The effect of internal and external mental imagery timing on learning simple volleyball serving skill

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Motor Behavior, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The timing of mental imagery can have a significant impact on performance improvement. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of the timing of internal and external mental imagery on the learning of the learning simple volleyball service skill.
Methods: to achieve the goals of the research, 60 beginner volleyball students aged 16 to 18 were selected from the accessible population, and they voluntarily participated in this study. Participants were divided into two groups of 30 individuals each based on their pre-test scores, considering two factors: imagery and its timing. Each group consisted of three subgroups of 10 participants, including Group 1, which practiced mental imagery (before, during, and after performance), and Group 2, which practiced external imagery (before, during, and after performance). The acquisition phase of the research involved five training sessions, where participants performed three sets of 10 attempts of the criterion task in each session according to the respective program. After 48 hours from the post-test, participants underwent a retention test.
Findings: The results showed that the dimension of imagery (internal - external) and the timing of imagery (before, during, and after performance) did not have a significant impact on the acquisition and retention of volleyball service.
Conclusion: According to the research findings, it is recommended to physical education coaches and teachers that, instead of focusing solely on the timing of internal and external mental imagery, they should concentrate on other variables such as physical repetitions or effective training games.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1] Frank C., Schack T. The representation of motor (inter)action, states of action, and learning: three perspectives on motor learning by way of imagery and execution. Frontiers in Psychology. 2017; 8:p. 678.
 
[2] Gomes T. V. B., Ugrinowitsch H., Marinho N., Shea J. B., Raisbeck L. D., Benda R. N. Effects of mental practice in novice learners in a serial positioning skill acquisition. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2014; 119(2):397–414.
 
[3] Weinberg R. S., Gould D. Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 6th. Champaign, IL, USA: Human Kinetics; 2015.
 
[4] Kim T., Frank C., Schack T. A systematic investigation of the effect of action observation training and motor imagery training on the development of mental representation structure and skill performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2017; 11:p. 499.
 
[5] Adams L., Guz A., Innes J. A., Murphy K. The early circulatory and ventilatory response to voluntary and electrically induced exercise in man. The Journal of Physiology. 1987; 383(1):19–30.
[6] Decety J., Jeannerod M., Germain M., Pastene J. Vegetative response during imagined movement is proportional to mental effort. Behavioural Brain Research. 1991; 42(1):1–5.
 
[7] Grèzes J., Decety J. Functional anatomy of execution, mental simulation, observation, and verb generation of actions: a meta-analysis. Human Brain Mapping. 2001; 12(1):1–19.
 
[8] Jeannerod M. Mental imagery in the motor context. Neuropsychologia. 1995; 33(11):1419–1432.
 
[9] Dana A., Gozalzadeh E. Internal and external imagery effects on tennis skills among novices. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2017; 124(5):1022–1043.
 
[10] Ruffino C., Papaxanthis C., Lebon F. The influence of imagery capacity in motor performance improvement. Experimental Brain Research. 2017; 235(10):3049–3057.
 
[11] Guillot A, Collet C, Nguyen VA, Malouin F, Richards C, Doyon J. Brain activity during visual versus kinesthetic imagery: an fMRI study. Human brain mapping. 2009 Jul; 30(7):2157-72.
 
[12] Fourkas AD, Ionta S, Aglioti SM. Influence of imagined posture and imagery modality on corticospinal excitability. Behavioural brain research. 2006 Apr 3; 168(2):190-6.
 
[13] Yu Q. H., Fu A. S. N., Kho A., Li J., Sun X. A., Chan C. C. H. Imagery perspective among young athletes: differentiation between external and internal visual imagery. Journal of Sport and Health Science. 2016; 5(2):211–218.
 
[14] Rice H. J., Rubin D. C. I can see it both ways: first- and third-person visual perspectives at retrieval. Consciousness and Cognition. 2009; 18(4):877–890.
 
[15] Vogeley K., Fink G. R. Neural correlates of the first-person-perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2003; 7(1):38–42. 
 
[16] Hall C. R. Singer R., Hausenblas H. Imagery in sport and exercise. In: Janelle C., editor. Handbook of Sport Psychology. New York, NY, USA: Wiley; 2001. pp. 529–549.
 
 [17] White A., Hardy L. An in-depth analysis of the uses of imagery by high-level slalom canoeists and artistic gymnasts. The Sport Psychologist. 1998; 12(4):387–403.
 
[18] Glisky M., Williams G., Kihlstrom J. Internal and external mental imagery perspectives and performance on two tasks. Journal Sport Behavior. 1996; 19:3–18. 
 
[19] Arvinen-Barrow M., Weigand D. A., Thomas S., Hemmings B., Walley M. Elite and novice athletes’ imagery use in open and closed sports. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 2007; 19(1):93–104.
 
[20] Watt A. P., Spittle M., Jaakkola T., Morris T. Adopting Paivio’s general analytic framework to examine imagery use in sport. Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity. 2008; 3:121–129.
[21] Williams S. E., Cumming J. Measuring athlete imagery ability: the sport imagery ability questionnaire. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 2011; 33(3):416–440.
 
 [22] Munroe-Chandler K., Morris T. Imagery. In: Morris T., Terry P. C., editors. The New Sport and Exercise Psychology Companion. Morgantown, WV, USA: Fitness Information Technology; 2011. pp. 275–308.  
 
[23] Weinberg R., Butt J., Knight B., Burke K. L., Jackson A. The relationship between the use and effectiveness of imagery: an exploratory investigation. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 2003; 15(1):26–40. 
 
[24] Schuster C., Hilfiker R., Amft O., et al. Best practice for motor imagery: a systematic literature review on motor imagery training elements in five different disciplines. BMC Medicine. 2011; 9(1):p. 75. 
 
[25] Williams S. E., Guillot A., Di Rienzo F., Cumming J. Comparing self-report and mental chronometry measures of motor imagery ability. European Journal of Sport Science. 2015; 15(8):703–711.
 
[26] Roberts R., Callow N., Hardy L., Markland D., Bringer J. Movement imagery ability: development and assessment of a revised version of the vividness of movement imagery questionnaire. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2008; 30(2):200–221.
 
[27] Cumming J., Hall C. Athletes’ use of imagery in the off-season. The Sport Psychologist. 2002; 16(2):160–172.
 
[28] Westlund Stewart N, Divine A, O J, Law B. Considerations for conducting imagery interventions in physical education settings. Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity. 2015 Jan 1; 10(1):31-47.
 
[29] Shick J. Effects of mental practice on selected volleyball skills for college women. Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. 1970 Mar 1; 41(1):88-94.
 
[30] Alikhani H. Effect of Different Time Scheduling of PETTLEP Imagery on The Dart Throw Performance and Learning: Study The Role of Sleep Mediation. Sport Psychology Studies. 2019 Jul 23; 8(28):27-42.
 
[31] Bagherpour T, Shojaei M. The comparison of the effect of modeling and imagery type on self-efficacy of the volleyball simple serve. International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering, 3 (2). 2009:103-8.
 
[32] Afrouzeh M, Sohrabi M, Taheri HR, Afroozeh A. Optimal timing of mental practice on learning the volleyball service skill. Annals of Applied Sport Science. 2013 Oct 10; 1(3):29-38.
 
[33] Debarnot U, Creveaux T, Collet C, Gemignani A, Massarelli R, Doyon J, Guillot A. Sleep-related improvements in motor learning following mental practice. Brain and cognition. 2009 Mar 1; 69(2):398-405.
[34] Mills KD, Munroe KJ, Hall CR. The relationship between imagery and self-efficacy in competitive athletes. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. 2000 Sep; 20(1):33-9.
 
[35]Fatemeh T, Abbas B, Tahmasbi F. The effect of imagery perspectives with real time and slow motion speeds on learning of dart throw skill. Sport Psychology Studies. 2019 Mar 21; 8(27):99-112.
 
[36] Epstein ML. The relationship of mental imagery and mental rehearsal to performance of a motor task. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 1980 Sep 1; 2(3):211-20.
 
[37] Lu FJ, Gill DL, Lee YC, Chiu YH, Liu S, Liu HY. Effects of visualized PETTLEP imagery on the basketball 3-point shot: A comparison of internal and external perspectives. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2020 Nov 1; 51:101765.
Research in Sport Sciences Education (RISSE)
Volume 1, Issue 2
Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2023
October 2023
Pages 49-58

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics