Cornelia Frank

Mental representation and motor imagery training

Research in sports, dance and rehabilitation has shown that basic action concepts (BACs) are fundamental building blocks of mental action representations. BACs are based on chunked body postures related to common functions for realizing action goals. In this paper, we outline issues in research methodology and an experimental method, the structural dimensional analysis of mental representation (SDA-M), to assess action-relevant representational structures that reflect the organization of BACs. The SDA-M reveals a strong relationship between cognitive representation and performance if complex actions are performed. We show how the SDA-M can improve motor imagery training and how it contributes to our understanding of coaching processes. The SDA-M capitalizes on the objective measurement of individual mental movement representations before training and the integration of these results into the motor imagery training. Such motor imagery training based on mental representations (MTMR) has been applied successfully in professional sports such as golf, volleyball, gymnastics, windsurfing, and recently in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a stroke.

Perceptual-Cognitive Changes During Motor Learning: The Influence of Mental and Physical Practice on Mental Representation, Gaze Behavior, and Performance of a Complex Action

Despite the wealth of research on differences between experts and novices with respect to their perceptual-cognitive background (e.g., mental representations, gaze behavior), little is known about the change of these perceptual-cognitive components over the course of motor learning. In the present study, changes in one’s mental representation, quiet eye behavior, and outcome performance were examined over the course of skill acquisition as it related to physical and mental practice. Novices (N = 45) were assigned to one of three conditions: physical practice, combined physical plus mental practice, and no practice. Participants in the practice groups trained on a golf putting task over the course of 3 days, either by repeatedly executing the putt, or by both executing and imaging the putt. Findings revealed improvements in putting performance across both practice conditions. Regarding the perceptual-cognitive changes, participants practicing mentally and physically revealed longer quiet eye durations as well as more elaborate representation structures in comparison to the control group, while this was not the case for participants who underwent physical practice only. Thus, in the present study, combined mental and physical practice led to both formation of mental representations in long-term memory and longer quiet eye durations. Interestingly, the length of the quiet eye directly related to the degree of elaborateness of the underlying mental representation, supporting the notion that the quiet eye reflects cognitive processing. This study is the first to show that the quiet eye becomes longer in novices practicing a motor action. Moreover, the findings of the present study suggest that perceptual and cognitive adaptations co-occur over the course of motor learning.

Multi-Level Analysis of Motor Actions as a Basis for Effective Coaching in Virtual Reality

In order to effectively support motor learning in Virtual Reality, real-time analysis of motor actions performed by the athlete is essential. Most recent work in this area rather focuses on feedback strategies, and not primarily on systematic analysis of the motor action to be learnt. Aiming at a high-level understanding of the performed motor action, we introduce a two-level approach. On the one hand, we focus on a hierarchical motor performance analysis performed online in a VR environment. On the other hand, we introduce an analysis of cognitive representation as a complement for a thorough analysis of motor action.

The Representation of Motor (Inter)action, States of Action, and Learning: Three Perspectives on Motor Learning by Way of Imagery and Execution

Learning in intelligent systems is a result of direct and indirect interaction with the environment. While humans can learn by way of different states of (inter)action such as the execution or the imagery of an action, their unique potential to induce brain- and mind-related changes in the motor action system is still being debated. The systematic repetition of different states of action (e.g., physical and/or mental practice) and their contribution to the learning of complex motor actions has traditionally been approached by way of performance improvements. More recently, approaches highlighting the role of action representation in the learning of complex motor actions have evolved and may provide additional insight into the learning process. In the present perspective paper, we build on brain-related findings and sketch recent research on learning by way of imagery and execution from a hierarchical, perceptual-cognitive approach to motor control and learning. These findings provide insights into the learning of intelligent systems from a perceptual-cognitive, representation-based perspective and as such add to our current understanding of action representation in memory and its changes with practice. Future research should build bridges between approaches in order to more thoroughly understand functional changes throughout the learning process and to facilitate motor learning, which may have particular importance for cognitive systems research in robotics, rehabilitation, and sports.

A Systematic Investigation of the Effect of Action Observation Training and Motor Imagery Training on the Development of Mental Representation Structure and Skill Performance

Action observation training and motor imagery training have independently been studied and considered as an effective training strategy for improving motor skill learning. However, comparative studies of the two training strategies are relatively few. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of action observation training and motor imagery training on the development of mental representation structure and golf putting performance as well as the relation between the changes in mental representation structure and skill performance during the early learning stage. Forty novices were randomly assigned to one of four groups: action observation training, motor imagery training, physical practice and no practice. The mental representation structure and putting performance were measured before and after 3 days of training, then after a 2-day retention period. The results showed that mental representation structure and the accuracy of the putting performance were improved over time through the two types of cognitive training (i.e., action observation training and motor imagery training). In addition, we found a significant positive correlation between changes in mental representation structure and skill performance for the action observation training group only. Taken together, these results suggest that both cognitive adaptations and skill improvement occur through the training of the two simulation states of action, and that perceptual-cognitive changes are associated with the change of skill performance for action observation training.

The Intelligent Coaching Space: A Demonstration

Here we demonstrate our Intelligent Coaching Space, an immersive virtual environment in which users learn a motor action (e.g. a squat) under the supervision of a virtual coach. We detail how we assess the ability of the coachee in executing the motor action, how the intelligent coaching space and its features are realized and how the virtual coach leads the coachee through a coaching session.

In my mind’s (quiet) eye: a perceptual-cognitive approach to the Quiet Eye – comment on Vickers

1 Neurocognition and Action – Biomechanics Research Group, Department of Sport Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany 2 Cognitive Interaction Technology Center of Excellence (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany 3 Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany * Corresponding author: Neurocognition and Action – Biomechanics Research Group, Department of Sport Science, Bielefeld University, Inspiration 1, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany, Tel: +49 521 1065129, Fax: +49 521 1066432, Email: cornelia.frank@uni-bielefeld.de

The Effects of Motor Imagery Training on Performance and Mental Representation of 7-to 15-Year-Old Gymnasts of Different Levels of Expertise

Imagery training with adult athletes is widely used to improve performance. One underlying mechanism is the optimization of mental movement representations. However, past research has focused mainly on adults and has left open for further research on whether imagery also improves mental representations and performance in young athletes. The present study examined these questions in a sample of 56 female gymnasts aged 7 to 15 years. In a cross-over experimental design (imagery first vs. imagery last), regular training with imagery was compared with regular training only in high- versus low-expertise athletes. The 4-week long imagery training had positive effects on performance only for the high-expertise athletes in the imagery-last condition. The results of the Structural Dimensional Analysis of Mental Representation method regarding changes in the mental representations were inconsistent. Thus, imagery training can promote motor learning in young athletes only under some conditions. We discuss possible reasons for the heterogeneous results and ways for improving the strength and reliability of the intervention effects.

Corticospinal excitability is facilitated by combined action observation and motor imagery of a basketball free throw

Objectives: This experiment investigated the extent to which independent action observation, independent motor imagery and combined action observation and motor imagery of a sport‐related motor skill elicited activity within the motor system. Design and method: Eighteen, right‐handed, male participants engaged in four conditions following a repeated measures design. The experimental conditions involved action observation, motor imagery, or combined action observation and motor imagery of a basketball free throw, whilst the control condition involved observation of a static image of a basketball player holding a basketball. In all conditions, single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered to the forearm representation of the left motor cortex. The amplitude of the resulting motor evoked potentials were recorded from the flexor carpi ulnaris and extensor carpi ulnaris muscles of the right forearm and used as a marker of corticospinal excitability. Results: Corticospinal excitability was facilitated significantly by combined action observation and motor imagery of the basketball free throw, in comparison to both the action observation and control conditions. In contrast, the independent use of either action observation or motor imagery did not facilitate corticospinal excitability compared to the control condition. Conclusions: The findings have implications for the design and delivery of action observation and motor imagery interventions in sport. As corticospinal excitability was facilitated by the use of combined action observation and motor imagery, researchers should seek to establish the efficacy of implementing combined action observation and motor imagery interventions for improving motor skill performance and learning in applied sporting settings. HighlightsCombined action observation and motor imagery facilitates corticospinal excitability.Corticospinal excitability was not facilitated by independent observation or imagery.Sport psychologists should combine imagery interventions with action observation.

Learning a Motor Action “From Within”: Insights Into Perceptual-Cognitive Changes With Mental and Physical Practice

The two most common means to (re)learn a motor action are through physical practice (ie, repeatedly executing a motor action) and mental practice (ie, repeatedly imagining the execution of a motor action). Both types of practice have shown to lead to permanent improvements in motor performance as well as to functional reorganization within the brain. However, little is known about the learning of a motor action as induced by both mental and physical practice from a perceptual–cognitive perspective. The goal of the present chapter is to explore the topic from this perspective with a particular focus on the representation of complex action as well as gaze behavior and their development during early skill acquisition. To this end, a line of research systematically investigating the influence of mental and physical practice on the development of novices’ mental representations and “quiet-eye” behavior in golf putting is presented, thereby providing insights into the perceptual–cognitive adaptations that occur within the motor action system according to practice type. Finally, the relevance of this perspective, particularly for motor learning, motor imagery, and quiet-eye research is discussed.