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Mental practice and acquisition of motor skills: examples from sports training and surgical education.

Rogers RG

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, MSC10 5580, ACC Fourth Floor, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. rrogers@salud.unm.edu

Learning surgical skills involves both fine and gross motor skills, and necessitates performance in stressful situations. This environment is similar to the environment in which an athlete performs. Mental imagery has been used successfully in training athletes of all levels of proficiency and enhances both motor skills and motivational skills of performing under stress. The literature of using mental imagery to train surgeons is limited to the teaching of simple surgical skills, but shows promise as another tool to teach technical skills.

Published 1 May 2006 in Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am, 33(2): 297-304, ix.
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