On Thursday 24th June, Professor Jennifer Cumming, Director of the SPRINT project, is presenting at the Eye Surgery Masterclass. Running until the 25th, this two-day webinar brings together experts in the field for inspiring presentations and discussion.
At the event, Professor Cumming will speak about how imagery, such as that used by elite athletes, can support the performance of eye surgeons.
Imagery, or visualisation, refers to an experience that mimics real world experience. For example, when you prepare for experiencing the real thing by:
seeing an image in your mind’s eye
feeling movements as an image
experiencing an image of smell, taste, or sound.
Imagery is an important form of mental practice for both developing and elite athletes and there is evidence that it can support surgeons, too.
Applying imagery to the field of eye surgery in this way is an excellent example of how the SPRINT project applies sport psychology techniques to novel contexts. To find out more about other ways we do this, you can check out our Mental Skills Training Toolkit.