The Influence of Motor Imagery in Fine Motor Skills of Individuals With Disabilities

Imagery is a cognitive process that can play an important role on the planning and execution of different movements or actions. The main purpose of this study is to ascertain whether the application of Motor Imagery together with normal practice improves fine motor skills in disabled individuals. In this study participated 42 subjects of both genders with disabilities, with a mean age of 37 (SD=12). Subjects were randomly divided in two groups: a control group and an experimental one. The study procedures were applied on five different tasks of the Psychomotor Battery of fine motor skills (BPM). This instrument was applied in two stages, at the beginning of the study (pretest) and at the end of the 4 weeks (posttest). Both groups performed the tasks twice a week for a month. Motor imagery sessions were added on in the experimental group. Participants on the experimental group were asked to mentally imagine themselves recreating tasks they had performed earlier on the initial assessment. For the analysis of the results, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The T-test for independent samples, and the T-test for paired samples were applied.