The science behind Visualization

24 Jan 2024 - Sport

In mental training, an important role is played by the so-called Carpenter effect, according to which the intensive mental representation of a movement causes central excitation of the motor area of the cortex and with it micro-contractions of the muscles involved. Therefore, it is not surprising that the representation of movement induces an intensification of gas exchange, an acceleration of respiration and heart rate, an increase in blood pressure, a greater sensitivity of peripheral vision and an increase in the excitability of nerves. peripherals. (see Kohl, Krueger 1972, 125-126; Pietka 1976, 24; Beck 1977, 212).

The following graph shows the changes in respiratory and heart rate during motor, observational and mental training according to Martin’s studies (1965, 64).

The principle on which ideomotor training is based is that the mind does not do difference between a truly lived experience and a very vividly imagined one. Ideomotor training combined with practice, therefore, with its imagined mental repetitions, is a useful experience that the practice itself improves the learning and improvement of an athletic gesture. When we imagine performing a certain gesture, the muscles responsible for that gesture unconsciously increase their muscle tone, demonstrating how there is a nervous pre-activation just by “thinking” about the movement. The increase in muscle tone has the function of preactivating the contraction to be ready for action.

But how is learning a complex gesture achieved? Roberto Biella provides us with an excellent explanation about it. The nerve impulses that circulate in our brain when we live a motor (but not only motor) experience determine a a sort of trace of the path between brain cells that facilitates a subsequent passage determining what we call learning. The mechanism is as follows. When a signal passes through connections (synapses) between a particular group of nerve cells, it somehow leaves a trace in those connections so that the passage in times successive events through the same synapses is facilitated.

Therefore, when a certain action program starts in the brain it it leaves a trace in the synapses used and this makes it easier to recall the same program at a later time. This trace in the connections between nerve cells appears be influenced by the quantity of passages of the nervous stimulus that determines the development of the neurons of the dendrites, axons and synapses used. So this does it understand the function of practice and repetition in learning in general. Those that initially they were paths, with practice they become highways.

Therefore, if we mentally repeat actions to ourselves, as in the case of visualization, it is as if we were actually doing them and therefore it is as if we were training. Therefore, we can significantly increase the exercise load for learning a gesture, mentally visualizing the actions we must take when performing it, especially for those sports where it is not always possible to train, think of rowing where a canoe is needed, or parachuting where you need a plane to launch, or skating where you have to go to an ice rink to practice it.

In this first image we see a simple neural network without a valid path. Our task is to connect the neurons through the synaptic connections between the impulse of the brain and that of the muscle fiber. Returning to the example of our karateka who was learning zenkutsu-dachi, after several attempts and having carried out his verbal training, he moved on to ideomotor training and imagines, more and more frequently and more and more vividly, himself practicing the movement. In his attempts to learn, he explores and creates new pathways in the neural network that take time to get to the muscle and often get lost, but with practice and patience, the pathways become more and more sculpted, until they become stable. At this point I would like to make an observation in this regard. If it is true that intelligence is strongly linked to the effectiveness of visualization and if it is true that intelligence, in the generic sense of the term (as it can take on different facets), means a greater number of synaptic combinations, then it is possible to increase intelligence through sport? And vice versa, is it possible to increase sports performance through more cultural and social activities? The answer is yes.

The paths created, through what is called brain plasticity, can be billions and can vary continuously. Another piece of advice I can give is to be able to have as many life experiences as possible, of any kind, because they are the ones that form the brain and those will give you the key to winning. We are too focused on victory, but to get there we must first work on ourselves as mentioned in the previous chapters. We now know that the mind and body are connected, so training only physically is no longer necessary.

Let’s summarize the conditions on how ideomotor training becomes truly effective:

1. you need to know how to concentrate (relaxation);
2. you need to have a certain amount of real-life motor experience (even of a different kind). with respect to the gesture to be learned but which has a similar character – e.g. stroke in swimming with arm action in volleyball dunk)
3. the visualization must be very vivid, that is, very rich in sensations and more visual but also muscular-articular, auditory, tactile, organic (the magic ball).
4. There must be repetition. Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who trains ten thousand kicks once, but the man who trains one kick ten thousand times.”

You can’t visualize a certain thing once in a while and expect to learn. The neural paths widen as they continue to be stepped on.

Observational or observational training includes the planned and targeted repetition of the observation of other athletes directly or with the aid of videos and images. As in other mental training, this type of training also causes the observer, on the basis of the mirror neuron mechanism, to nervously activate the muscles involved in the task being observed, which corresponds to the rhythm of the person being observed. Observational training, therefore, can be used both by athletes with a high level of mastery and by athletes of lower levels, in different ways. In the initial stage it leads to the formation of the representation of movement, so the athlete begins to trace the various neural paths by creating new synaptic connections, while at a higher level of mastery it determines its clarification and consolidation, so the paths are increasingly “excavated” and optimized.

We always remember that it is important to carry out relaxation and body scanning exercises even before this type of training, as a warm-up, which prepares our muscles and our neurons for better transmission and reception of the impulse by the brain and, therefore, leave a better trace in the neuronal pathway. Train mentally already in Flow conditions. As regards the initial stages of learning, it is advisable to observe the movement in its entirety, to have a general idea of what we have to do, through the use of videos. The more we progress through the stages, the more we have to slow down the video and use the images to imprint the motor sequence into the brain. As can be seen from the research of Leirichs (1973, 19), the use of images offers the possibility of a longer duration of observation: longer observation times are correlated with better motor performance.

The ideal visualization sequence for an early athlete is:

1. Relaxation
2. Sensory visualization
3. Verbal training
4. Observational training
5. Ideomotor training
6. Observational training, for immediate feedback, if positive reinforce it, if negative repeat it.

The advice is not to rush, because the brain needs time to learn a new motor sequence. Consistency in visualization and, obviously in practice, will bear fruit within four or five weeks depending on the complexity of the athletic gesture.

As for athletes with a high level of mastery, observational training can be used, not so much for learning a motor sequence, but for its correction and improvement.

In the high-level athlete the neural paths are now well traced, so we talk about automatisms. Thanks to brain plasticity we can however eliminate certain automatisms and improve the athletic gesture.