imagery Jack Nicholas is a retired American professional golfer he is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time winning a record 18 career major championships while producing 19 second place and nine third place finishes over a span of 25 years when asked about his use of imagery he stated I never hit a shot not even in practice without having a very sharp in Focus picture of it in my head it's like a color movie first I see the ball where I want it to finish then the scene quickly changes and I see the ball going there then there is this sort of Fade Out and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the images into reality for many years athletes have been mentally practicing their motor skills mental preparation for competition has several names equivalent terms include visualization mental rehearsal symbolic rehearsal covert practice imagery and mental practice all of these terms involve creating or recreating an experience in the mind through imagery we can recreate positive experiences or picture new events to prepare ourselves mentally for performances imagery is a form of simulation imagery often involves the use of all senses to create an experience of seeing visual feeling kinesthetic hearing auditory touching or tactile or smell which is olofactory senses imagery also involves the moods and emotions of the individual involved learning to attach various emotional states or moods to your imagined experience can help to recreate emotions such as anxiety anger Joy or pain and also moods such as confidence or concentration imagery can help us to control our emotional states the primary uses of imagery to acquire and practice skills imagery can enhance a variety of skills to improve performance and can facilitate the learning of new techniques and strategies you can practice skills to fine-tune them or you can pinpoint weaknesses and visualize correcting them to cope with pain and adversity imagery is useful to help cope with pain or injury it can speed up recovery of the injured area and prevent skills from deteriorating during rehabilitation imagery can be used to solve problems imagery can be used to practice and learn new strategies or review alternative strategies for either a team or an individual this helps with problem solving imagery helps us to discover and solve problems in our performances to improve concentration some new evidence has indicated that the use of imagery might assist with increasing the ability to concentrate to build confidence when we practice skills in our mind especially skills that are difficult for us we can increase our confidence to control emotional responses imagery can be used to create higher levels of arousal or to reduce anxiety if an athlete gets too uptight several factors appear to determine the extent to which imagery can improve performance things such as the nature of the task s involving mostly cognitive components such as decision making and perception show the greatest positive benefit from an imagery rehearsal the skill of the level of the performer experimental evidence shows that imagery significantly helps performance for both novice and experienced athletes although the effects are somewhat stronger for experienced players experienced athletes tend to use imagery more frequently as well Imaging ability the most powerful Factor influencing the effectiveness of imagery is a person's ability to form and control Vivid images another factor is the individual's ability to combine imagery along with physical practice imagery needs to be added to one's normal physical practices to be effective imagery may give an individual an edge in improving performance there is evidence that using imagery is effective and it works clinical studies show enhanced performance and learning enhance thoughts and emotions and the most successful athletes are already incorporating imagery into their training strategies so why does imagery work like it does individuals can generate information from memory that is essentially the same as an actual experience consequently Imaging events can have an effect on our nervous system similarly to a real or actual experience remember in Psychology techniques may work in different ways for different people no one Theory can really explain all of the different findings surrounding imagery research and practice but each Theory discussed sheds light on mechanisms driving imagery and why it can enhance performance this psychoneuromuscular theory proposed the ideal motor principle of imagery according to this principle imagery facilitates the learning of motor skills because of the nature of the neuromuscular activity patterns activated during Imaging imagery results in subliminal neuromuscular patterns that are identical to the patterns used during the actual movement when someone imagines starting a movement various areas of the brain become active including the pre-motor cortex as the action is initiated and the cerebellum during the control of the movement sequences that require a specific order many areas of the brain that are active during visual perception are also used during visual imagery which indicates that imagery shares some of the brain processes and Pathways with actual vision imagery can also have a physiological response such as increases in heart rate stroke volume and cardiac output during times of stress the subliminal learning theory imagery can help individuals understand their movements imagery may serve as a coding system to help people to acquire and understand movement patterns an individual creates a blueprint within the central nervous system to successfully complete movements the symbolic learning theory Works due to the fact that Imaging literally plans actions in advance this sets the stage for performance before it even starts this could also help young athletes learn new skills attention and arousal set theory attention and arousal set theory combines the cognitive aspects of the symbolic learning theory with the physiological aspects of the psychoneuromuscular theory according to this Theory imagery serves to improve performance in two ways physiologically imagery helps to adjust arousal level for Optimal Performance from a psychological perspective imagery may help the athlete to adjust to their arousal level for Optimal Performance this can also help the athlete to selectively attend to the task at hand from a cognitive perspective imagery may help the athlete to selectively attend to the most important task from the multiple tasks that they may choose from this can reduce the tendency to be distracted by irrelevant stimuli if the athlete is attending to task relevant images they are less likely to be distracted by a relevant stimuli psychological skill hypothesis is a hypothesis that suggests that imagery Works through the development and refining of psychological skills for example by improving concentration reducing anxiety and enhancing confidence imagery develops and refines these mental skills another theory is that bioinformational theory this protocol is described by conceiving the images in the brain as a conceptual Network controlling specifics somato visceral patterns and constituting a prototype for overt behavioral expression images are made of stimuli and response propositions there's also the triple code model imagery comprises of the image somatic response and image meaning the image has to mean something to the individual imagery highlights the understanding of three effects that are essential parts of Imaging referred to as ism the first part of the image or I is the image itself the second part is the somatic response or s this is the act of the imagination resulting in psychophysiological changes in the body the third aspect of imagery is meaning or M of the image every image imparts a definitive significance to the individual Imager imagery skill is acquired through practice some participants are naturally good at it while others have to work harder at it there are two key ways to good images vividness and controllability vividness good imagers use all of their senses to make their images as Vivid and as detailed as possible we want to recreate the situation as closely as possible to the actual experience in your mind the second is controllability another key to successful imagery is learning to manipulate your images so that they do what you want them to many athletes have difficulty controlling their images and often find themselves repeating the mistakes that they have visualized there are different types of imagery specifically internal imagery versus external imagery internal imagery we can imagine the execution of a skill from your own vantage point you see what you would see if you had actually executed that particular skill this type of imagery emphasizes the feel of the movement the other type is external imagery this is where we view ourself as if you are watching yourself on video you view yourself from the perspective of an outside Observer there is very little emphasis on the kinesthetic movement rather there is a much more global perspective so how do we determine which approach we should use this is individual whatever allows you the most control and allows the best images most athletes will switch back and forth between internal and external imagery dependent upon their needs and the specific situation