The Effects of Mental Practice on Motor Skill Learning and Performance: A Meta-analysis
Deborah Feltz and Daniel Landers meta-analysed 60 studies of mental practice, in which people rehearse a motor skill in their heads without performing it, and its effect on later performance. They found that mentally practising a skill improves performance somewhat more than no practice at all. The effect was larger for tasks with a cognitive component than for motor or strength tasks, and larger in published studies than in unpublished ones. The authors close with four theoretical propositions about why it works.
Deborah Feltz and Daniel Landers meta-analysed 60 studies of mental practice, in which people rehearse a motor skill in their heads without performing it, and its effect on later performance. They found that mentally practising a skill improves performance somewhat more than no practice at all. The effect was larger for tasks with a cognitive component than for motor or strength tasks, and larger in published studies than in unpublished ones. The authors close with four theoretical propositions about why it works.
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Feltz, D. L., & Landers, D. M. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology, 5(1), 25-57. doi:10.1123/jsp.5.1.25