THE EFFECT OF SYSTEMATIC VARIATION OF MENTAL PRACTICE
ON NOVICE SKILL PERFORMANCE
RAFER S. LUTZ, DANIEL M. LANDERS, AND DARWYN E.
LINDER
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
The basic purpose of this study was to examine what effect systematic manipulation
of different amounts and types of mental practice (MP) would have on immediate
and follow-up performance. One hundred and twenty male and female
novice golfers were tested. All subjects completed a total of nine
warm-up putts, 36 putts on the first day of testing (immediate test) and
18 putts on the second day of testing (follow-up test). Depending
upon group membership, subjects executed zero (control), one (1 MP) or
two (2 MP) complete MP trials before each of the test putts following either
a form-focused or an outcome-focused script. The results of ANOVA
demonstrated a significant gender effect and a marginal gender by treatment
interaction. Separate analyses by gender further revealed that both
males and females performed better in the outcome condition than the form
condition. The number of MP trials performed had no impact upon performance
for males, but females performed better in the 2 MP condition compared
to the 1 MP condition. There were no significant effects for females
at follow-up, but males performed marginally better in the outcome condition
compared to the control condition. If mental practice facilitates
attention or arousal set, the data appear consistent with theorized attentional
patterns necessary for effective performance of an aiming task, though
alternative explanations must also be considered. The differential
findings for MP trials by gender may be attributed to skill level and/or
experience with cognitive-behavioral interventions in sport such as mental
practice.
Abstract published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology,
20 (June 1998 Supplement), S17.