In the last 150 years, researchers have studied a method called ideomotor training, especially in cognitive and sports psychology. Ideomotor training is all about using mental images to improve how we perform physical actions. In sports, athletes use this technique to make their movements perfect. They do this by imagining themselves doing the movements in their mind, without actually moving their bodies. This mental practice is also called motor imagery training or mental practice.
Scientists have different ideas about how ideomotor training works (Hardwick et al., 2017). Some think it affects the muscles and nerves directly, while others believe it works through codes or programs in our brain. Studies have shown that when we imagine a movement, our brain uses the same parts as when we actually do the movement (Hardwick et al., 2017).
The idea is that when we imagine and practice movements in our minds, we create strong mental connections that help us perform better in real life (Knuf et al., 2001; Schack et al., 2014). Recently, researchers have found that ideomotor training also helps to make the memories of these movements stronger in our brains (Frank & Schack, 2017). This suggests that this kind of mental practice can lead to improvements in actual performance. Athletes can use ideomotor training as a helpful tool for learning and mastering movement tasks (Schack & Hackfort, 2007; Wakefield & Smith, 2012)
Frank, C., & Schack, T. (2017). The representation of (inter) action, states of action, and learning: Three perspectives on learning by way of imagery and execution. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 678. Available from https://doi.org/10.3389/ fpsyg.2017.00678.
Hardwick, R.M., Caspers, S., Eickhoff, S.B., Swinnen, S.P. (preprint) Neural correlates of motor imagery, action observation, and movement execution: A comparison across quantitative meta-analyses. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/ 10.1101/198432.
Knuf, L., Aschersleben, G., & Prinz, W. (2001). An analysis of ideomotor action. Journal of Experimental Psychology – General, 130, 779 798. Available from https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0096-3445.130.4.779.
Schack, T., Essig, K., Frank, C., & Koester, D. (2014). Mental representation and motor imagery training. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(328), 1 10. Available from https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00328.
Schack, T., & Hackfort, D. (2007). Action-theory approach to applied sport psychology. In G. Tenenbaum, & R. C. Eklund (Eds.), Handbook of sports psychology (3rd ed., pp. 332 351). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Wakefield, C., & Smith, D. (2012). Perfecting practice: Applying the PETTLEP model of motor imagery. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 3, 1 11. Available from https:// doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2011.639853.
