Mental Practice: A Review and Discussion Part I

Abstract Investigations into the process of mentally practicing a perceptual motor skill began about 30 years ago. However, there has been a marked increase in the amount of interest in this area of research in the last 10 years. This is the first of two articles, which together aim to present a critical review of work so far completed, possible explanations of the phenomenon, and an indication of the directions that future research might take. In this article the evidence for improvement under conditions of mental practice is reviewed.