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

The summary today

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.

Also phrased as: "visualisation in archery"; "rehearsing the shot with eyes closed"; "imagery of the technique"; "imagery training"; "visualising the shot routine"

Evidence

• 2016
  Context Archers Published later

  30 Indian national and international archers, six weeks of mental training combined with shoulder strengthening against the usual programme: the ability to imagine movement, measured with the MIQ-R, goes from 12.93 to 13.47 in the treated group, reported as significant without the statistics, with two values for three time points. The questionnaire measures how well one imagines, not what imagery is used for, so it does not separate the cognitive function from the motivational one; the journal has questionable editorial standards.

  Effect of psycho-physiotherapeutic approach in enhancing performance among elite archers Questionable venue · Namrita Dhillon, Narkeesh Arumugam, Harprit Kaur, Shefali Gambhir

• 2021
  Context Other sport Published later

  34 athletes from three precision sports, 7 of them archers, randomly assigned to mental training with a video on a laptop, the same with a virtual reality headset, or a control, for four weeks: the ability to imagine movement (MIQ-R) rises from 3.97 to 5.27 with the video and from 3.57 to 5.04 with the headset, against 3.97 and 4.17 in the control (interaction F(2,31) = 5.833, p = 0.007), with no difference between the two methods. It measures imagery ability rather than its functions, and the results are not split by sport.

  The Effect of Virtual Reality Technology on the Imagery Skills and Performance of Target-Based Sports Athletes · Deniz Bedir, Süleyman Erim Erhan

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  30 Indian national-level archers, aged 16 to 21, randomly split into three groups of 10: imagery, self-regulation and active control, with 12 weeks of 50 to 60 minute sessions three times a week. At the end, adjusting for baseline, cognitive specific imagery is 5.47 ± 0.68 in the imagery group, 4.96 ± 0.80 in self-regulation and 4.71 ± 0.71 in the control (F(2,22) = 6.11, p = 0.008); cognitive general imagery is 5.06 ± 0.68 in the imagery group, 5.34 ± 0.42 in self-regulation and 4.13 ± 0.86 in the control (F = 17.50, p < 0.001). Sport Imagery Questionnaire, scale 1 to 7.

  Effect of psychological intervention on mental imagery of national level archers Questionable venue · Thepfukolie Punyu, Saon Sanyal Bhowmik

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study the three motivational scales do not separate significantly: specific motivational imagery 5.96 ± 0.65, 5.23 ± 1.02 and 4.90 ± 1.07 (p = 0.328); general arousal 4.52, 5.02 and 4.34 (p = 0.100); general mastery 5.05, 5.63 and 4.41 (p = 0.102). The last two show medium-sized effects that miss significance, with ten archers per arm.

  Effect of psychological intervention on mental imagery of national level archers Questionable venue · Thepfukolie Punyu, Saon Sanyal Bhowmik

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  36 novice Olympic archers aged 14 to 18, randomly split into three groups of 12: breathing exercises, guided visualisation and control, two sessions a week for eight weeks. Cognitive imagery does not change in any group (visualisation p = 0.059, breathing p = 0.180, control p = 0.157) and does not differ between groups at the end (Kruskal-Wallis p = 0.444).

  Effects of breathing and imagery exercises on postural sway and shooting performance in Olympic archers · Cansu Keskin, Ayşe Nur Tunali Van Den Berg

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study specific motivational imagery rises in the visualisation group (p = 0.005) but also in the control (p = 0.025), and not in the breathing group (p = 0.059); there is no difference between groups (p = 0.462), as for general arousal (p = 0.931). The authors report small baseline differences between groups that, with samples this small, they could not adjust for.

  Effects of breathing and imagery exercises on postural sway and shooting performance in Olympic archers · Cansu Keskin, Ayşe Nur Tunali Van Den Berg

Status history

1. 1990 Not studied In the registry's bibliography nobody had yet measured, in archers, whether a mental training programme changed the different functions of imagery, imagery of the movement and motivational imagery.
2. 2016 Not studied 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.
3. 2021 Not studied 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.
4. 2025 Contradicted The first two studies arrive in the same year, and they point in opposite directions. In thirty Indian national-level archers, twelve weeks of imagery or self-regulation training raise cognitive imagery above the control group (5.47 against 4.71 for technique, p = 0.008) and leave the motivational scales unmoved; but the study appeared in a journal with doubtful editorial standards, with groups of ten. In thirty-six Turkish novice archers, eight weeks of visualisation do not shift cognitive imagery (p = 0.44 between groups), and specific motivational imagery rises in the control group too. The favourable study, in a doubtful venue, cannot decide the status; what remains is the contrary one, a single study on beginners: contradicted.

Related

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• Does imagining the shot raise your score? What the studies measuredDoes imagining the shot raise your score? Forty years of studies on archers, from a 1986 correlation to controlled trials, and where the evidence stops.

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