Mental Imagery: Can a Figment of Imagination Help Performance? :: Biology Essays Research Papers

amiable Imagery Can a Figment of Imagination Help doing?It all comes from the mind. Ive seen the most incredible success stories...because a person had a dream and it was so powerful no one could touch it. Hed chance it, believe it, think about it all day and night. That would inspire him to do things necessary to get the results he wanted (2). -Arnold Schwarzenegger For the past few weeks, the human race has been glued to their television screens, mesmerized by the breathtaking accomplishments of the 2002 Olympic athletes. As an avid watcher of ice glide events, I couldnt champion but wonder what athletes like the bronze medal winner Micelle Kwan and the gold medallist Sarah Hughes were thinking prior to their final skating mental processs. Before the final skating event, both skaters physically practiced their mathematical processs. I noticed that in add-on to physically preparing themselves by repeatedly running through their performances, Sarah and Michelle closed their look and listened to music before they skated. Did rational vision help either of the athletes urinate and successfully execute their presentations? In other words, what are the effects of mental resource on the performance of athletes such as Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes? Does it make a difference on performance if mental mental imagery of the desired impression is absent or present?What is mental imagery? In The effectuate of Mental Imagery on Athletic Performance, Anne Plessinger describes mental imagery as the imagining of the execution of an action without actually performing the action. Plessinger also explains that mental imagery not only includes visual senses, but also auditory, olfactory and kinaesthetic senses (4). Studies have demonstrated that mental imagery prior to athletic performance leads to better results than the execution of the action alone. Plessinger describes an experiment that consisted of a control multitude and an imagery group who were told t o complete ad hoc golf skills. It was concluded that the imagery group performed better because they had higher goals and expectations of themselves (4). Perhaps the mental preparation helped the imagery groups brains acquire the right skills needed. Also, other studies have shown specific physiological differences (breathing, heart rate...etc.) with the addition of mental imagery before performance (1).Does this mean that mental imagery is linked to motor performance? Would athletes fulfill the same or different results if they mentally prepare themselves or not? To answer these questions, I looked at the neurological aspect of mental imagery and motor preparation.