Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick Limerick, Ireland.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Apr 1;7:104. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00104. eCollection 2013.
Mental imagery, or the ability to simulate in the mind information that is not currently perceived by the senses, has attracted considerable research interest in psychology since the early 1970's. Within the past two decades, research in this field-as in cognitive psychology more generally-has been dominated by neuroscientific methods that typically involve comparisons between imagery performance of participants from clinical populations with those who exhibit apparently normal cognitive functioning. Although this approach has been valuable in identifying key neural substrates of visual imagery, it has been less successful in understanding the possible mechanisms underlying another simulation process, namely, motor imagery or the mental rehearsal of actions without engaging in the actual movements involved. In order to address this oversight, a "strength-based" approach has been postulated which is concerned with understanding those on the high ability end of the imagery performance spectrum. Guided by the expert performance approach and principles of ecological validity, converging methods have the potential to enable imagery researchers to investigate the neural "signature" of elite performers, for example. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explain the origin, nature, and implications of the strength-based approach to mental imagery. Following a brief explanation of the background to this latter approach, we highlight some important theoretical advances yielded by recent research on mental practice, mental travel, and meta-imagery processes in expert athletes and dancers. Next, we consider the methodological implications of using a strength-based approach to investigate imagery processes. The implications for the field of motor cognition are outlined and specific research questions, in dynamic imagery, imagery perspective, measurement, multi-sensory imagery, and metacognition that may benefit from this approach in the future are sketched briefly.
心理意象，或在脑海中模拟当前未被感官感知的信息的能力，自 20 世纪 70 年代初以来，一直吸引着心理学领域的大量研究兴趣。在过去的二十年中，该领域的研究——更广泛地说，在认知心理学中——一直由神经科学方法主导，这些方法通常涉及将来自临床人群的参与者的意象表现与那些表现出明显正常认知功能的参与者进行比较。尽管这种方法在确定视觉意象的关键神经基质方面很有价值，但它在理解另一种模拟过程（即运动意象或在不进行实际运动的情况下进行动作的心理排练）的可能机制方面不太成功。为了解决这个问题，已经提出了一种“基于优势”的方法，该方法关注的是理解意象表现谱中高能力端的那些人。受专家表现方法和生态有效性原则的指导，汇聚方法有可能使意象研究人员能够研究精英表现者的神经“特征”，例如。因此，本文的目的是解释心理意象的基于优势的方法的起源、性质和影响。在简要解释这种方法的背景之后，我们强调了最近关于专家运动员和舞者的心理练习、心理旅行和元意象过程的研究产生的一些重要理论进展。接下来，我们考虑了使用基于优势的方法研究意象过程的方法学影响。概述了对运动认知领域的影响，并简要介绍了在动态意象、意象视角、测量、多感官意象和元认知方面可能受益于这种方法的具体研究问题。
