Imagery practice of motor skills without conscious awareness?: a commentary to Frank et al.

Abstract

Modifications of imagined sensory consequences will not benefit overt performance when they cannot be transformed into motor outflow that produces them. With physical practice, the acquisition of internal models of motor transformations is largely based on prediction errors that are absent in imagery practice. What can imagery practice nevertheless contribute to transformation learning? Explicit, strategic adjustments to novel transformations should be possible. This appears less likely for implicit adjustments. Are there variants of imagery practice that can produce adjustments without conscious awareness of the transformation and/or the resultant movement changes?