Glossary
Mental rehearsal of successful performance
What is mental rehearsal of successful performance?
Mental rehearsal of successful performance prompts a person to practice imagining themselves successfully performing a behavior in a relevant context.
Scope and distinctions
The focus is imagined performance of the action. It differs from imagining only a desirable result and from physically practicing the behavior.
Illustrative example
A speaker imagines entering the meeting, explaining the opening point, and answering a question calmly.
What the research adds
Pham and Taylor’s study of mental simulation reported that college freshmen who simulated the process of studying before an exam improved studying and grades. The result concerns that study task and comparison; it does not show that process imagery is always better for every activity.
Evidence and limits
The original BCT Taxonomy v1 definitions specify this as technique 15.2. It defines the technique; the study above tests one application of it.