Kinesthetic and Visual Image in Modeling Closed Motor Skills: The Example of the Tennis Serve

It was assumed that kinesthetic modeling has more beneficial effects on learning the tennis serve than visual modeling because the spatial anchor points used to reach targets within the vicinity of the body are mainly defined with respect to the body. Also, we predicted that the efficiency of modeling is also affected by the way the representations are activated mentally. Thirty two participants were assigned to kinesthetic or visual modeling with or without mental practice. Analyses showed the primacy of kinesthetic representation over visual representation in terms of speed scores and form performances but only if the learner had the opportunity to rehearse the model mentally. The results support the contention that the motor system can program closed skills more easily when one can represent efficiently the kinesthetic image of its later execution.