Visual, auditory and kinesthetic imagery on motor learning

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic imagery on learning in a golf putting task. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: (1) auditory, (2) visual, (3) kinesthetic, (4) irrelevant, and (5) control conditions. A golf-putting task was administered. Participants performed 40 acquisition trials followed by 20 retention trials. ANOVAs were performed on the various dependent measures (AE, DE, AVE, and RE). Results indicated that auditory and kinesthetic imagery lead to better retention performance accuracy (AE) than did visual, irrelevant, and control conditions, and auditory imagery was best with ACE analysis. These findings suggested that different imagery techniques can influence the learning of a motor skill in different ways.