Do you ever practice playing the piano in your mind by tapping on imaginary black and white keys when you have no piano in front of you? It’s not unusual--great pianists like Polish-American Arthur Rubinstein sometimes used to practice in their minds.
For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to understand how this mental training works. In the 1930s, researchers showed that when you’re imagining an action, your brain sends signals to your muscles that are too weak to make the muscles move but might help train the body to perform. Practicing in your head might also create an inner how-to guide for a special skill in your mind.
Sports psychologist（心理学家）have carried out hundreds of studies comparing imagined and real-life practice for actions such as juggling and tap dancing, according to the Popular Science website. Overall, the research shows that mental training works. A 2012 study, for example, compared 32 amateur golfers who tried to hit golf balls into holes to another 32 who just held a golf club in their hands and thought about their swings. Under the same training, both groups ended up doing better and getting the ball about four inches（10cm）closer to the hole.
Visualization has advantages over the real thing: you can do it anywhere, even when injured. It’s safe--a big advantage for people who work in jobs in which there are big problems when things go wrong, such as gymnasts and surgeons（外科医生）. And you can practice for longer periods of time in your head because your body can’t get tired. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, however. “We’ve had Olympic-level athletes sitting in our lab, visualizing for two hours,” says Tadhg MacIntyre, a sports psychologist at the University of Limerick in Ireland. “When we’re done, they’re incredibly tired.”
It doesn’t work for everyone, though. “If you’re not experienced in the activity, it can make things worse,” warns MacIntyre. “If you’re trying to visualize a free throw, and you don’t even know the proper way to hold the ball and move, then you’re probably going to practice the wrong skill in your head, and you won’t get better.”
32.According to the text, mental training .
A.can be as effective as physical training B.is good for building up muscles C.can benefit beginners as well as masters D.is suitable for all kinds of skills
33.The underlined word “visualization” in Paragraph 4 probably means .
A.practicing a physical action B.mental training for muscles C.seeing something in your mind D.imagining practicing an action
34.One of the advantages visualization has over the real thing is .
A.it can prevent things from going wrong B.it can be done wherever you are C.it saves you time and energy D.it is simple and relaxing
35.The text is mainly written to .
A.give readers suggestions on how to improve their sports skills B.introduce a variety of techniques that can be used to improve certain skills C.share some information about visualization and its benefits and limits
D.tell readers how to create an inner how-to guide for a special skill in their minds