After reading through the chapters and viewing the lectures, it is apparent that mental imagery can be instrumental in the optimal performance of both athletes and non-athletes. Mental imagery can be used to assist athletes with improving their focus, self-esteem, ability to self-regulate their emotions, and navigating any difficulties they come across (Lavooy, 2023). When conducting my own independent research on the topic, I came across a research article that discusses mental imagery capabilities in young athletes and non-athletes. The study consisted of 96 participants, half being athletes and the other half being non-athletes ranging in age from 8 to 13 years old. The article discusses how mental imagery is the process by which individuals reconstruct experiences in their minds from memory and are able to visualize actions without input from their surroundings (Di Corrado et al., 2020). The study aimed to explore mental imagery in young athletes since there is little research available on the topic. However, research shows that after the age of seven, children are able to develop the skills needed for mental imagery, including kinesthetic processes (Di Corrado et al., 2020). In the study, all participants completed the Mental Imagery Test (MIT), which requires the participants to visualize tasks and then perform bodily processes that accompany each task (Di Corrado et al., 2020). Once reviewing the participants’ performance, they found little difference in mental imagery performance between genders but did find differences in performance between athletes and non-athletes when it came to the “clock” task of the MIT, which required participants to imagine a 10:10 on a clock, then visualize the clock mirrored and are asked to tell the time the mirrored clock would show after 10 minutes (Di Corrado et al., 2020). The non-athletes exhibited better performance than athletes on that particular task of the MIT, while athletes performed better, or the same in the case of the cube task, than non-athletes on all other items featured on the assessment (Di Corrado et al., 2020). The athletes had higher overall mean scores on the MIT than non-athletes (Di Corrado et al., 2020). In conclusion, the article shows that mental imagery plays a crucial role in performance for athletes, and they utilize this skill more than their non-athlete counterparts. However, mental imagery can be incredibly useful to all individuals and is a useful skill to implement when visualizing your task is essential.

References

Di Corrado, D., Guarnera, M., Guerrera, C. S., Maldonato, N. M., Di Nuovo, S., Castellano, S., & Coco, M. (2020). Mental imagery skills in competitive young athletes and non-athletes. Frontiers in psychology. 11, 633.

Lavooy, M. (2023). Sport Psychology [Video]. https://mediacdn.bisk.com/AssetService/preview/?mawID=9dfccbdb-88b5-4fd6-8f4a-128aa883368a&d=0

Links to an external site.