Mind control

Discusses techniques for enhancing performance. Research by James Driskell, Ph.D., an organizational psychologist at Florida Maxima Corporation; The benefits of mental rehearsal; Whom it works best for.

By PT Staff, published on January 01, 1995

ON THE JOBPeak Performance

If you're tempted to fire the guy sitting at his desk with his eyes closed and his chin buried in the palm of his hand, think again. He may well be your most productive worker.

Such is the prime posture for mental practice, a technique for enhancing performance. It is the cognitive rehearsal of a task's steps. Given the right task and circumstances, it improves outcome, finds James Driskell, Ph.D., an organizational psychologist with Florida Maxima Corporation.

He believes it is best used for events that don't occur very often or are too dangerous to replicate: A bomb-disposal technician can mentally rehearse disarming a live munition without being in the actual environment.

It beats physical practice when the context is right, explains Driskell, in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 79). "You can mentally rehearse batting in the final 20 minutes of the World Series--what you would do under the pressure of a jeering crowd. You can't replicate that in physical practice."

The trouble with mental practice is that it offers no feedback. With physical tasks--say your tennis serve--it's easy to tell if you're getting it right by how many balls go over the net.

So mental rehearsal works best for fairly experienced folks; they have "the requisite schematic knowledge" to imagine the correct steps involved. And tasks with a cognitive component are most enhanced by mental practice.

But don't overdo it. After 20 minutes, you connect only with the law of diminishing returns.

ILLUSTRATION