THE ROLE OF PREFERRED COGNITIVE-STYLE IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IMAGERY TRAINING

In light of recommendations proposed in the mental imagery literature (Feltz & Landers, 1983), the purpose of this study was to examine the role of one individual difference variable in the effectiveness of imagery training for the improvement of motor performance and imagery vividness. Specifically, the variable of Preferred Cognitive Style (Isaacs, 1982), which classifies people according to their preference for imagic versus verbal thinking, was examined using a pre-test, post-test control group design. It was hypothesized that Imagic subjects would benefit more from imagery training than Verbal subjects because mental imagery constitutes a mode of thinking that Imagic subjects prefer and use more often. Forty-eight (48) female undergraduate students were classified as Imagic (N = 24) or Verbal (N = 24) according to the Prefered Imagic Cognitive Style questionnaire (PICS, Isaacs, 1982) and randomly assigned to a treatment or attention control group. Results indicated that both the treatment and control conditions bad a significant impact on the motor performance of the Imagic subjects but not on the motor performance of the Verbal subjects. In addition, Imagic subjects demonstrated superior vividness of mental imagery and ability. While not directly in line with the hypothesis, these results do support the importance of Preferred Cognitive Style as an individual difference variable which might mediate the effects of mental imgery training. Suggestions for future research are proposed.