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The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the use of imagery in vocal professionals' efforts to achieve optimal performance based on research from sport psychology. The four Ws of imagery use: where, when, what, and why have been applied to this study from the fields of athletics (Munroe, Giacobbi, Hall, & Weinberg, 2000) and dance (Nordin & Cumming, 2005). These were adopted after many years of research in athletic performance excellence, with particular reference to the Analytic Framework of the Cognitive and Motivational Functions of Imagery (Paivio, 1985; Hall, Mack, Paivio, & Hausenblas, 1998). This theoretical framework was combined with those of previous interview studies investigating professional musical performers in their use of imagery (Bellon, 2006; Carter, 1993; Trusheim, 1987) and provided a foundation for this study. Theories from psychology explaining the effects of imagery were also integrated, including functional equivalence and neuroimaging. An exploratory design was chosen to investigate the comprehensive nature of this inquiry using a purposeful sample (N = 15). A semi-structured interview based on the four Ws was conducted with 15 solo classical vocal professionals, 10 females (sopranos and mezzos) and 5 males (tenors and a baritone) ranging in age from late twenties to late sixties, residing in several major cities of the United States. Vocalists used imagery during practice, before performance, at home, traveling, and a range of other times. Imagery content was divided into types and characteristics. Vocalists' use of imagery types encompassed execution, metaphorical, context, body-related, musical sound, and character/role images. Imagery was employed to perfect vocal production and quality, embody the character's qualities and emotional aspects for performance, visualize metaphorical and anatomical images to achieve proper vocal execution, achieve goals, and communicate with the audience. Imagery characteristics of vocalists involved visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses, using primarily internal and some external perspectives. These professionals' imagery abilities were deliberate, controllable, and positive. Similar to competitive athletes, solo vocal performers engaged in imagery for many cognitive and motivational functions. Vocalists replicated dancers in artistic, and healing functions of imagery use in preparing for and achieving optimal performance.

La simulation clinique peut causer un sentiment d’anxiété chez les participants, pouvant affecter, entre autres, leur capacité à intégrer des apprentissages. Des stratégies efficaces, mais non suffisantes, sont utilisées durant le prébriefing par les formateurs afin de diminuer ce sentiment d’anxiété. Une stratégie intéressante, mais peu étudiée dans un contexte de simulation clinique est la visualisation de type répétition mentale. Le but de ce mémoire était d’évaluer, auprès d’étudiants en sciences infirmières, l’effet d’une intervention de répétition mentale sur le sentiment d’anxiété et sur la perception de la performance en contexte de simulation clinique. La théorie de moyenne portée sur la simulation de la NLN/Jeffries et al. (2015) et les facteurs identifiés dans les écrits comme pouvant causer un sentiment d’anxiété ont encadré cette étude. L’intervention, d’une durée de 30 minutes, consistait en quatre étapes adaptées de la méthode d’Ignacio et al. (2016) : introduction à la répétition mentale, activité d’orientation interactive en ligne, activité de relaxation et activité de répétition mentale guidée. L’intervention a été proposée en prébriefing d’une simulation clinique en soins critiques auprès de 121 étudiants en sciences infirmières. Post-intervention, un questionnaire anonyme et autoadministré a été rempli par des participants sur une base volontaire (n=45 ; taux de réponse de 37 %). Les réponses ont été analysées selon l’approche inductive de Elo et Kyngäs (2008). Les résultats de l’analyse ont permis d’identifier trois catégories : effets positifs et négatifs sur le sentiment d’anxiété et sur la perception de la performance, et facteurs ayant diminué l’efficacité de l’intervention. / Clinical simulation can elicit a feeling of anxiety to participants. This feeling can have negative impacts on the capacity to retain knowledge, among others. Even though most educator-driven strategies used in prebriefing seem effective, they can be insufficient to mitigate the feeling of anxiety for some participants. Mental rehearsal is a strategy that has not been studied much in a nursing clinical simulation. The aim of this memoir was to evaluate the effects of a mental rehearsal intervention on the feeling of anxiety and on the perception of performance of undergraduate nursing students in a context of clinical simulation. The mid-range simulation theory by NLN/ Jeffries et al. (2015) and the factors identified in the literature as contributors to a feeling of anxiety in a simulation were the framework for this study. The 30 minutes intervention consisted of four phases, adapted from the method proposed by Ignacio et al. (2016): an introduction to mental rehearsal, an interactive online activity, a relaxation activity, and a guided mental rehearsal activity. The intervention was offered to 121 undergraduate nursing students during the prebriefing of a clinical simulation in critical care. After the intervention, an anonymous self-administered survey has been completed by participants on a voluntary basis (n=45; 37 % answering rate). The data analysis process followed the inductive approach proposed by Elo et Kyngäs (2008). Three categories were identified as results of the analysis: positive and negative effects on the perception of anxiety and performance, and factors that decreased the effectiveness of the intervention.

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of cognitive and emotional processes during the three reflective stages of the experiential learning cycle of experiential activities using written debriefings. The study examined three written debriefings from five senior-level undergraduate management students enrolled in a business management course. The debriefings consisted of four to five free-response questions modeled after Kolb’s experiential learning cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The study triangulated results using two qualitative methods, a grounded theory analysis and a content analysis. In the grounded theory analysis, two process maps were developed from the debriefings. A learning process map identified four stages of learning: introduction, mental rehearsal, abstraction, and priming. A group process map identified four stages of group experiential activities: problem-solving, consensus building, reactions, and resolution. The group decision-making process was seen to follow four paths: agreement, teamwork, conflict or confusion. A possible moderating variable, prior group affiliation, affected the persistence of the groups in finding satisfactory solutions when encountering conflict, or confusion. Six themes emerged from the grounded analysis: iterative reflection, richness of connections, attachment of personal reactions, role of writing in debriefings, fluid group development, and the role of affiliation. In the content analysis, three raters coded the debriefings using seven variables: content, process, connections, context, affect, relevance, and intent. Growth was seen between the first half and second half of debriefings for all variables, and the presence and intensity of variables was highest for all variables except content during the last stage of the experiential learning cycle, active experimentation. The amount of content present in debriefings was highest during the third stage, abstract conceptualization. The results of this study may provide insight into the mental processes that occur in written reflection and help instructors design experiential learning debriefings.

Jag har under projektets gång studerat in fem renässansstycken för klassisk gitarr utan att ta hjälp av instrumentet vid instuderingsprocessen och analyserat resultatet utifrån ett hermaneutiskt perspektiv. Instuderingen av styckena har skett helt mentalt genom en kombination av två olika metoder för mental instudering baserat på Giesking och Liemers (1972) Visualizarion och en metod som Pujol (1983) presenterat som jag i denna studie väljer att kalla för Praktiskt Föreställande. Syftet är att se hur väl jag kan studera in ett stycke helt utan instrument i handen och att utforska hur den mentala instuderingsprocessen utvecklas under projektets gång i takt med att jag lär mig mer om metoderna genom att använda dem. Under den fem veckor långa studien förde jag loggbok där jag reflekterade och redovisade för mina instuderingstillfällen samt spelade in uppspelet av vart stycke med video och ljud. Varje instuderingsperiod á en vecka ledde till en utveckling av metoderna. I resultatet presenterar jag hur min användning av de båda metoderna gradvis utvecklas och hur det klingande resultatet i sin tur förbättras av den mentala förberedelsen. I diskussionskapitlet ställs mitt resultat mot mitt teoretiska perspektiv samt relevant litteratur och tidigare forskning inom området.   Nyckelord: gitarr, mental träning, visualisering, observationsstudie, notläsning, prima vista, hermeneutik / I have during this project studied five renaissance pieces for classical guitar without the help of my instrument while studying them and analyzed the results from a hermeneutical point of view. The studying of the pieces has been a completely mental process and a combination of two methods for mental rehearsal that have been used based on Giesking and Liemers (1972) Visualization and a method presented by Pujol (1983) that I during this study will call Practical Imagery. The intention is to explore how the process of mental rehearsal will evolve during the project as I learn more about the methods by using them. During the five-week long study I wrote a journal used for me to reflect and present the process of studying the pieces and recorded each performance with video and audio. Each period lead to me evolving the use of the methods. In the results I present how the use of both methods lead to them both gradually evolved and how the performance was affected by the mental training. In the discussion chapter I compare the results to my theoretical perspective, relevant literature and former research within the subject matter.   Keywords: guitar, mental rehearsal, visualization, observational study, reading sheet music, sight reading, hermeneutics