Mental training increases an archer's use of cognitive imagery, but not of motivational imagery · What changed

Claim page revised, version 3

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Two controlled studies, published in the same year, use a questionnaire to measure how much archers use imagery before and after a programme, and they do not agree. In thirty Indian national-level archers, twelve weeks of imagery or self-regulation training raise cognitive imagery above the control group: imagery of technique reaches 5.47 against 4.71 on a 1 to 7 scale (p = 0.008), imagery of strategy and routines 5.34 with self-regulation and 5.06 with imagery training, against 4.13 (p < 0.001), while the three motivational scales do not separate significantly (p between 0.10 and 0.33). In thirty-six Turkish novice archers aged 14 to 18, eight weeks of visualisation change cognitive imagery neither within the group nor against the others (p = 0.44 between groups), and specific motivational imagery rises in both the trained group and the control. The supporting study appeared in a journal with doubtful editorial standards and has groups of ten, and under the registry's rule a doubtful venue does not decide the status: it counts as context, and the only study that does decide runs against the first half of the claim. That study, though, is on beginners, with groups of twelve, and neither looks at the score. Before them, two mental training programmes had seen the ability to imagine movement rise, one on archers in a doubtful venue and one on athletes from three precision sports, but that questionnaire does not distinguish cognitive from motivational imagery.

History updated: entry for 2021, Not studied

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

In thirty-four athletes from three precision sports, seven of them archers, four weeks of mental training with a video or with a virtual reality headset raise the ability to imagine movement more than in the control group: from 3.97 to 5.27 with the video, from 3.57 to 5.04 with the headset, against 4.17 (p = 0.007). Here too the questionnaire measures imagery ability rather than its functions, and the seven archers have no results of their own. Nobody has yet compared cognitive with motivational imagery: the question remains unstudied.

History updated: entry for 2016, Not studied

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

The first mental training programme in archers to measure imagery comes from thirty Indian archers of national and international level: six weeks of mental work combined with shoulder strengthening, and for the ability to imagine movement the paper gives two values, 12.93 and 13.47, for three time points, with an improvement reported as significant without the statistics. That questionnaire, though, measures how well one imagines, not what imagery is used for, and the journal has questionable editorial standards. The difference between cognitive and motivational imagery remains unstudied.

"Mental training increases an archer's use of cognitive imagery, but not of motivational imagery" added to the registry as Contradicted

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 08:00:00 GMT