Working mechanisms of imagery rescripting (ImRs) in adult patients with childhood-related PTSD: a pilot study.

Background: Imagery rescripting (ImRs) has shown to be an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) resulting from childhood-related trauma. The current theory is that the change of meaning of the trauma memory is central to the treatment. Several authors have suggested that the expression of needs, feelings and actions may act as potential healing factors, but little specific research aimed at (in)validating this hypothesis has been done so far.Objective: In this study we investigated to what extent the expression of inhibited action tendencies and the fulfilling of needs lead to the reduction of PTSD symptoms in clients with early childhood trauma.Method: Recordings of 249 therapy sessions of 24 ImRs treatments were rated with an observation instrument developed for this purpose, after which the scores were related to pre and posttreatment symptoms, assessed with the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R).Results: Scores on the IES-R decreased from pretreatment to posttreatment. The two subscales of the NATS (At-scale and N-scale)significantly predicted the posttreatment scores on the IES-R after controlling for the influence of pretreatment IES-R scores: the better the expression of inhibited action tendencies and the better the fulfilling of needs, the lower the symptoms after treatment.Conclusions: This pilot study on the underlying mechanisms of ImRs in PTSD treatment has shown that the expression of action tendencies and fulfilling basic needs during ImRs are associated with a decrease in PTSD symptoms after treatment, and that actions and basic needs cannot be viewed separately. Follow-up research could focus on which of the six domains of the Needs and Action tendencies Scale (NATS) has the greatest effect on the reduction of PTSD symptoms. With this information we can further improve the ImRs protocol.

The pilot study of working mechanisms of imaginary rescripting shows that the NATS is a reliable research tool for observing expressed action tendencies and fulfilled needs.The better the action tendencies are expressed during treatment and the better the needs are fulfilled, the lower posttreatment symptoms.It seems useful if practitioners are specifically trained during the ImRs training in performing actions that lead to the fulfilment of basic needs.

No clear evidence of a difference between individuals who self-report an absence of auditory imagery and typical imagers on auditory imagery tasks.

Aphantasia is characterised by the inability to create mental images in one's mind. Studies investigating impairments in imagery typically focus on the visual domain. However, it is possible to generate many different forms of imagery including imagined auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, motor, taste and other experiences. Recent studies show that individuals with aphantasia report a lack of imagery in modalities, other than vision, including audition. However, to date, no research has examined whether these reductions in self-reported auditory imagery are associated with decrements in tasks that require auditory imagery. Understanding the extent to which visual and auditory imagery deficits co-occur can help to better characterise the core deficits of aphantasia and provide an alternative perspective on theoretical debates on the extent to which imagery draws on modality-specific or modality-general processes. In the current study, individuals that self-identified as being aphantasic and matched control participants with typical imagery performed two tasks: a musical pitch-based imagery and voice-based categorisation task. The majority of participants with aphantasia self-reported significant deficits in both auditory and visual imagery. However, we did not find a concomitant decrease in performance on tasks which require auditory imagery, either in the full sample or only when considering those participants that reported significant deficits in both domains. These findings are discussed in relation to the mechanisms that might obscure observation of imagery deficits in auditory imagery tasks in people that report reduced auditory imagery.

Coping with test anxiety using imagery rescripting: A two-session randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Up to 55 % of students experience test anxiety (TA), which is characterized by intense physiological and psychological symptoms before or during exams, such as anxiety, fear of failure, sweating, or increased heart rate. Furthermore, TA increases graduation times and can result in discontinuance of the graduate program all together. Previous research demonstrated the beneficial effects of combining cognitive behavioral therapy with imagery rescripting, however, treatment programs are comparably long. Hence, they do not account for the students´ time-sensitive schedules. Therefore, the present study investigates a two-session short-intervention using imagery rescripting to treat TA. METHODS: 44 students and pupils were randomly assigned to either the two-session imagery rescripting intervention (22 participants) or the waitlist-control condition (22 participants). One week before the intervention clinical interviews were conducted and self-report questionnaires on TA, self-efficacy, symptoms of depression, and intrusive prospective images were completed (T1). The same questionnaires were completed one week (T2) and six months after the intervention (T3). RESULTS: Test anxiety significantly decreased from T1 to T2, as well as from T1 to T3 within the intervention group. Furthermore, there were medium to large within and between group effects for situational test anxiety, self-efficacy, symptoms of depression, as well as prospective intrusive images, showing significant improvements for the intervention group at six months follow-up. LIMITATIONS: The study is limited to the comparably small sample size, as well as the sole usage of self-report measurements. CONCLUSIONS: The presented short-intervention provides a feasible treatment technique, which can be easily applied within school and university counseling centers.

An imagery rescripting based intervention in children and adolescents who endured a negative life event: A pilot study, satisfaction and feasibility survey.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: ImRs, a technique targeting distressing mental images, has shown promise in adult psychiatric treatment. Initial research indicates positive outcomes in children, with potential for reducing mental health care burden. This pilot study examined the use of Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) as an intervention for children who have experienced negative life events. We aimed to assess short-term emotional changes, participant satisfaction, and the feasibility of a larger-scale ImRs intervention for children. METHODS: We employed a pre-posttest within-group design, and included 35 children (ages 5-18) who experienced negative life events, as well as 12 coaches. ImRs targeted distressing images related to negative events. Measurement tools included Visual Analogue Scales for distress and emotions, along with satisfaction surveys for both children and coaches. The feasibility of a larger-scale study was also explored through a coach questionnaire. RESULTS: We found significant short-term improvements for all emotional states, with large effects for anxiety, sadness, and happiness, and a moderate effect for anger. Children reported fair levels of satisfaction with the intervention's acceptability and complexity. Coaches expressed high levels of satisfaction with the intervention as a whole and with its characteristics. Coaches were also strongly motivation for future, more in-depth research. An important limitation of this pilot study was the lack of a control group. In light of the promising results, more extensive studies with diagnostic information, multiple measures, and follow-up assessments are warranted. CONCLUSION: Altogether, imagery rescripting based interventions seem a promising venue for children who experienced negative events.

Non-fear emotions in changes in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms during treatment.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not only associated with fear but also with other emotions. The present study aimed to examine if changes in shame, guilt, anger, and disgust predicted changes in PTSD symptoms during treatment, while also testing if PTSD symptoms, in turn, predicted changes in these emotions. METHODS: Participants (N = 155) with childhood-related PTSD received a maximum of 12 sessions of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing or imagery rescripting. The data was analyzed using Granger causality models across 12 treatment sessions and 6 assessment sessions (up until one year after the start of treatment). Differences between the two treatments were explored. RESULTS: Across treatment sessions, shame, and disgust showed a reciprocal relationship with PTSD symptoms, while changes in guilt preceded PTSD symptoms. Across assessments, anger was reciprocally related to PTSD, suggesting that anger might play a more important role in the longer term. LIMITATIONS: The individual emotion items were not yet validated, and the CAPS was not administered at all assessments. CONCLUSIONS: These findings partly differ from earlier studies that suggested a unidirectional relationship in which changes in emotions preceded changes in PTSD symptoms during treatment. This is in line with the idea that non-fear emotions do play an important role in the treatment of PTSD and constitute an important focus of treatment and further research.

Adaptive Time-Frequency Segment Optimization for Motor Imagery Classification.

Motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) has emerged as a crucial method for rehabilitating stroke patients. However, the variability in the time-frequency distribution of MI-electroencephalography (EEG) among individuals limits the generalizability of algorithms that rely on non-customized time-frequency segments. In this study, we propose a novel method for optimizing time-frequency segments of MI-EEG using the sparrow search algorithm (SSA). Additionally, we apply a correlation-based channel selection (CCS) method that considers the correlation coefficient of features between each pair of EEG channels. Subsequently, we utilize a regularized common spatial pattern method to extract effective features. Finally, a support vector machine is employed for signal classification. The results on three BCI datasets confirmed that our algorithm achieved better accuracy (99.11% vs. 94.00% for BCI Competition III Dataset IIIa, 87.70% vs. 81.10% for Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences dataset, and 87.94% vs. 81.97% for BCI Competition IV Dataset 1) compared to algorithms with non-customized time-frequency segments. Our proposed algorithm enables adaptive optimization of EEG time-frequency segments, which is crucial for the development of clinically effective motor rehabilitation.

When does imagery rescripting become a double-edged sword? - Investigating the risk of memory distortion through imagery rescripting in an online Trauma film study.

Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) has proven effective in reducing involuntary emotional memories. However, it is unclear whether and when it may lead to reduced accuracy of voluntary memory. Although previous analogue studies suggest that ImRs does not pose a general risk regarding memory distortion, it can not be ruled out that ImRs could cause memory impairment under certain risk conditions. In our three-day online trauma film study we investigated in a healthy sample (N = 267) whether specific instructions during ImRs as typically provided in clinical practice (i.e., detailed imagery with a sensory focus) increase the risk of memory distortions. Additionally, we examined whether the completeness of the original memory moderates these instruction effects. Contrary to our expectations, a sensory focus during ImRs was associated with higher memory accuracy in a recognition task, independently of the quality of the original memory. These results extend previous findings by suggesting that ImRs does not even impair memory performance when the quality of the original memory is poor and when the production of sensory-rich images is specifically encouraged. Our results question current practices employed to assess witness statement credibility, which are partly based on concerns that trauma-focused interventions like ImRs undermine memory accuracy.

Early sleep after action observation plus motor imagery improves gait and balance abilities in older adults.

Action observation plus motor imagery (AOMI) is a rehabilitative approach to improve gait and balance performance. However, limited benefits have been reported in older adults. Early sleep after motor practice represents a strategy to enhance the consolidation of trained skills. Here, we investigated the effects of AOMI followed by early sleep on gait and balance performance in older adults. Forty-five older adults (mean age: 70.4 ± 5.2 years) were randomized into three groups performing a 3-week training. Specifically, AOMI-sleep and AOMI-control groups underwent observation and motor imagery of gait and balance tasks between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. or between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. respectively, whereas Control group observed landscape video-clips. Participants were assessed for gait performance, static and dynamic balance and fear of falling before and after training and at 1-month follow-up. The results revealed that early sleep after AOMI training sessions improved gait and balance abilities in older adults compared to AOMI-control and Control groups. Furthermore, these benefits were retained at 1-month after the training end. These findings suggested that early sleep after AOMI may represent a safe and easy-applicable intervention to minimize the functional decay in older adults.

Self-guided imagery rescripting for worry images: A preliminary experimental investigation.

BACKGROUND: Mental images of feared events are overactive and intrusive in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Imagery rescripting involves integration of positive or neutral imagery and corrective information into images to facilitate emotional processing, reduce imagery intrusions, and re-structure underlying schema. Yet only one known study has applied the technique to treatment of worry. The present study aimed first to examine the relationship between trait worry and properties of future-oriented worry images, and second to examine the efficacy of a self-guided imagery rescripting intervention in improving individuals' response to their worries. METHODS: Participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 365) identified their major worry and wrote the script of a worst-case scenario mental image. Participants were randomized to three conditions: re-writing the same worry image script (exposure), or writing scripts of either one or three positive alternative future-oriented images (rescripting conditions). RESULTS: In preliminary analyses, trait worry negatively predicted participants' ratings of worry images, including valence and ability to cope, and positively predicted distress, anticipated cost, and belief in their negative meaning. In experimental analyses, linear mixed-effects models revealed anxious response and cognitive appraisal of the threat were significantly lower among participants allocated to rescripting relative to exposure. There was no effect of rescripting type. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation demonstrated the impact of a future-oriented imagery rescripting task on anxiety and cognitive biases associated with real worries in an unselected sample. Results may contribute to the development of imagery rescripting interventions for GAD.

The role of visual imagery in story reading: Evidence from aphantasia.

Aphantasia is a condition in which people are unable to experience visual imagery. Since visual imagery is thought to be key to language processing, we hypothesized the experience of a story would differ between individuals with aphantasia and controls. Forty-seven individuals with aphantasia were compared to fifty-one matched controls on their experience of reading a short story and their general reading habits. Aphantasics were less likely to be engaged with, interested in, and absorbed in the story, and experienced reduced emotional engagement with and sympathy for the story characters, compared to controls. Yet, aphantasics and controls did not differ in how much they liked or appreciated the story, and in general, the reading habits of the two groups also did not differ. Results have implications for embodied theories of language, suggesting visual imagery may influence how a story is experienced, but it is not the only route to story enjoyment.

Linguistic and affective characteristics of script-driven imagery for adults with posttraumatic stress order: Associations with clinical outcomes during deep transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Brief exposure to traumatic memories using script-driven imagery (SDI) has been proposed as a promising treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study investigated the effect of SDI plus active versus sham deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial for adults with PTSD (N = 134). Linguistic features of scripts and self-reported distress during a 12-session deep TMS treatment protocol were examined as they related to (a) baseline PTSD symptom severity, (b) trauma characteristics, and (c) treatment outcomes. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software was used to analyze the following linguistic features of SDIs: negative emotion, authenticity, and cognitive processing. More use of negative emotion words was associated with less severe self-reported and clinician-rated baseline PTSD symptom severity, r = -.18, p = .038. LIWC features did not differ based on index trauma type, range: F(3, 125) = 0.29-0.49, ps = .688-.831. Between-session reductions in self-reported distress across SDI trials predicted PTSD symptom improvement across both conditions at 5-week, B = -15.68, p = .010, and 9-week endpoints, B = -16.38, p = .011. Initial self-reported distress and linguistic features were not associated with treatment outcomes. The findings suggest that individuals with PTSD who experience between-session habituation to SDI-related distress are likely to experience a corresponding improvement in PTSD symptoms.

Guidelines for reporting action simulation studies (GRASS): Proposals to improve reporting of research in motor imagery and action observation.

Researchers from multiple disciplines have studied the simulation of actions through motor imagery, action observation, or their combination. Procedures used in these studies vary considerably between research groups, and no standardized approach to reporting experimental protocols has been proposed. This has led to under-reporting of critical details, impairing the assessment, replication, synthesis, and potential clinical translation of effects. We provide an overview of issues related to the reporting of information in action simulation studies, and discuss the benefits of standardized reporting. We propose a series of checklists that identify key details of research protocols to include when reporting action simulation studies. Each checklist comprises A) essential methodological details, B) essential details that are relevant to a specific mode of action simulation, and C) further points that may be useful on a case-by-case basis. We anticipate that the use of these guidelines will improve the understanding, reproduction, and synthesis of studies using action simulation, and enhance the translation of research using motor imagery and action observation to applied and clinical settings.

Relationships Between Cultural Factors and Engaging in Guided Imagery and Music: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.

Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) is now practiced and taught on every inhabited continent. With this international growth of GIM, both GIM therapists and clients have unique cultural backgrounds that are often different from the US American context in which the method was originally developed. According to this reality, we undertook a cross-cultural study to explore how cultural factors relate to ways in which GIM clients engage in the therapeutic process. This research study is based on a qualitative and interpretivist approach that utilized thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. Six GIM advanced trainees from three countries (Japan, Spain, and the US) participated in the study. Eight themes emerged that describe significant cultural factors that affected the initial stages of engaging in GIM as clients: personal experiences with non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC); spirituality; physical distance; linguistic expression; professional/academic background; socio-economic aspects; social norms/expectations; and non-directive facilitation/attitudes. The first seven of these themes constituted aspects of the participants' individual sociocultural backgrounds that shaped their initial experiences of and expectations for GIM sessions and affected their GIM engagement. The eighth theme emerged as a transcultural factor in which a non-directive approach used by their GIM therapists allowed participants to engage in GIM more readily and form a new set of norms and expectations within their GIM sessions. Our research suggests that as participants developed a new set of norms and expectations as they acclimated to GIM, the therapist's non-directive stance provided a bridge between these two sets of social or cultural norms.

Effect of Guided Imagery on Patient Comfort, Vital Signs, Pain, Anxiety, and Satisfaction in Cancer Patients Undergoing Port Catheterization With Local Anesthesia: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND: Port catheter placement is usually an operation performed under local anesthesia. Being conscious during the interventions performed with local anesthesia can lead to anxiety and stress. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of guided imagery performed before and during the procedure on vital signs and comfort, pain, anxiety, and satisfaction levels in patients with cancer undergoing port catheterization with local anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 80 patients were included in the study. Patients in the intervention group received standard treatment and nursing care, as well as a guided imagery intervention once before and once during the procedure. Patients in the control group received only standard treatment and nursing care. RESULTS: Patients in the guided imagery group reported lower pain and anxiety scores, higher patient satisfaction, and increased comfort compared with patients in the control group. Patients in the guided imagery group showed significantly lower respiratory rate and heart rate than the control group by the end of the procedure. There was no significant difference in blood pressure. CONCLUSION: Practicing guided imagery before and during a procedure performed under local anesthesia reduced cancer patients' pain, increased patient satisfaction and comfort, and had a positive effect on their respiratory and heart rates. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: We recommend guided imagery as a practical, low-cost complementary therapy for patients receiving local anesthesia.

Efficacy of an internet-based written imagery rescripting intervention for survivors of institutional childhood abuse - A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Institutional childhood abuse can have a long-term impact on the survivors' mental health, however, treatment for this group is limited and not always accessible. An internet-based intervention was developed, with the aim to reduce psychological sequelae relating to institutional abuse. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the efficacy of an online imagery rescripting intervention for survivors of institutional abuse, through assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and CPTSD. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Seventy-two adult survivors of institutional childhood abuse in the former German Democratic Republic were randomized either to the intervention (n = 38) or to the waitlist condition (n = 34). The intervention consisted of 10 modules, based on written imagery rescripting, and involved asynchronous therapist contact. METHODS: Primary outcomes included symptoms of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), PTSD (ITQ), and CPTSD (ITQ DSO). The intervention condition was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analyses revealed a significant symptom reduction from baseline to post-assessment with medium to large effects for all main outcomes (d = 0.45 to d = 0.76), in favor of the intervention condition. Significant interactions between condition (intervention vs. wailist) and time (baseline vs. post-assesment) were revealed for all main outcomes (p < .001 to p = .024). The effects were maintained at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest online writing-based imagery rescripting as a promising treatment option for adults formerly institutionalized in residential care. Future research is needed to explore its effectiveness for other groups of patients suffering from abuse and neglect.

The effectiveness of two novel approaches to prevent intrusions: A pilot study comparing Tetris_dualtask and imagery rescripting to control.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a global health problem. Although effective treatments for it exist, early interventions that prevent PTSD from developing are lacking. The aim of this pilot analogue trauma study was to compare the effects of two potential early intervention strategies, namely Tetris_dualtask and imagery rescripting (IR) to a no-intervention control group on intrusion frequency and the vividness and emotionality of aversive film memory. METHODS: Sixty healthy students were subjected to the trauma film paradigm and randomly allocated to either: Tetris_dualtask, IR or no-intervention. Main outcomes were the number of film-related intrusions at one week and vividness and emotionality ratings of the most aversive film memory. Secondary outcomes were PTSD-like symptoms, intrusion intensity, and explicit film memory. RESULTS: The Tetris_dualtask group reported significant fewer intrusions compared to the no-intervention group; whereas the IR group did not. No effect was found on vividness and emotionality ratings, PTSD-like symptoms, intrusion intensity, and explicit memory. LIMITATIONS: The sample size was small, and analogue trauma in healthy individuals was examined, thus generalizability may be limited. Also, to increase comparability between interventions, the duration of Tetris_dualtask and IR was standardized. As a result, the IR intervention was shorter compared to other studies, which might have decreased its efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this pilot study suggest that playing Tetris during retrieval of traumatic images, might hold potential as an early intervention strategy to reduce intrusions in the early aftermath of trauma and adversity. However, future large-scale replication research is needed.

The effect of guided imagery applied on geriatric orthopaedic patients on preoperative anxiety and comfort.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to examine the effect of guided imagery applied to geriatric orthopaedic patients on preoperative anxiety and comfort. METHODS: This study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial. The population of the study consisted of geriatric patients treated in the orthopaedics and traumatology clinic of a university hospital. The sample consisted of 80 patients, including the experimental group (n = 40) and the control group (n = 40). Personal Descriptive Form, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and General Comfort Scale were used as data collection tools. RESULTS: After the guided imagery application, it was determined that the anxiety of the experimental group decreased statistically significantly, and their comfort improved (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: After the imagery, it was determined that the patients in the experimental group had a decrease in their anxiety level and an improvement in their comfort. Since it is a low-cost and easily accessible method, applying imagery in the preoperative period is recommended.

Impact of the baseline temporal selection on the ERD/ERS analysis for Motor Imagery-based BCI.

Motor Imagery-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (MI-BCIs) are neurotechnologies that exploit the modulation of sensorimotor rhythms over the motor cortices, respectively known as Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) and Synchronization (ERS). The interpretation of ERD/ERS is directly related to the selection of the baseline used to estimate them, and might result in a misleading ERD/ERS visualization. In fact, in BCI paradigms, if two trials are separated by a few seconds, taking a baseline close to the end of the previous trial could result in an over-estimation of the ERD, while taking a baseline too close to the upcoming trial could result in an under-estimation of the ERD. This phenomenon may cause a functional misinterpretation of the ERD/ERS phenomena in MI-BCI studies. This may also impair BCI performances for MI vs Rest classification, since such baselines are often used as resting states. In this paper, we propose to investigate the effect of several baseline time window selections on ERD/ERS modulations and BCI performances. Our results show that considering the selected temporal baseline effect is essential to analyze the modulations of ERD/ERS during MI-BCI use.

Deep temporal networks for EEG-based motor imagery recognition.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) based motor imagery (MI) signal classification, also known as motion recognition, is a highly popular area of research due to its applications in robotics, gaming, and medical fields. However, the problem is ill-posed as these signals are non-stationary and noisy. Recently, a lot of efforts have been made to improve MI signal classification using a combination of signal decomposition and machine learning techniques but they fail to perform adequately on large multi-class datasets. Previously, researchers have implemented long short-term memory (LSTM), which is capable of learning the time-series information, on the MI-EEG dataset for motion recognition. However, it can not model very long-term dependencies present in the motion recognition data. With the advent of transformer networks in natural language processing (NLP), the long-term dependency issue has been widely addressed. Motivated by the success of transformer algorithms, in this article, we propose a transformer-based deep learning neural network architecture that performs motion recognition on the raw BCI competition III IVa and IV 2a datasets. The validation results show that the proposed method achieves superior performance than the existing state-of-the-art methods. The proposed method produces classification accuracy of 99.7% and 84% on the binary class and the multi-class datasets, respectively. Further, the performance of the proposed transformer-based model is also compared with LSTM.

Different pedagogical approaches to motor imagery both demonstrate individualized movement patterns to achieve improved performance outcomes when learning a complex motor skill.

Cognitive training techniques such as motor imagery (MI)-cognitive simulation of movement, has been found to successfully facilitate skill acquisition. The MI literature emphasizes the need to accurately imitate key elements of motor execution to facilitate improved performance outcomes. However, there is a scarcity of MI research investigating how contemporary approaches to motor learning, such as nonlinear pedagogy (NLP), can be integrated into MI practice. Grounded in an ecological dynamics approach to human movement, NLP proposes that skilled action is an emergent process that results from continuous interactions between perceptual information of the environment and movement. This emergent process can be facilitated by the manipulation of key task constraints that aim to encourage learners to explore movement solutions that satisfy individual constraints (e.g., height and weight) and achieve successful performance outcomes. The aim of the present study was to explore the application of a NLP approach to MI approach for skill acquisition. Fourteen weightlifting beginners (two female and 12 male) participated in a 4-week intervention involving either NLP (i.e. analogy-based instructions and manipulation of task constraints) or a linear pedagogy (LP; prescriptive instructions of optimal technique, repetition of same movement form) to learn a complex weightlifting derivative. Performance accuracy, movement criterion (barbell trajectory type), kinematic data, and quantity of exploration/exploitation were measured pre-mid-post intervention. No significant differences (p = .438) were observed in the amount of exploration between LP (EER = 0.41) and NLP (EER = 0.26) conditions. Equivalent changes in rearward displacement (R×D) were observed with no significant differences between conditions for technique assessments 1, 2, or 3 (p = .13 - .67). Both NLP and LP conditions were found to primarily demonstrate 'sub-optimal' type 3 barbell trajectories (NLP = 72%; LP = 54%). These results suggest that MI instructions prescribing a specific movement form (i.e., LP condition) are ineffective in restricting available movements to a prescribed technique but rather the inherent task constraints appear to 'force' learners to explore alternative movement solutions to achieve successful performance outcomes. Although MI instructions prescribing specific techniques have previously supported improved skill development, the current findings indicate that learners may self-organise their movements regardless of MI instructions to satisfy individual and task constraints while achieving improved performance. Therefore, it may be beneficial to consider scripts that are more outcome focused and incorporate task constraints to facilitate learners' inherent exploration of individual task solutions.