic Sense
Involves the sensation of bodily position or movement that arises form the stimulation of sensory nerve ending in muscles, joints and tendons.
Visual Sense
The awareness of vivid images through sight

6. Does imagery work?
Research evidence supporting the effectiveness of imagery as a mental training tool is divided into three areas:
Enhances performance and learning
Enhances thoughts and emotions
Successful athletes use it!

7. 1. Enhances performance and learning
The research done on the idea that an internal sensory experience has the power to help athletes perform better has been divided into three sections
Mental practice- able to repeatedly perform a skill in your mind without experiencing the physical fatigue
Preparatory imagery- used right before performance in order to “psych up”, calm down, focus, etc.
Multimodal mental training interventions- effective when used concurrently with other mental training skills
Mental practice- research in this area has led to the conclusion that mental practice enhances performance and is better than no practice at all. Mental practice has shown to help improve such sport skills as basketball, volleyball, tennis, golf, football, swimming, diving, running, rock climbing, etc. But research is not saying that mental practice is better than physical practice but athletes can only engage in physical practice for finite periods of time, because of fatigue and overload. Mental practice allows athletes to refine their mental blueprints without having to physically engage in the activity. Research has also shown that the there are different ways of delivering imagery interventions and an individual must find what is most effective for them. Preparatory imagery- has especially shown to be helpful for improving strength tasks. Imagery used as an athlete’s pre-performance routine which involves a planned sequence of thoughts and behaviors and is able to lead to automatic performance execution.
Multimodal mental training- For example, a mental training program consisting of imagery, relaxation, and self-talk training have shown to enhance performance in a variety of sports and skills.

8. 2.Enhances thoughts and emotions
Not only does it help you perform better, but it enhances those competition-related thoughts and emotions
Research has shown that imagery:
Enhances self-confidence
Enhances motivation
Enhances attentional control
Helps decrease precompetitive anxiety
Effective in changing athlete’s perceptions of anxiety from harmful and negative to facilitative and challenging.
This is important because a basic objective of sport psychology is to help athletes think better- to enable them to manage their thoughts and emotions effectively to create a productive competitive focus.

9. Purpose of the Study: The Participant: Method:
“An imagery Intervention During the Competitive Season With an Elite Rugby Union Player” By: Lynne Evans, Leigh Jones, and Richard Mullen
Purpose of the Study:
To examine the effects of an imagery intervention in a practical performance environment
The Participant:
Had no formal training in sport psychology
Began the study as a member of the National “A” team
Method:
Data collected over a 14 week period which included the competitive season
Data collection included semi-structured interviews, diaries, and the Sport Imagery Questionnaire

10. Results:
The participant used Cognitive Specific (CS) and Cognitive General (CG) imagery and was able to refine his imagery skills
He learned how to control him imagery, make his images clear and vivid, and incorporated all senses into his program
By doing so he was able to control him anxiety, activation and motivation level, and increase his confidence
During the 14 weeks his performance progressed and he was able to advance to the first choice selection for his position during the national tour
Received the “Most improved player of the year award”
Cons: the study only had one participant, and it mostly relied on his perspective and thoughts from the JW, interviews, and SIQ.
Pros: Because there was only one participant they were able to personalize his imagery program which is vital to imageries success, and because it was done in a practical performance environment (previously stated)

11. 3. Successful athletes use it!
More successful, elite athletes use imagery more extensively, more systematically, and have better imagery skill than less successful athletes
Olympic coaches who attended a mental skills training workshop indicated that they used imagery more than any other mental training technique and felt that imagery was the most useful mental technique that they used with their athletes. Research has also examined how and why athletes use imagery and found that they used it to rehearse skills and difficult moves, to optimize concentration and quality of training, and to enhance self-confidence. Also those who used imagery were shown to set higher goals, spend more time practicing, and demonstrate more realistic self-expectations.

12. How does imagery enhance performance?
There are four theoretical explanations:
Psychoneuromuscular Theory- imagining a skill creates innervation in the muscles similar to the actual physical execution of the skill
Symbolic Learning Theory: Mental Blueprint- develop well-grooved mental blueprints of a skill in order to enhance performance
Bioinformational Theory: Response Set- for imagery to be effective, the individual must systematically mentally practice appropriate and productive mental and physical responses to the competitive demands of the activity. (Imagery can be detrimental if practiced incorrectly!)
Attentional-Arousal Set Explanation: Mental Set- allows the individual to get mentally “set” for the performance by directing their attention on what they need to do and creating an optimal energy level for performance
Psychoneuromuscular theory- as the athlete engages in various sport movements, their brains are constantly transmitting impulses to the muscles for the execution of the movements. This theory suggests that similar impulses occur in the brain and muscles when athletes imagine the movements without actually performing them. Therefore, the theory asserts that vivid imagined events produce innervation in our muscles similar to that produced by the actual physical execution of the event. This innervation is theorized to provide kinesthetic feedback that can be used by athletes to improve their skills. Often this method is referred to as muscle memory- by using imagery you are strengthening their muscle memories by having the muscles fire in the correct sequence without actually physically executing the movement. Examples of nerves in down hill skier. Thus, whether athletes actually perform movements or vividly imagine performing them, similar neural pathways to the muscles are used, although the muscle activity is far less during imagery as compared to actual movement.
Symobolic- suggests that imagery may function as a coding system to help individuals acquire or understand movement patterns. All movements that we make are first encoded in our central nervous system- we must have a blueprint or plan for this movement. This theory suggests that imagery facilitates performance by helping individuals to blueprint or code their movements into symbolic components, thus making the movement more familiar and perhaps more automatic. So by using imagery the individual is strengthening their mental blueprint they use to perform the skill and make it more automatic. Research has shown this effective in studies that require cognitive coding as opposed to pure motor tasks.
Response Set- Assumes that a mental image is an organized set of propositions, or characteristics, stored in the brain’s long-term memory, and that when individuals engage in imagery they activate stimulus characteristics that describe the content of the image for them and response characteristics that describe what their responses are to the stimuli in that situation. According to this theory for imagery to facilitate performance, response characteristics must be activated so they can be modified, improved, and strengthened. By repeatedly accessing response characteristcs for a particular stimulus situation and modifying these responses to represent perfect control and execution of a skill, imagery is predicted to enhance performance. Best if used both stimulus and response characteristics. Suggests that images should contain not only the conditions of the situation but also the athlete’s behavioral, psychological, and physiological responses to the situation. By including these positive responses, the image will be more vivid and should result in psycholphysiological changes in the body and thus improve performance. Imagery can be explained as a way of enhancing performance by programming personalized and appropriate responses to specific situations, or creating the perfect response set. (should be very personal and individualized.
Attention arousal- not a theory buy an intuitive description of the role of imagery to optimize arousal and attention. Research has shown that imagery is effective in optimizing arousal and attention in athletes. Imagery can help the individual perform better by creating the right mental set (optimal energy, concentration, etc.) for the situation.

13. Can imagery hurt your performance?
Yes!
If visualization is not controlled, or if an individual focuses on the wrong images at the wrong times
Imagery requires practice, and should only include positive responses. It is important to not base your imagery on the nots and don’ts. The key is to think productively and to simplify one’s thinking to the point of automatic performance- you don’t want to think too much.

14. Basic training Imagery is a skill and we all have different strengths.
We can build a foundation and strengthen our imagery muscles!

15. 3 Types of Imagery Exercises
Vividness
Sharpens the details and strengthens the details.
Controllability
Learn to manipulate images at will.
Control your images.
Self – Awareness
Become aware of underlying thoughts and feelings.

16. Now You’re Ready!
Personal Imagery program
The thing to remember is that practice makes perfect so keep it systematic.
K.I.S.S
Keep it simple and smart.

17. Things to Remember… When using imagery KISS/ systematic
It can be done anytime and anywhere
Cassette tapes
Videos of past performances
Imagery logs.