Imagery In Sports

Sports—which involve emotion, competition, cooperation, achievement, and play—provide a rich area for psychological study. People involved in sports attempt to master very difficult skills, often subjecting themselves to intense physical stress as well as social pressure. research has expanded into numerous areas such as imagery training, hypnosis, relaxation training, motivation, socialization, conflict and competition, counseling, and coaching. Specific sports and recreational specialties studied include baseball, basketball, soccer,

“Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.” “Imagery is associated with mental pictures. However… imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture.”

Mental Imagery plays a role in our lives, it helps us plan for the future and make decisions. Although there are some people who never experience mental imagery. There are many

Picturing myself winning and losing that one play multiple ways and then on to the next play, so when it come time to play all the time I put toward imagery helps me perform and to remain relaxed and focused while everything is going because I'm aware of how I'm going to beat my opponent giving the specific key with a specific move because imagery gives me a feel for how much space and time will I have so when it come time to do it I can be ready and not anxious or unsure. 13

Research by Duda (2009) showed that football players who were taught imagery techniques learned new football techniques and performed athletically better than the control group with no intervention. Though the available studies on imagery may be limited, the results seem to indicate that there are benefits to using the intervention. Imagery does not take a lot of effort (compared to learning something like meditation) and can be applied anywhere, anytime. The ease of use mixed with the positive research results suggest that imagery is a practical intervention for athletes.

The second concept of sport psychology displayed during the soccer game was the use of arousal regulation strategies. Arousal regulation strategies are methods that either increase or decrease arousal levels of a person (Weinberg & Gould, 2011). It is crucial for athletes to be aware of their psychological states so they can

In her article, Michelle Voss explains that professional athletes have better-developed imaginations. Research showed that the excitable part of the mind in elite basketball players while watching their competitors was the same area that controlled their shooting hand. Voss explains that the basketball players subconsciously pictured themselves doing their opponents’ moves in order to produce an accurate prediction of the outcome. In doing this, researchers concluded that the players were able to predict free-throw outcome within 30 percent accuracy while expert viewers were only able to make predictions within 10 percent accuracy (par 5).

Baseball as you may know, is a mental game. The famous New York Yankee catcher once said, “Baseball is 90 per cent mental. The other half is physical”. The use of sport psychology is vital in a game like baseball which I have an very deep background in playing and coaching. Through learning about sports psychology, it is easy to relate past experiences to different things that have been learned in class. There have been many situations that I can relate to psychology of sport, after playing in such a mental game.

Today in sports athletes endure many mental and physical obstacles from there competitive environment. Many of today's best athletes work with sports psychologists to help them handle the pressures found in this competitive atmosphere. One question that athletes ask is, why cant they play in big games as well as they anticipate themselves doing? Sports psychologists feel that spending all their time on body conditioning and athletic skills will not ensure that athletes reach their peak performance.

Mental practice (MP) is the act of safely visualizing and repeating movements without any outward physical movement, and requires mental imagery or internal guidelines of movements.1-6 In fact, MP can be performed through incorporating a variety of senses, where visual is the most commonly used, as well as from different perspectives, where first person, or kinesthetic, is the most commonly used requiring the individual to visualize themselves doing an action.4,6,7 Historically, it was shown that visualizing a task could result in physical success, and thus began the study of MP in the context of sports psychology to improve athletic performance and acquisition of new skills.5,6 Eventually imaging studies began showing how MP activated brain areas similar to those activated during physical action when engaging in motor learning.5,7 This similarity in

competitive advantage. Hence, it is essential to study mental toughness and other psychological characteristics of the athletes.

It has been identified that through sports psychology one can improve their physical ability and performance. Sports psychology is the study of how the mind, mental states and behaviour effect sporting performance. There are several sport psychology techniques, which have helped me become a better volleyball player. These techniques include planning for performance, controlling arousal levels, mental rehearsal and concentration.

Even though motor imagery (MI) executes no direct physical action when practicing it, studies show that motor imagery shares some autonomic alterations just like physical performance (Malouin et al 2010). According to a review of the studies concerning autonomic alterations prompted by MI, Dickestein, and Deutsch (2007) agreed that heart rate does indeed rise when intensity of an imagined cycling exercise goes up. Furthermore, cardio respiratory responses were also found to be very similar when walking and when performing motor imagined walking (p 949). It was also noted that both the physical motor execution of a task resembles the exact duration it takes to mentally perform the same task by motor imagery. It is as though motor imagery and physical motor performance are controlled by the same different motor laws, for example, biomechanical limitations, and Fitt's law.

The question posed needs you look at the two different disciplines these the cognitive psychologist perceptive, and the other be biological psychologist. Both disciplines study the brain. It soon becomes apparent that both disciplines cross, join and merge at some point. Both use brain imagining techniques to study the brain and both research into what section of the brain is responsible for actions and behaviours. This essay is based on the loose discussion of what these techniques can tell researchers about the brain and memory. How brain imagery techniques are used to provide evidence on what area and part of that area of the brain are involved in the memory process. From both cognitive and biological perceptive.

Visualization is a common term used to describe guided imagery or the process of forming images in our mind like pictures or moves, images recreating our best performances, and the way it feels to perform just the way we want it to. These images can be visual, kinesthetic- how our body feels, tactile-how it feels to the touch, auditory-how it sounds, even olfactory-what we smell. Using mind power we can call upon these images over and over, enhancing skill through repetition rehearsal. The mind and body can become more prepared to actually perform the skill, and can improve both physical and mental reactions in certain situations. The developing athletes, who make the fastest progress and who ultimately become their best, make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily, as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances. Mental imagery often starts out simply, as you think though your goals, your moves, and your desired competitive performances.