Mental Rehearsal Research Articles

Mental rehearsal of a task under ethanol facilitates tolerance

Male social drinkers learned a motor-skill task and then drank the same dose of ethanol (0.66 g/kg) on five sessions. Sessions 1 and 5 provided pre- and post-treatment measures of performance under ethanol. During treatment sessions, one group (P) practiced and another (M) mentally rehearsed the task after ethanol was administered. A control group (C) rested. On the posttreatment session, groups P and M did not differ and both were less impaired (i.e., more tolerant) than C. These results suggest that the development of ethanol tolerance is sensitive to the same training procedures which facilitate drug-free learning of a task.

Improving competitive performance with hypnotic suggestions and modified autogenic training: case reports.

Abstract Although traditionally trainers of athletes have emphasized physiological refinements for the optimal performance of complex motor skills, research has revealed that heightened levels of stress and anxiety may adversely affect performance. As a result, many athletic training programs, taking into consideration the complex interrelationship of the mind and the body, include “mental training” in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of excess stress. These programs have incorporated various psychological interventions such as posthypnotic suggestions, sensory conditioning, and mental imagery and rehearsal. Modified Autogenic Training, a teaching model based on Standard Autogenic Training, synthesizes the strengths of hypnotic techniques to achieve optimal athletic performance. Athletes trained in these concepts can manage unexpected incidences during competition. The concepts of Modified Autogenic Training are described and four case studies are reported.

Mental rehearsal facilitates tolerance development to ethanol: E. Rawana, M. Vogel-Sprott, R. Webster. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Mental rehearsal facilitates tolerance development to ethanol: E. Rawana, M. Vogel-Sprott, R. Webster. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Sports Psychology and the Elite Athlete

The objective of sports psychology is to optimize competence through the development of psychological skills that will permit athletes to enhance performance and gain maximal satisfaction. Sports psychology programs of the United States Olympic Committee are discussed and examples of training in psychological skills are presented, including the specific techniques of imagery training, cognitive reconstruction, and mental rehearsal.

Using mental rehearsal to improve trainer behavior

Using mental rehearsal to improve trainer behavior

Effect of Mental Rehearsal with Part and Whole Demonstration Models on Acquisition of Backstroke Swimming Skills

36 undergraduates were randomly divided into three groups: (1) mental rehearsal with a whole model demonstration, (2) mental rehearsal with a progressive part model demonstration, and (3) controls. Each group participated in a 1-wk. swimming program (140 min. a day) and took 3 tests related to vividness of general motor imagery, swimming imagery, and accuracy of the imagined skill. Dependent variables were speed and distance scores for performance of the backstroke. There were no differential effects of the two demonstrations on motor performance and image formation in the acquisition of skill. Some trends were observed, however. Physical practice as well as mental rehearsal increased vividness and accuracy of imaging the swimming stroke. The effect of mental rehearsal on vividness of imaging a skill was somewhat related to vividness of general motor imagery.

Efficacy of Mental Imagery in Enhancing Mental Rehearsal of Motor Skills

To investigate the mental imagery aspect of mental rehearsal, 80 male traffic officers from the California Highway Patrol learned a novel balancing task during a single session. Based on a pretest questionnaire, subjects were categorized as imagers, nonimagers, or occasional imagers and assigned to one of six groups accordingly: imagers asked to use imagery in mental rehearsal, imagers asked to try not to use imagery, nonimagers asked not to use imagery, nonimagers asked to try to use imagery, physical practice, or no practice. It was hypothesized that a person's preferred cognitive style would prove most effective for use in mental rehearsal and that using another style would cause a decrement in learning. Improvement scores indicated no differences between subjects who initially reported typically using imagery and those reported typically not using it, but groups asked to use imagery in mental rehearsal were superior to those asked not to (p<.001). Overall, physical practice was better than the grouped mental rehearsal conditions, and both were better than no practice. Subjects reporting strong visual imagery were superior to those with weak visual images (p<.03), and those reporting strong kinesthetic imagery were superior to those with weak kinesthetic images (p<.03). Regardless of one's typical cognitive style, the use of vivid imagery appears quite important for enhancement of motor performance through mental rehearsal.

Re-establishment of traumatically disrupted finger flexor function: Abrief communication

Abstract Age regression during hypnosis and mental rehearsal while in trance, using a cassette tape for induction, enabled a patient, with disruption of flexor function of the fifth finger of her right hand, to restore full function, even though she did not have a strong belief system in hypnosis.

The problem of rehearsal or mental practice.

The present study examines several methodological and conceptual problems which in the past have made it difficult to accept the hypothesis that mental practice facilitates behavioral skill. An experiment on skill in speech production is then reported which overcomes the methodological problems. Subjects practice producing a sentence at maximal rate either mentally (mental practice) or overtly (physical practice) and then produced a transfer sentence which was either related or unrelated. The maximal rate of speech was faster for related than unrelated transfer sentences, and the degree of transfer for the mental and physical practice conditions was equivalent. A theory was developed to explain these results and overcome the conceptual problems outlined in the introduction. Implications of the theory for several related phenomena are discussed: rehearsal, errors in action, automatization, control processes in motor skills, speed-up as a function of practice, the relative advantages of physical vs. mental practice, and the evoked potentials accompanying mental rehearsal of an action.

Relationship between cognitive activity and adjustment in four spinal-cord-injured individuals: a longitudinal investigation.

Although most of the stress one faces in life occurs in anticipation of a stressful period, very little research has been done on what anticipatory cognitive activities are related to subsequent adjustment. The present study investigated the relationship between measures of anticipatory cognitive activity and subsequent adjustment in four spinal-cord-injured individuals. Measures of anticipatory cognitive activity, which were assessed before subjects left the rehabilitation center, were related to measures of adjustment, which were assessed when subjects returned to the rehabilitation center for a medical checkup anywhere from 7 to 13 1/2 weeks following discharge. Seven-month follow-ups were conducted with two of the subjects. Although the small sample size precluded any statistical analysis of the data, the rank orderings of subjects across the variables of interest revealed a number of interesting trends. The most striking trend was that the best adjusted subject predominantly employed rationalization and denial in anticipating going home. A theory to explain why these strategies may be effective for spinal-cord-injured individuals is proposed. Other trends revealed that individuals who avoid catastrophizing and worrying about what their life will be like, who think more about the various goals they may have once they leave the rehabilitation center, and who employ internal forms of mental rehearsal in anticipating going home tend to be better adjusted. Although any conclusions that can be drawn from this study are only suggestive, given the small sample size, the fruitfulness of conducting this type of research is demonstrated.

Cognitive Demand, Imagery, and Frequency of Mental Rehearsal as Factors Influencing Acquisition of Motor Skills

Male college students (N= 39) learned two novel perceptual motor tasks differing in demand across a cognitive-motor continuum, under conditions of physical practice (PP), mental practice (MP), or no practice (NP). On each task, the PP group was given 12 actual trials; the MP group received one actual, nine mental, then two actual trials; and the NP group received one actual trial, 10 minutes rest, then two actual trials. Results showed no difference in learning between MP and NP groups on the predominantly motor task, with the PP group significantly superior to both. On the predominantly cognitive task, however, the MP group performed as well as the PP group, and both were significantly superior to the NP group. Two additional questions concerning the influences of imaging ability and relative frequency of mental practice rendered equivocal results.

Sport and personality.

SummaryIn a wide-ranging survey, ways are examined in which human personalities can be categorized and the relevance of these categories to sporting performance is examined. The profiles produced by studies of the Eysenck and Cattell type, the significance of the ‘trait’ and the ‘interactional’ approaches and the correlation of personalities with physical performance are considered. The importance of such factors as achievement motivation, causal attribution, selfefficacy, mental rehearsal and concentration is examined. Consideration is given to the role of sport in the fulfilment of the personality.

The Relationship of Mental Imagery and Mental Rehearsal to Performance of a Motor Task

This study examined the relationship of internal and external imaginal rehearsal and imaginal style to skilled motor behavior. Dart throwing was used as the dependent measure of physical performance. All subjects were randomly assigned to a control group, an internal mental rehearsal group, or an external mental rehearsal group. After assessing baseline performance, subjects were instructed to mentally rehearse before throwing sets of three darts. Control subjects were given a distracting task prior to throws. The results showed a slight, negative relation between spontaneous external imagery and physical performance. The mental rehearsal factor, however, was not significant. Males significantly outperformed females, and imagery groups had more variability in improvement scores than the control group for women but not for men. It was proposed that females' lower dart-throwing ability may have caused mental practice to be distracting for some subjects, and thus increased improvement variability in the mental rehearsal group. Conclusions regarding the concept of imaginal style as well as the negative relation between motor performance and the propensity to use external imagery were offered.

Moving Away from Attack Therapy

“The Game”—an aspect of Attack Therapy—is described as a sophisticated version of “Courtroom.” Clients who assume the roles of Smoothy, Brash, or Unimportant in “The Game” tend to continue to act out these roles in criminal endeavors after leaving the therapy group. “The Game” is considered to be ineffective for much of the criminal population with which it is used. A structural analysis of C2 is described, and identifies the negative constellation of P1–, A1–, and C1–, and the positive constellation of P1+, A1+, and C1+. These constellations are experienced by the criminal clients as being mutually exclusive, and their complementarity is unrecognized. Emphasis in therapy is upon synthesizing the two constellations to provide a more appropriate P1, A1, and C1. Samenow and Yokelson's (The Criminal Personality) discussion of the extensive thinking and mental rehearsal which often precedes commitment of a crime are emphasized, and an approach utilizing the recording and analysis of the thinking of criminal clients is presented.

Hypnosis in group therapy

Abstract Therapeutic groups are defined to include both therapy groups and enrichment or extensional groups, either goal-specific or goal-individualized. After reviewing the literature, 3 modalities for the use of 6 hypnotherapeutic techniques are presented. These modalities are: (a) simultaneous group hypnosis, (b) working with one member and then fostering group interaction, and (c) cooperative group self-hypnosis. The 6 group hypnotherapy techniques are: (a) relaxation, (b) positive revivification, (c) dream production, (d) age regression and recovery of early recollections, (e) age progression and mental rehearsal, and (f) ego strengthening. The need for research in group hypnotherapy is stressed, especially in the areas of transference, countertransference, and “co-transference.”

Rehearsal, generative processes, and the activation of underlying stimulus representations

Previous research found that subjects engaged in mental rehearsal could reduce stimulus encoding time in classification and identification tasks by generating an appropriate represen­ tation of the probe stimulus prior to its presentation. The present experiment examined the types of representational codes activated by generative processes in character classification. Numerical stimuli were employed which could differ visually, yet have the same name and meaning (e.g., TWO, 2, II, & . '). The results indicate that generative processes may activate visual and nonvisual memory codes prior to the encoding of an external stimulus. Effects of generative processes were discussed in terms of an activation model which defines the function of rehearsal in perceptual processing. Attention, through rehearsal, activates stimulus representations which are described by distributions of activation which change continuously over time. The momentary state of each distribution determines the rate of stimulus encoding.

Vicarious, direct, and imaginal aversion in habit control: Outcomes, heart rates, and subjective perceptions

Direct, modeled, or imaginal shocks administered by therapist or recipient were compared as aversion techniques for 60 women college students with severe nail-biting habits. All methods increased habit control (p <.001)on self-report and objective measures but with no outcome differences among treatments. Providing mental rehearsal guidance for extralaboratory use failed to alter outcome but raised client optimism to ward therapy. Vicarious aversion produced the most rapid heart rates and, typically, the greatest subjective arousal; no data suggested that direct shock was superior. In a second study with unselected student volunteers of both sexes, modeled shock consistently surpassed imaginal shock in ratings of perceived badness, subjective discomfort, and vividness of covert pain (p <.01).Treatment and ethical implications were discussed.

Adjustments to redundancy in reaction time: A comparison of three learning methods

The present study compared three methods of learning the sequential dependencies inherent in a serial RT task. One group was given physical practice on a fixed sequence of events emphasizing the sequential dependencies in the task. A second group engaged in mental rehearsal of a fixed sequence of events. The third group was given physical practice on the actual task containing 62 percent redundancy. A final group acted as a control and practiced on randomly occuring events. Physical practice emphasizing the redundancies in the task produced equivalent post-test performance as practice on the actual task. Mental practice was found to produce a rapid improvement in performance once some experience on the actual task was given. A detailed analysis was made of the components of overall performance affected by the various training methods. The results were discussed in terms of the stimulus sampling and sequential decision model (Fitts et al. 1963).

Rotary pursuit tracking following mental rehearsal as a function of voluntary control of visual imagery.

Studies have shown that mental rehearsal can facilitate the learning of a motor skill (e.g., Rawlings, et al., 1972) . Richardson (1969) claimed that imagery capacity was an important factor in predicting improvement in motor performance following mental re. hearsal. T o study further the effects of visual-imagery ability on performance of a motor task following mental rehearsal, 47 female college students were given concentrated physical pracdce in rotary pursuit tracking on a Marietta rotor ( 6 0 rpm, 50-sec. work, 10-sec. rest). The pre-rest practice lasted 5 min. followed by a 10-min, rest and 5 min. of ost resc practice. During the 10-min. rest, 35 Ss mentally rehearsed the tracking task E r ; min. ar either the beginning, middle or end of the rest interval. Twelve Ss performed an irrelevant task during the rest period. The major dependent variables were reminiscence and performance decrement which, as Amrnons ( 195 1 ) suggested, are likely ro be reduced by mental rehearsal. Thus, it was predicted that 5s with greater efficiency in visual imagery would have lower reminiscence and performance decrement. Reminiscence scores were obtained by subtracting the total time on target of the last prerest trial from the total time on target of the first posrrest trial (17 5s with controllable imagery 6.86 ? 2.54, 18 5s with autonomous imagery 10.05 ? 4.19, 12 conr~ols 11.12 +5.57). Performance decrement scores were obtained by subtracting total ume on target of the first postrest trial from the total time on target of the last postrest trial (17 Ss with controllable imagery .69 & 5.42, 18 Ss with autonomous imagery 3 2 2 3.21, 12 controls -4.12 2 6.57). Efficiency of visual imagery of the 35 Ss who mentally rehearsed was measured by the revised Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control (Richardson, 1969) . The 17 Ss who scored above the median on this test were designated Controllable Visual Imagery Ss and the 18 who scored below, as Autonomous Visual Imagery Ss. Analyses of variance indicated that high scorers had significantly lower reminiscence than low scorers ( f i < ,001). There was no difference, however, on performance decrement for the groups. Time of mental rehearsal during the resc did not affect the two performance varrables. $-rest comparisons of the control group (N = 1 2 ) with the controllable imagcry and autonomous imagery groups, respectively, showed that only the former was s ~ g n ~ f ~ c a n t l y lower on reminiscence (c = 2.67, p < .02 for 27 df) and performance decrement ( t = 2.08, f i < .O5 for 27 df). Results confirm that visual imagery control is an essential ingredient in the effecrive mental rehearsal of a motor skill. Greater inhibition built u p during mental rehearsal is a plausible explanation of depressed reminiscence for Ss with control over imagery. Motivational factors may affect performance decrement; however, more research is required to clarify this phenomenon.

The facilitating effects of mental rehearsal in the acquisition of rotary pursuit tracking

Two experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that mental rehearsal facilitates learning of rotary pursuit tracking. In Experiment 1, improvement in rotary pursuit tracking was compared for a physical practice group, a mental rehearsal group, and a no-practice control group. After 10 days of practice, the physical practice and mental rehearsal groups were equally proficient and both groups were superior to the no-practice control group. In Experiment 2, the rate of learning was faster for a group which mentally rehearsed during rest periods following physical practice than a group which performed a controlled task during the rest periods. The group engaging in combined mental and physical practice reached asymptote 2 days earlier than did the physical-practice-only group.