Imagery quality estimated by autonomic response is correlated to sporting performance enhancement

It is now well established that mental imagery practice improves motor skil ls, but performance efficiency depends on many factors: the main one being individual differences. The aim of this study is to evaluate performance im provement with imagery quality estimated during ANS recording. Volleyball t raining ("receiving serve") afforded us the experimental paradigm. Subjects were required to pass an opponent's serve to a given team mate. The receiv er's performance was evaluated from the accuracy of his pass to the targete d team mate. From these first test results, subjects were divided into two equivalent groups: imagers and controls. After mental practice the two grou ps were submitted to a posttest similar to the first one. During the pretes t, posttest actual practice as well as the last session of corresponding me ntal rehearsal, six autonomic parameters were continuously recorded. Furthe rmore, and for the first time, a grade obtained from four different aspects of this response permits qualitative evaluation of each subject's mental i magery. This estimation, based on the well-established link between perform ance and autonomic response, is validated by the fact that good correlation was obtained between this grade and the performance improvement of each of the "imager" group subjects. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.