The Effects of Mental Imagery Training on a Baseball Throwing Task

This study was designed to determine if long term training of mental imagery skills is more beneficial to an athlete than immediate imagery rehearsal practiced only prior to an event. Subjects were thirty male high school baseball athletes who were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (1) long term imagery training and practice; (2) immediate imagery practice only; and (3) control. An accuracy relay-throwing test was performed with pre-test, mid-test, and post-test performance trials. Results of the study revealed no statistically significant differences over the three test periods for any of the treatment conditions. Thus, long term imagery combined with immediate imagery practice, immediate imagery practice and control groups performed equally well on the baseball throwing task