The Effects of Mental Imagery and Physical Practice on Learning Dart-Throwing in Children with ADHD

Salehian, Mir Hamid; Hosseinzadeh Peyghan, Roya; ShafaeianFard, Forough; Khajeaflaton Mofrad, Sedigheh

doi:10.22034/jmp.2022.385938.1050

The Effects of Mental Imagery and Physical Practice on Learning Dart-Throwing in Children with ADHD

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Mir Hamid Salehian ¹

Roya Hosseinzadeh Peyghan ¹

Forough ShafaeianFard ²

Sedigheh Khajeaflaton Mofrad ³

¹ Department of Physical Education, Tabriz branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran

² MSc Student, Department of Psychology, Bandargaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandargaz, Iran

³ Department of Physical Education, Farhangian University, Gorgan, Iran.

10.22034/jmp.2022.385938.1050

Abstract

The effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor learning in individuals with ADHD received very little attention. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of motor imagery and physical practice on motor performance and learning dart-throwing in adolescents with ADHD. The current research was based on a causal-comparative approach. The participants included 60 adolescents with ADHD (with the age range of 12 to 17 years) randomly and equally assigned into four groups: 1) motor imagery, 2) physical practice, 3) combination of motor imagery and physical practice, and 4) control. The motor task involved dart-throwing, in which the accurate throw score was measured as the dependent variable. The participants performed the pre-test (ten throws) and the retention test (ten throws). ANOVA was run to analyze the throwing accuracy. Results showed that all groups had similar throwing scores in the pretest, however, in the retention test, the results indicated that combination group had significantly better throwing scores than all other groups (in all groups, P=0.000). In addition, physical practice group had significantly better throwing scores than motor imagery and control groups (both P=0.000). Finally, motor imagery group had significantly better throwing scores than control group (P=0.000). Individuals with ADHD benefit from motor imagery, indicating that they have the necessary mechanisms to learn new skills through motor imagery. Moreover, a combination of motor imagery and physical practice would be a better strategy for learning new motor skills.

Keywords

ADHD

Dart throw

Motor imagery

Physical practice

20.1001.1.27834433.2023.2.4.1.3

Subjects

Abnormal Psychology

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