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Recent research has focused on the relation of mental rehearsal, specifically visualization, to enhanced performance. Some have suggested that mental practice enhances performance on cognitive tasks more than on motoric ones. The present study describes two waves of survey data from elite track and field athletes before the 1988 US Olympic trials (n = 633) and those same athletes after the Olympic Games in Seoul (n = 450). The focus was on several measures of mental practice and visualization, including internal and external perspectives and association with sociodemographic data, prior collegiate experience, coaching influences, and Olympic team selection. Analyses suggest that mental practice may be associated with more successful track and field performance for selected groups of athletes.
STEVEN UNGERLEIDER (Tue,) studied this question.