Skill development & performance

1. Skill development & performance IB Learning Objective: Evaluate techniques used for skill development in sport (Mental imagery & Self talk)

2. contents • Importance of psychological aspect of sport • Mental imagery • Self-talk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPY8s292Q-U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNRQYT8IQDQ&feature=related

3. Mini presentations • The task: produce a PowerPoint with images only and present to the test of the class on the slides you have been assigned (at least 8 images). • Group 1: importance of the psychological aspect of sport, benefits of mental imagery and its definition and effects and Marlow et al. (1998) research study on mental imagery(slides 4-8) • Group 2: evaluation of research on mental imagery (slides 9-11) • Group 3: Mental imagery and the brain & mirror neurones & the definition of self talk(slides 12-15) • Group 4: Effects of self-talk, research on self-talk & evaluation of research on self-talk (slides 16-20)

4. Importance of psychological aspect of sport • Weinberg and Gold (2006) • Coaches say 50 % of sport is mental- unlock the mind as a road to success. • Some sports up to 90% (golf ,figure skating)

5. Importance of psychological aspect of sport • Comparative analysis of successful and less successful athletes was carried out by Scully and Hume (1995) and they found that mental strength is the most important determinant of success. • More successful = more confident; able to regulate arousal; better concentration and focus; unforced ability to maintain control; hold positive thoughts and images; more determined and committed. • Conclusion = successful athletes achieve optimum through cognition –goal setting, imagery, arousal control, mental preparation routines.

6. Mental imagery – its benefits • Jonny Wilkinson & Doris • Common strategies to improve performance • Two styles of mental imagery: Internal imagery – athlete imagines performing the activity External imagery – athlete imagines from the perspective of an observer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul1cuSMUc58 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezSXeagn0Mg

7. Mental imagery – definition and effects • Visual & motor imagery (Moran, 2009)- motor imagery – imagining the body actually moving, not just seeing it happen (visual imagery). • Types of imagery can also be categorized based on their function – training to learn simple or complex skills, to practice or improve new skills, or to reduce anxiety. • Jones and Stuth (1997) imagining carrying out activities improves performance, manages arousal and assists in rehabilitation after injury. • The focus is on mental imagery and performance enhancement in sport psychology. • One of the most common techniques used by coaches for free throw shooting in basketball, in offensive plays in American football, serving aces in tennis, bowling and catching in cricket and complex routines in gymnastics.

8. RESEARCH STUDY ON MENTAL IMAGERY: Pre performance rituals with mental imagery in water polo (Marlow et al., 1998) Aim: to examine the effects of mental imagery on performance Procedure: three experienced players at taking penalties who did not use imagery selected. • Interviews and given performance rituals by a psychologist – relaxation breathing, concentration focus and internal and external imagery – how to carry out the perfect shot. • They practiced the mental imagery alone – half an hour a week. • They established a baseline performance of penalties taken by the players on a scale of 1 to 10 and then they had them rate their penalties after the intervention Findings: The three players improved significantly by 21%, 25% and 28% Conclusion: Mental imagery leads to improvements in performance

9. Evaluation of research on mental imagery • Small samples make it difficult to generalize beyond narrow target population • Poorly defined and difficult to measure the variables • Difficult to control variables – hard to control what participants think about during research • Moran (2009) points out that many researchers ask participants not to think of something – which is very difficult to do – e.g. Asking long jumpers to imagine their jump from an internal perspective • Mental imagery is often accompanied by self talk – so which is having an effect? • Its difficult to establish causal relations in research in this field

10. Evaluation of research on mental imagery • There is so much interest in mental imagery that a journal has been created: The Journal of Imagery Research in Sport and Physical Activity. • There is no one theory that can clearly explain how mental imagery works – but it is clear that mental imagery is related to sport performance outcomes. • The Sports Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ) developed by Hall et al. (2005) has been successful in measuring mental imagery but there is no one theory that can explain why mental imagery is effective in sport. • Callow & Hardy (2001) suggested that it is not the content of the image that is important, but what images mean to the athlete. • Short et al. (2004) found that different athletes used the same image for different things.

11. Evaluation of research on mental imagery • Its hard to isolate the mental imagery factor from other variables that effect performance. • Bandura (1994) proposed that athletes with a strong sense of self efficacy will imagine scenarios of success – but low efficacy athletes will construct failure scenarios. • Hall (1985) argues that individual differences make it difficult to empirically support the role of imagery. • There is a lot of contradictory research in this field without a clear explanation of how exactly mental imagery affects performance.

12. Mental imagery and the brain • Decerty and Ingvar (1990) propose that mental imagery creates a kind of program for motor control that the brain can carry out when the appropriate situation arises. • They found that the frontal cortex is active when a person imagines carrying out physical activity • So the more important timing and planning are in the performance of a skill, the more likely it is that having previously imagined performing the skill will help

13. Mental imagery and mirror neurones • Moran (2009) proposes that the brain is activated when watching someone else performing the activity. • High level athletes are better at predicting the outcome of another athlete’s bodily actions than other experienced observers such as coaches and journalists. • This may be because of the activation of mirror neurones – Wright and Jackson (2007) studied tennis players in fMRI machine and asked them to predict the outcomes and directions of serves. • Mirror neurones are networks of neurones activated in the brain when a person observes or thinks about an activity. Observing/ thinking about sport may allow a person to change their brain to improve future performance.

14. Self-talk - definitions • Another method to improve performance is self-talk • Hardy (2006) defines self-talk as verbalizations or statements addressed to the self which serve at least two functions: instructional and motivational • Distinction between positive and negative self-talk • Positive self-talk – facilitates performance • Negative self-talk – critical and pessimistic reduced performance

15. Self-talk - definitions • Instructional self-talk occurs when athletes give them self instructions or reminders on how to complete a task • E.g. Tennis player – ‘get your feet planted’ • Motivational self-talks statements encourage athletes e.g. ‘you can do it’ • Another distinction – overt and covert self-self talk • Overt self-talk visible in elite athletes – but we can not easily study the covert self-talk in peoples minds.

16. Effects of self-talk • Positive self-talk is a powerful motivational tool • Negative self-talk – reduce efficacy and contribute to ‘choking’ • But are these relations causal? • Does self-talk help athletes or are successful athletes more likely to engage in and respond to self-talk?

17. Research on self-talk • The Self-talk and Gestures Rating Scale (STAGS) is used to measure the use of overt self-talk when researchers directly observe the sportsperson • It is not possible for the observer to record the internal thoughts of a player • Van Raalte et al. (1994) found that tennis players with more negative self-talk performed worse, but there was no difference in performance related to positive self-talk • Suggests that positive self-talk is more likely to be made silently than negative self-talk • Verbalized negative self-talk is observable but internalized negative self-talk cannot be observed

18. RESEARCH STUDY ON SELF-TALK: experimental self-talk in tennis (Hatzgeogiadis et al., 2009) Aim: test the effectiveness of self-talk in tennis Procedure: 72 Greek tennis players divided into two groups • Experimental group given training to introduce them to self-talk – given cues like ‘shoulder’ and ‘go’ (IV1) • To prevent Hawthorne effect – control group also given training but on forehand techniques and not self-talk (IV2) • The tennis players were given ‘forehand shot task’, and anxiety and self-confidence also measured as the DVs • They rated how often they used self-talk Findings & conclusions: Self-talk had a positive effect on performance and was associated with increased self-confidence, suggesting that self-efficacy is mechanism by which self-talk improves performance

19. MORE RESEARCH STUDIES ON SELF-TALK… • Martin et al. (1995) studied long distance runners who use positive self-talk to improve their ‘running economy’ – their ability to consume less oxygen when running • Landin & Hebert (1999) 90% of female tennis players given self-talk strategies improved their volleying skills • Van Raalte et al. (1994) examined self-talk on the performance of 24 junior tennis players during tournament matches. It was found that negative self-talk was associated with losing, and players who believed in the usefulness of self-talk won more points than those who didn’t. It seems like its belief in self-talk which is very important.

20. Evaluation of the research on self-talk • Bandura (1994) states that athletes with high self-efficacy imagine scenarios of success and low efficacy produce failure scenes - so imagery and self-talk are connected to self-efficacy • Difficult also to research the topic empirically as people actually imagine things differently. • Self-report scales like make it difficult to effectively measure and define the variables. • Most often research relates to novel scenarios so ecological validity questioned. • Maybe some kind of ‘placebo effect’ plays a role in the findings – self-talk improves performance because players believe that it will improve performance