Effect of different speeds of motor mental imagery on performance

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of slow and real motor mental imagery speeds on performance. Thirty participants were assigned to one of the following groups: 1) low speed imagery, 2) real speed imagery and control group without imagery. After the pre-test, 3 sessions of imagery training including 30 trails of football dribbling were performed by participants. After the third session of imagery, participants performed a retention test. Results showed that both low speed and real speed imagery decreased the time of performance and there was no significant difference between groups in performance error. Based on the findings of the present study, the assimilation effect was not proved in our study. It seems that the decrease of imagery speed in beginners lead to more attention on cognitive elements of movement and resulted in better performance.