A Quantitative Analysis of Athletes’ Voluntary Use of Slow Motion, Real Time, and Fast Motion Images

Abstract

The current study examined athletes’ reported intentional use of slow-motion, real-time, and fast-motion images. Athletes (N = 604; 298 males and 306 females; Mage = 21.73 years, SD = 4.54) completed the Image Speed Questionnaire, an instrument created to assess the frequency with which athletes reported employing the three image speeds. Despite the applied sport psychology guideline of imaging only at real time speed, athletes reported employing all three image speeds to varying degrees depending on the function of imagery being employed and the stage of learning of the athlete. Gender and competitive level were found not to influence athletes’ reported voluntary image speed use. Athletes reported employing slow-motion images most often when learning or developing a skill or strategy. Real-time images were consistently used most often by athletes regardless of imagery function or stage of learning, and fast-motion images were used most often when imaging skills or strategies that had been mastered. Findings are discussed within the context of the stages of learning (Fitts & Posner, 1967 Fitts, P. M. and Posner, M. I. 1967. Human performance, Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole. [Google Scholar]) and the PETTLEP (Physical; Environmental; Task; Timing; Learning; Emotional, and Perspective) approach to motor imagery (Holmes & Collins, 2001 Holmes, P. S. and Collins, D. J. 2001. The PETTLEP approach to motor imagery: A functional equivalence model for sport psychologists. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 13: 60–83. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Implications for imagery practitioners and future directions for image speed research are also offered.