The Closest Thing Your Brain Has to Super Powers – Part 1

Brain research on a topic called motor imagery (MI) reads like something that could happen at Hogwarts.

What it is

MI is defined as an intentional thought about moving your body without actually moving[i]. MI is imagining movement and actions, but not actually performing the actions.

Here’s the cool part: when you simply think about exercising (without moving), you get stronger. It works because the part of your brain that plans movements is highly interconnected with the part of your brain that executes movements.

MI has been shown to increase autonomic nervous system responses, such as breathing, heart rate, skin conductance (perspiration), and blood pressure.

Sports is a natural application of MI. The Olympic Gold medal winners I know use MI as part of their practice. So do Lance, Tiger, and others who at the very top of their game.

Olympic gold medal winner Peter Vidmar spent years visualizing the same scenario every morning. He would imagine himself walking into the gymnasium, performing his routine, hearing the crowd cheer, seeing his judge’s score, and accepting the gold medal. It happened as he imagined it.

I’ve seen wizardly results when MI has been applied to work activities, so let’s see how we can apply this to our lives beyond sports. But first, I think it’s important to look at the research results.

Imaginary exercise can strengthen muscles

Researchers have demonstrated that mental practice can actually make a person stronger. Yue and Cole had one group of subjects perform finger exercises and another group perform mental imagery only. The first group increased strength 30 percent, while the second group increased strength 22 percent.[ii] Strength increases can be achieved without muscle activation and appear to result from practice effects on central motor commands[iii] (Yue, Wilson, and Cole, 1996). This means that motor imagery and motor action share some of the same brain correlates.

Alvaro Pascal-Leone set up an imagining experiment on beginning piano players. One group imagined playing piano and hearing themselves play two hours a day for five days. A second group physically played, practicing the same amount of time. Both groups learned to play and showed similar brain changes throughout the process. The imagining players were as accurate after two hours of practice as the practicing ones were at the end of the five days.[iv]

At Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis and John Chapin learned how to read the thoughts of a rat pressing a bar to get water.[v] Machines that can read animals’ and people’s thoughts have helped paralyzed individuals become more independent.

Jean Decety and associates[vi] had subjects imagine running on a treadmill at speeds of 5, 8, and 10 kilometers per hour. Both heart rate and breathing rate went up relative to the imagined speed, powerful evidence that imagery alone can engage the autonomic nervous system.

In summary, mentally practicing a motor skill:

Influences performance[vii]
Can make a person stronger[viii]

WIIFM (What's in it for me) – Using MI to excel at work

Although there is no research on using MI to improve certain workplace skills, there’s no reason why we can’t be creative and try it. My coaching clients have had tremendous success with MI. Here’s one story:

Michael’s boss had quite a reputation of being hard to please. Michael’s subordinate Kris, had just been yelled at and was developing a fear of him. She was assigned to make a presentation to him and was scared.

Michael learned about motor imagery a few days before Kris was to give her speech. He asked Kris to visualize every detail about the way she wanted the meeting to go: walking in, preparing the computer, explaining each slide, watching the pleased look on her bosses’ bosses’ face, listening to his praise about how well she did during the meeting, and walking out with a smile on her face. She imagined this mental rehearsal in her mind over and over again the night before the presentation.

On the day of the presentation, Kris nailed it. Michael’s boss melted and felt Kris did an outstanding job, increasing his confidence in her and her credibility in his eyes. Kris felt competent and gained confidence as well. Michael was very pleased that the whole thing worked out so well for all.

Different from visualization

Notice the difference between MI and visualization. MI is imagining and thinking through the detailed steps on a specific task. Visualization is imagining a scene or future outcome. Where visualization is like seeing a painting, MI is like being in an entire movie.

Let us know how you use MI. Post your story here.

[i] Guillot, A. and Collet, C. (2005). Contribution from neurophysiological and psychological methods to the study of motor imagery. Brain Research Reviews , 50, 387-397.
[ii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.
[iii] Yue, G.H., Wilson, S.L., Cole, K..J. Darling, W.G., and Yuh, W.T.C. (1996) “Imagined muscle contraction training increases voluntary neural drive to muscle,” Journal of Psychophysiology, 10(3), 198-208.
[iv] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[v] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[vi] Decety, J., Jeannerod, M., Germain, M., and Pastene, J. (1991). Vegetative response during imagined movement is proportional to mental effort. Behavioral Brain Research, 42, 1-5.
[vii] Feltz, D.L. and Landers, D.M. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology,5, 25-27.
[viii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.