Background/Purpose Mental practice has been shown to produce measurable differences in performance enhancement. However, limited studies have examined the underlying neurological influence of mental practice, especially with team sports. The present study investigated whether Electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns differ based on an athlete's ability to use mental imagery, and if differences exist between the two types of mental imagery, visual versus kinesthetic, when mentally rehearsing specific soccer scenarios.
Method Ten college elite soccer athletes and seven novices participated in this study. EEG data and self-rating were collected during rehearsal of mental imagery for three simple body movements and three soccer scenarios applying either visual or kinesthetic mental imagery.
Analysis/Results The results of a 2 (Group) X 4 (Test) ANCOVA on EEG data with the baseline level as the covariate revealed a significant interaction between Group and Test, F(3, 42) = 4.34, p = .009. The further examination indicated that alpha amplitude significantly decreased during rehearsal of kinesthetic imagery of soccer scenarios for the elite group, but this was not the case for their counterparts.
Conclusions While visual imagery was predominantly preferred for both groups, the alpha amplitude significantly changed during kinesthetic imagery for the elite group, suggesting a greater concentration and deeper brain involvement were associated with the high skill level athletes, compared with the novice.