Mental practice: neuroscientific support for a new approach

Claire Calmels (1) , Paul Holmes (2)

1 SEP (EA7370) - French Institute of Sport (INSEP), Laboratory Sport, Expertise and Performance (EA7370)
2 Institute for Performance Research

Mental practice techniques continue to be popular for performers in sport, exercise, dance and clinical settings. We propose that the best elements of imagery research should be retained and integrated into a new working model of observation for mental practice. We will highlight some of our fundamental concerns with imagery as a sport psychology intervention and suggest that observation-based techniques may be better positioned to meet the goals that imagery advocates. We will introduce neuroscientific research to provide an evidence base to support the development of our observation model.

Mots clés: Mental practice; Neurosciences

Domaines: Sport; Sciences cognitives du sport; Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]

Claire Calmels, Paul Holmes. Mental practice: neuroscientific support for a new approach. Performance Psychology, Elsevier, pp.231-244, 2011, 978-0-443-06734-1. ⟨10.1016/B978-0-443-06734-1.00016-X⟩. ⟨hal-01576038⟩