Mental imagery and learning.

Mental images are often used in the processes of indirect thinking, such as in fantasies (Pope and Singer 1978; Singer and Antrobus 1972). It has been suggested that this mental activity performs a function of anticipation and planning, to help us not to forget the activities not yet completed and to maintain concentration when we are engaged in tedious tasks (Singer 1975). Moreover, the mental visualization plays specific roles in the processes of thought such as direct memory, problem solving, decision-making task, and motor control (Denis 1991). All these specific features of visual thinking make it a particularly suitable candidate to support learning (both cognitive and motor), and have thus led to the construction of specific imagery training.