The dictionary / A closer look
Mental Rehearsal
The imagined practice of an action or performance, used to prepare attention, decisions, and movement before an event.
- Focus
- Habits
Mental rehearsal is the imagined practice of an action, conversation, performance, or sequence of decisions. Athletes, performers, and learners use it to make a situation more familiar, notice gaps in a plan, and rehearse cues that would be hard to retrieve under pressure.
It is not the same as doing the task, and it does not summon an outcome that depends on chance, circumstance, or another person. Imagery can support preparation, but it cannot replace feedback, training, or practical exposure to the thing being rehearsed.
Omzoe uses mental rehearsal as one possible practice-card form. The scene stays specific and connected to an aim: a person rehearses an action they can choose, then has a chance to compare the imagined sequence with lived experience.
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