The Triple Code Model as a theoretical
explanation of the effects of active mental practice in motor skills
performance
University of Hull, England, U.K.
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Abstract
Until recently most models of mental
practice, like the Symbolic Learning and the Psychoneuromuscular theories, have
been unable to explain fully the evidence that mental practice can improve
motor skill performance.
Recently, a new theoretical framework by
Ahsen, under the title of the Triple Code Model, seems to be able to account
for not only why mental practice affects motor performance, but also which
components should be used during mental rehearsal in order to produce
successful outcomes. This Model suggests that mental practice is made up of
three components: The Imagery (I) of the act itself and the manner in which the
individuals interact within the image as if they were acting in the real world;
the Meaning (M), which refers to the way the performer understands how the
motor skill should be done, and the Somatic response (S) the individuals have
when they become aware of what is required of them.
In view of the fact that most work done
on mental practice has been mainly in the areas of games and physical
rehabilitation, the experimental work of this project also made use of these
two areas in order to find out how competent the Triple Code Model is in
explaining the impact mental practice can have in changing motor skills
activities. A review of present mental practice theories and work revealed that
active mental practice, that is mental practice mixed with some of the actual
movement activity, and interventions of periods of 3 minutes each, were the
best procedures to use in the experimental work performed in this project in
order to test the Triple Code Model.
The first two experiments tested whether
accuracy of table tennis shots could be affected by active mental practice
within the Triple Code Model context. These revealed a significantly greater
accuracy and control of the ball in those participants using active mental
practice than in control subjects.
Two further experiments, this time done
in a rehabilitation context, investigated whether people who underwent
arthroplasticity of knees could have their rehabilitation recovery modified via
active mental practice in contrast with traditional rehabilitation procedures.
The results from the first experiment showed that active mental practice
provided a better progressive and continuous rehabilitation procedure than the
traditional techniques. During this experiment visual analysis of gait
activity, modified by active mental practice, seemed to indicate that active
mental practice might also be able to modify the dysfunctional gait pattern
resulting from the deformity of the participant’s knees. A second experiment,
this time a case study, using a dedicated and more economically affordable gait
analysis system, confirmed the visual analysis of the previous experiment, in
that active mental practice was able to correct distorted gait performance.
Throughout these four experiments, the
three components of the Triple Code Model seemed to be able to account for the
results obtained with active mental practice. On the other hand, qualitative
data obtained from the participants, in particular from those in the
rehabilitation studies, seemed to show that the Imagery component of the Model
needed to be refined in order to take into account the type of imagery modality
people used during their imageries.
As most imagery questionnaires that
claim to measure imagery modalities ask for imagery ratings of situations or
objects that people may not have experienced a new instrument was developed
which attempted to corrected this problem. This new imagery modality
questionnaire used high imagery words as stimuli to activate people’s imagery
modalities and was validated using a criterion-related procedure in two
languages and cultures, English and Portuguese. The criterion was motor skill
performance, and the results obtained from both groups indicated that this new
instrument to be sensitive in discriminating the modality people used during
their imageries
To conclude, the experimental data
gathered from the experiments in this project showed that the Triple Code Model
is a good foundation as a theoretical framework in order to explain why mental
practice affects human motor skill performance. It may be a more complete model
than the ones used up to now due to its use of the three components - I, M, S.
Nevertheless, the Imagery (I) component needs to take into consideration the
imagery modality individuals are more likely to use during the activation of
their imageries. This means that the Imagery definition provided by Ahsen
should be changed to ‘ ... It represents the
outside world and its objects so that the imagery modality individuals use in
this interaction can determine the way they interact with the image as if they
were interacting with a real world’.
Reference
Ahsen, A., 1984. 'ISM: The triple code model for
imagery and psychophysiology'. Journal of Mental Imagery, 8, 15-42.
The
Whole Document in Acrobat (.pdf)