Mental Practice of Action

Mental practice of action is the rehearsal of visio-motor imagery with the purpose of improving the effectors involved in that imagery. Visio-motor imagery simply requires the use of one’s imagination to simulate an action.

The basis for the use of mental practice of action comes from an array of psychological research that includes chronometric comparisons of actual and imagined action (Decety & Michel, 1989; Decety, Jeannerod, & Prablanc, 1989; Papaxanthis, Gentili, & Pozzo 2002). In this paradigm, similarities between the duration times of actual and imagined movement are found. Research also demonstrates that there are cases when imagined movement durations are dissimilar when the task is particularly novel such as spring board dives (Reed, 2002).

The direct relationship between mental imagery and actual performance of a motor task remains unclear, however, there is support that mental practice has benefits similar to those of actual practice. Mental practice has been used to rehabilitate motor deficits in a variety of patients. Mental practice of action has facilitated improvements in balance for individuals with multiple sclerosis (Fell, 2000)and balance in elderly women (Fansler, Poff, & Shepard, 1985). Mental practice has also been used in combination with actual practice to rehabilitate a motor deficit in a patient with sub-acute stroke (Page et al., 2001).