Fujita, A. (1973, June). An experimental study on the theoretical basis of mental training. In the Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress of the International Society of Sports Psychology: Volume Abstracts. Madrid, Spain: Instituto Nacional de Educacion Fisica Y Deportes.

Jacobson first demonstrated that muscle action potentials change during the recall of a specific action. In this presentation it was demonstrated that Ss who were highly trained in a skill showed the same pattern of muscle activation in imagery as in the overt activity. When activities that had not been trained were imagined activation was demonstrated but the patterning was inconsistent.

This investigation demonstrated that individuals have consistent recall of movement patterns which have been learned and practiced to a high degree and that unlearned activities are based on inconsistent movement patterns.

Implication. The facilitation of neural patterns that replicate movements can only occur in activities which are highly learned. Thus, it is likely that mental imagery will increase in its effectiveness the higher the performance capability of the individual for the task being imagined. However, the organizational aspect of mental imagery should influence performance in all levels of performer.

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