Bilateral Transfer as a Function of Mental Imagery & Physical Rehearsal

This study was conducted to determine if mental imagery and physical rehearsal induced bilateral transfer effects relative to rotory pursuit tracking. Further, possible combination effects of experimental treatments with posttest acquisition were investigated. The subjects, 60 right-handed male undergraduates, were randomly divided into three groups. The groups were then randomly assigned to one of three treatments: 1) mental imagery, 2) physical rehearsal, and 3) control. Each subject, respective to assigned treatment, had one practice condition. Conditions consisted of 25 alternating 30-second practice trials with twenty-five 30-second rest intervals. Following a 60-second interpolated intermission, subjects were administered a posttest which consisted of three 30-second trials with 30-second rest intervals. Analysis of variance and Scheffe’ technique were used to determine if significant differences existed between groups on posttest performance. It was determined, within the limits of this study, that mental imagery and physical rehearsal significantly facilitated bilateral transfer. The combined effects of treatments with posttest tracking acquisition established a direction of significance ranking the mental imagery group superior to the physical rehearsal group and the physical rehearsal group superior to the control group