Table 5. Relative changes (%) of physiological variables after imagined exercise.

Study	Characteristics (Age; n; Sex; AL)	Intervention	Physical task	HR (%)	BP (%)	RR (%)
Beyer et al. (1990)	NR; 8; NR; Student	Imagery	Swimming (100 m)	↑71.42	NR	NR
Decety et al. (1993)	21-25; 6; Male; Healthy participants	Imagery Actual exercise	Leg exercise (ergometer) 15 kg load 19 kg load 15 kg load 19 kg load	↑53.57 ↑84.42 ↑101.59 ↑138.48	NR	↑226.92 ↑210.34 ↑110.93 ↑126.08
Decety et al. (1991)	18-26; 11; Male and female; SGPC	Imagery Actual exercise	Treadmill running (3 min each condition) 5 km/h 8 km/h 12 km/h 5 km/h 8 km/h 12 km/h	↑8.25 ↑13.20 ↑19.45 ↑44.20 ↑70.72 ↑106.08	NR	NR
Fusi et al. (2005)	22-24; 14; Male and female; Healthy participants	Imagery Actual exercise	Walking task (treadmill) 2 km/h 3.5 km/h 5 km/h 2 km/h 3.5 km/h 5 km/h	↑3.75 NSD ↑5 NSD ↑5 NSD ↑6.25 ↑12.5 ↑26.25	NR	NR
Ranganathan et al. (2004)	29.7±4.8; 16; NR; Healthy untrained participants	Imagery	Fifth finger abduction	↑8.33	↑7.76	NR

AL: activity level; HR: heart rate; BP: blood pressure; RR: respiratory rate; SGPC: subjects in good physical condition; NSD: no significant difference compared to pre-training; NR: not reported; ↑: increased.