Sajad Parsayi; Rasoul Abedanzadeh; Nahid Shetab boushehri; Masoumeh Shojaee
Volume 2, Issue 4 , June 2017, , Pages 57-74
Abstract
Introduction: Mental imagery is an important skill that athletes should always work on and apply with high confidence; especially during competition in order to relieve stress and improve performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of mirror neuron on different speeds of mental imagery ...
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Introduction: Mental imagery is an important skill that athletes should always work on and apply with high confidence; especially during competition in order to relieve stress and improve performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of mirror neuron on different speeds of mental imagery on basketball dribbling performance. Methods: The research method was semi-empirical and a pretest-posttest design was used. The participants were 30 female students (average age 22± 1.12) selected through a purposive sampling method and categorized in three groups of rapid-speed, equal-speed, and low-speed imagery. Following the basketball dribble function in pretests, the participants were involved in imagery for a period of four consecutive days, and were subsequently tested for the real dribble function in the posttests. They were also subjected to electroencephalographic assessment during imagery, focusing primarily on the reaction of the mirror neurons within the process. The findings were then analyzed using the intragroup analysis of variance. Findings: The results showed that dribble function in all groups improved (p≤0.05). However, investigation of the effect size indicated a significant improvement in the groups with slow-speed and equal-speed imagery compared to those receiving high-speed imagery. Mu rhythm suppression in areas C4 and Cz were observed in all groups (p≤0.05). C3 area was active only in slow-speed group. Conclusions: Mental imagery causes required movements encoding for performing skill in the brain by activating mirror neurons. In brain, this movement encoding leads to facilitation in motor skills.
