Two basic views of what imagery really is are the pictorialists view and the descriptionists view. Pictorialists believe that images in our brain are scanned with our minds eye and thought of as real images, not made up. Descriptionists believe that it is the details of our language that make these scanned images seem real. Neither theory has been proved due to a lack of knowledge in this subject area, which is a very complicated one to understand. Imagery can be used by athletes in two different methods. They can use internal imagery and external imagery. Internal imagery is creating images in the first person view, which is more commonly used because that is how we see things. External imagery is creating images in the third person view, which is said to be less effective, although psychologists argue is can be just as good because it provides the athlete with a different and unique view of the situation. .
Whichever method of imagery used, it still serves the same function for the athlete. Imagery can have a cognitive function or a motivational function depending how the athlete uses it. The cognitive function uses imagery to prepare strategies before games or to improve on skills. The motivational function uses imagery to deal with emotions. Imagery has many important functions that can help an athlete in different aspects of the sport. One very important use of imagery is for the athlete to build his or her confidence by gaining confidence. If the athletes picture themselves accomplishing goals then they are going to be more confident they can do it. Also picturing these goals can motivate them. Another way of getting motivated is by recalling past events when the athlete had succeeded in doing something they are trying to do again. By remembering that they accomplished it before, they will know they can do it again. An example of this is if a baseball player is up to bat against a pitcher he has faced before, if he had success in the past against this pitcher he can just remember what had happened the previous time and do it again.