Efeito agudo da imagética no desempenho de lances livres e percepção de autoeficácia em atletas

Thiago Ferreira Dias Kanthack,Marcelo Bigliassi,Lenamar Fiorese Vieira,Leandro Ricardo Altimari

doi:10.5007/1980-0037.2014v16n1p47

Thiago Ferreira Dias Kanthack, Marcelo Bigliassi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2014v16n1p47

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Abstract

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.

Highlights

Motor imagery can be described as a dynamic mental effort in which a movement is visualized and created mentally, but which involves no physical movement of any part of the body that would be used to perform the task being imagined[1]
Lamirand and Rainey[5], for example, have questioned the existence of an acute effect, since a study they conducted with basketball players showed that relaxation training was effective, whereas motor imagery exhibited no effect on free throw performance
The short term effect of the motor imagery technique indicated by the results of this study is plausible, since continuing the activity appears to reduce the acute effect of the strategy, to the extent that the activity engaged in becomes the most important element, making the ergogenic agent ineffective over the medium and long term

Summary

Introduction

Motor imagery can be described as a dynamic mental effort in which a movement is visualized and created mentally, but which involves no physical movement of any part of the body that would be used to perform the task being imagined[1]. Lamirand and Rainey[5], for example, have questioned the existence of an acute effect, since a study they conducted with basketball players showed that relaxation training was effective, whereas motor imagery exhibited no effect on free throw performance. Certain factors are considered of fundamental importance if motor imagery training is to achieve the positive results that are hoped for. These include individual training sessions, training with the eyes closed, training motor tasks, the type of instructions given and the type of population trained[4]. It should be pointed out that successful motor imagery is dependent on a good capacity to visualize oneself performing a task effectively; in other words, it is dependent on good self-efficacy[11]

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