Imagery training in school-based physical education improves the performance and the mental representation of a complex action in comprehensive school students

Objectives: Despite evidence that mental practice can promote motor learning and despite the recommendations on the use of imagery training in physical education (PE) from sport education and sport psychology, mental practice has rarely been used for skill acquisition in school-based PE. The purpose of the present study was therefore to develop a 5-week imagery training program for 16- to 19-year old comprehensive school students and to examine its impact on their performance and their mental representation of the pullover on the horizontal bar in gymnastics. Methods: During the intervention, the students practiced the pullover to front support in small groups with flash cards, focusing on different key aspects of the action per week. In addition to practicing the pullover to front support on the horizontal bar, students in the imagery training group repeatedly imagined the pullover. The control group did not imagine the pullover during practice phases. We measured motor performance and mental representations of the pullover prior to and after the intervention. Results: Consistent with our hypotheses, practicing the pullover led to improvements in motor performance and cognitive representation for both groups, with the imagery training group performing more pullovers to front support, achieving higher movement quality and holding more functional mental representations in their motor memory after the intervention. Conclusions: Our findings extend early work in that we show that teachers can effectively integrate imagery training of a complex motor action into a regular PE class and that the combination of mental and physical practice is more beneficial than physical practice alone such as during a regular PE class without imagery training. If tailored to the heterogenous requirements of a school-based PE setting, imagery training can be a powerful means for practice in PE classes. Using imagery training during breaks in between executions led to a higher amount of practice, and promoted motor skill acquisition.