Imagery practice improves the score

The summary today

Here the association and the controlled test say different things, and they have been doing so for forty years. Among more than a hundred American archers, those who reported using visual imagery more had higher average scores, but that is a snapshot, and in the same study image control and vividness did not reach the threshold. The first intervention with a comparison group, in eighteen Greek national-level archers, measured scores in two indoor competitions four weeks apart and found no advantage: both groups had gained about fifteen points out of six hundred. Since then the results have alternated. The largest gains come from beginners, where learning the shot itself adds in, and from the studies with the most fragile designs: no comparison group, non-random allocation, or journals with doubtful editorial standards. The 2025 randomised study on thirty national-level Indian archers belongs here too: after twelve weeks it gives the imagery group a seventeen-point advantage, but all it says about the shooting test is that the archers shot the regulation number of arrows. The clearest result in favour from a journal with no warning flag, thirty-six Turkish teenagers starting out, gives almost five points over nine arrows to the group that added imagery, yet in the same work the questionnaires on imagery use do not move, so what changed is unclear. And there is a hint that a group average may hide opposite effects: among eight Olympic archers interviewed, some picture the shot from inside, one from outside, and one avoids imagery because it leaves them unsure of themselves.

Also phrased as: "does imagery raise archery scores"; "mental rehearsal of the shot"; "imagery training for archers"; "visualising arrows in the middle"

Evidence

• 1986
  For Archers Published later

  188 American recurve archers, from beginners to an Olympic medallist, with 62 variables related to their yearly average score: among the 115 with complete data, reported use of visual imagery correlates with score, r = 0.33 (p < 0.005), and the four levels also differ on that scale, F(3,123) = 3.10 (p < 0.05). It is a cross-sectional association: it does not say that imagery produces the points.

  A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance · Daniel M. Landers, Stephen H. Boutcher, Min Q. Wang

• 1986
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same sample other neighbouring scales stay below the threshold the authors set (p < 0.005): image control r = 0.24, image placement r = -0.24, self-doubt r = -0.22, self-criticism r = -0.18, reported concentration r = 0.16, image vividness r = 0.09. So what correlates is the reported amount of imagery, not its quality.

  A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance · Daniel M. Landers, Stephen H. Boutcher, Min Q. Wang

• 1991
  Against Archers Published later

  18 Greek archers, 9 from the national squad and 9 the best non-selected, four weeks of imagery combined with relaxation (8 sessions plus practice at home) against technical training alone, with two indoor 60-arrow competitions at 18 m as the before and after measure: 498 ± 40.2 to 513 ± 27.0 in the trained group and 434 ± 69.0 to 454 ± 77.1 in the controls, analysis of covariance on the post-test F(1,15) = 0.11, p > 0.05. Both groups gain about fifteen points out of 600. Allocation was not random.

  Visuomotor Behavior Rehearsal in Archery Shooting Performance · Yannis Zervas, Vassilis Kakkos

• 1991
  Context Archers Published later

  The same study removes two objections: on the Gordon test all 18 archers turned out to be able to form images, none had ever followed any work on cognitive techniques before, and of the nine trained, seven said they had felt involved many times and two always, with internal, kinaesthetic images prevailing. The null result is not explained by participants unable to visualise or by inattention. In the final competition the trained group sets a national record and two personal bests, but they start from a higher scoring base and enter no statistical comparison.

  Visuomotor Behavior Rehearsal in Archery Shooting Performance · Yannis Zervas, Vassilis Kakkos

• 1992
  Context Archers Published later

  Tests of a monitoring device on one Olympic archer, 1988: in training, the interval between beats and respiratory variability sat above the range typical of competition (600-800 ms and 10-20 ms), and with imagery work the values came back inside that range in most cases. A single case with no scores: a hint at a mechanism, not a test.

  Development of an Apparatus for Monitoring Degree of Mental Tension · Mieko Ohsuga, Futomi Shimono, Chie Akashi

• 1998
  Context Archers Published later

  The original interview study: the 8 archers of the 1996 Italian Olympic team, interviewed in depth a month before Atlanta. Among their competition strategies, 3 say they see themselves from inside, 2 that they see the arrow reach the gold, 1 that they see themselves from outside, 4 talk to themselves to guide the image, and 1 avoids it because it makes them feel uncertain. It describes how they use imagery and does not measure the score.

  Mental Preparation Strategies of Olympic Archers During Competition: an exploratory investigation · Claudio Robazza, Laura Bortoli

• 2005
  Context Archers Published later

  A review chapter reporting interviews with eight archers from the 1996 Italian Olympic team: three picture the shot from inside, two of them also see the arrow arriving in the middle, one pictures it from outside and one avoids imagery because it leaves them unsure of themselves. Second-hand accounts, with no score measurements.

  Psychological Aspects of Archery · Kathleen M. Haywood

• 2019
  For Archers Published later

  12 Malaysian boys aged 14 to 17, from the Pahang state reserve squad and school teams: the 6 novices do four weeks of guided imagery (VMBR, three 15-minute sessions a week) and go from 73.83 ± 9.81 to 81.83 ± 7.81 points over ten arrows, t(5) = 4.62, p = 0.006. The text gives 79.83 as the final score and the table 81.83; the mean difference of 8 points confirms the table. There is no group of novices without imagery, distance and target face are not given, and the venue is regional.

  Visuo-motor behavior rehearsal training (VMBR) approach in enhancing novice archer shooting accuracy performance · Muhammad Rafiudin Sa'ari, Kalam Azad Isa

• 2019
  Context Archers Published later

  The comparison group in the same study does not work as a control: it is 6 experienced archers who carry on training without imagery and start from 92.83 ± 3.76 out of 100. They improve too, to 95.50 ± 1.87 (t(5) = 3.02, p = 0.029), and the two groups are never compared with each other: eight points in a month, for novices, may come from practice alone.

  Visuo-motor behavior rehearsal training (VMBR) approach in enhancing novice archer shooting accuracy performance · Muhammad Rafiudin Sa'ari, Kalam Azad Isa

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  17 university beginners in Jakarta in the imagery group, 15 arrows at 10 m as the measure: from 83.24 to 107.47 out of 150, t = 5.10 against a critical value of 2.119. There is no group left without any intervention, the length of the programme is not reported and the journal is regional.

  Perbandingan Metode Latihan Visualisasi dan Relaksasi terhadap Peningkatan Skor Jarak 10 Meter pada Atlet Panahan Tingkat Pemula · Ferry Wattimena

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study the other group of 17 beginners did progressive muscle relaxation and ended up in the same place: 107.47 (SD 12.27) against 106.23 (SD 12.52), t = 0.553 against a critical value of 2.036. Two techniques that both improve, and no way of telling how much is down to the time spent shooting.

  Perbandingan Metode Latihan Visualisasi dan Relaksasi terhadap Peningkatan Skor Jarak 10 Meter pada Atlet Panahan Tingkat Pemula · Ferry Wattimena

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  6 elite Korean archers, eight 30-minute sessions imagining a set of three arrows while listening to sounds recorded at an international competition, with a vibration alert whenever their beta waves leave each archer's threshold: in the pilot test imagery activates the beta band over the central motor areas (C3, Cz, C4) in all six, and after training the beta waves are steadier, competitive anxiety falls and imagery ability rises. The score is not measured and there is no comparison group: it is a lead on mechanism, not an answer.

  A Case Study on the Effect of Imagery Training for Elite Archers of South Korea · Youngsook Kim, Taiseok Chang

• 2022
  Against Archers Published later

  15 young Malaysian archers at national and international level, six weeks and 18 one-hour sessions, score at 70 m on a 122 cm face: imagery alone goes from 254.73 ± 21.65 to 271.40 ± 34.96, p = 0.153. No control group, and the journal has doubtful editorial standards.

  Effects of Imagery Training and Self-Talk towards State Anxiety and Archery Performance Questionable venue · Mohammad Amir Hakim Mat Isar, Nelfianty Mohd Rasyid, Shaharudin Abdul Aziz

• 2022
  For Archers Published later

  In the same study the group combining imagery with instructional self-talk, another 15 archers, goes from 257.53 ± 31.82 to 287.93 ± 29.24, p = 0.011. The gain shows up when the two techniques are used together, which does not say that it is the imagery moving the score.

  Effects of Imagery Training and Self-Talk towards State Anxiety and Archery Performance Questionable venue · Mohammad Amir Hakim Mat Isar, Nelfianty Mohd Rasyid, Shaharudin Abdul Aziz

• 2022
  Context Archers Published later

  32 archers from the South Sumatra regional squad, a 2x2 factorial design (imagery or self-hypnosis by circuit with or without equipment), 16 sessions: the two mental approaches deliver much the same, 31.13 against 31.12 points with the dumbbell circuit and 10.00 against 13.5 with the bodyweight one, and the type of mental work does not interact with the physical circuit at any distance. There is no untreated group and the homogeneity statistics are hard to credit.

  The Effect of Mental Exercise and Muscle Endurance on the Shots of Archery Athletes · Pijar Kuncoro Yudho, Mugiyo Hartono, Sri Surmatiningsih

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  24 male competitive archers at regional level from Banyumas regency, Indonesia, 12 per group, ten 15-minute sessions three times a week of imagery or meditation, tested at 40 m: the imagery group goes from 443.92 (SD 152.0) to 547.00 (SD 82.0) and the authors conclude that it works better than meditation, with stated mean gains of 101.08 against 15.57 points. There is no group doing nothing and no test between the groups, and the paired-test table reports a mean difference of 3.71 points with a standard error that corresponds to 7 archers, not 12: figures that do not hang together, in a journal with doubtful editorial standards.

  Mental Training to Improve the 40-Meter-Distance Archery Accuracy with Imagery and Meditation Methods Questionable venue · Betrix Teofa Perkasa Wibafied Billy Yachsie, Suharjana, Ali Satia Graha, Yudik Prasetyo, Ahmad Nasrulloh, Siis Suhasto

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  36 beginner recurve archers aged 14 to 18, three groups of 12, eight weeks with two 15-minute sessions a week, score over 9 arrows at 18 m: the imagery group gains 4.92 points (p < 0.001, d = 1.99), the control group loses 0.42 (p = 0.508), and the comparison across the three groups gives F(2,33) = 17.37 (p < 0.001), with imagery against control at p = 0.001. Allocation was sequential rather than random, with no correction for baseline differences, and the score rests on just 9 arrows.

  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 work imagery delivers more than slow breathing, 4.92 against 2.25 points (p < 0.001 on Tukey's post hoc), but the questionnaires on imagery use stay put: cognitive p = 0.444, motivational specific p = 0.462, general arousal p = 0.931 in the comparison across groups, and the cognitive subscale does not change in any of the three. The score moves without any change in what the archers say they are doing in their heads.

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

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  30 national-level Indian archers aged 16 to 21, randomised into three groups of 10, twelve weeks with three 50-60 minute sessions: the imagery group goes from 299.70 ± 13.31 to 324.00 ± 12.99 and the control group, which carries on with training alone, from 293.20 ± 20.44 to 302.80 ± 12.13; the analysis of covariance on the baseline score gives an advantage of 17.03 points (95% CI 9.3 to 24.7) and a group effect of F(2,26) = 17.89, partial eta squared 0.579. The shooting test is described only as the regulation number of arrows, the abstract gives the group a different name from the one in the text, and the journal has doubtful editorial standards.

  Effect of a 12 week psychological skills intervention on performance of national-level archers Questionable venue · Punyu Thepfukolie, Bhowmik Sanyal Saon

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  A 2025 paper on the same 34 Jakarta beginners split between imagery and relaxation: means, standard deviations and test values match those of the 2020 study (from 83.24 to 107.47 out of 150 in the imagery group, 107.47 against 106.23 at the end), so these are the same data published twice and they count once. The new paper adds a second analysis on a sample of 5 whose origin it does not explain, in which neither group improves (imagery t(4) = 0.000, p = 1.000), and the between-group test appears with two different values in the text and in the table, 0.553 and 0.384. The journal has doubtful editorial standards.

  Mental Imagery and Relaxation Methods of Novice Archers: A Comparative Analysis Questionable venue · Ferry Yohannes Wattimena, Tomoliyus Tomoliyus, Abdul Alim, Burhan Basyiruddin, Yovhandra Ockta

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  30 competitive archers aged 18 to 30 in Jaipur, randomised into three groups, four weeks with three 15-minute sessions: the imagery group goes from 85.1 ± 5.3 to 100.5 ± 4.5 (t(9) = 9.33, p < 0.001) and the control from 83.5 ± 5.4 to 84.3 ± 5.3, with an interaction of F(2,27) = 11.67 and eta squared 0.46. The shooting test is not described, some statistics do not add up with the means reported, and the journal, in the humanities, has doubtful editorial standards.

  Cognitive Arrows: Exploring the Power of Psychological Skills Training in Competitive Archery Questionable venue · Himalaya Tiwari, Pragati Chaturvedi, Bodhraj Kumkaria

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same study the group doing technical training alone stays put: from 83.5 (SD 5.4) to 84.3 (SD 5.3), t(9) = 0.55, p = 0.59. The average gain is 15.4 points with imagery and 13.2 with self-talk, against 0.8 in the control: very large numbers for four weeks.

  Cognitive Arrows: Exploring the Power of Psychological Skills Training in Competitive Archery Questionable venue · Himalaya Tiwari, Pragati Chaturvedi, Bodhraj Kumkaria

Status history

1. 1986 Reported The first result on archers is an association: in 115 American archers, those who report using visual imagery more have higher average scores, r = 0.33, and the four ability levels also differ on that scale. Being a snapshot rather than an intervention, there is evidence in favour but it goes no further than reported.
2. 1991 Contested The first intervention with a comparison group points the other way: four weeks of imagery combined with relaxation, in eighteen Greek archers, do not change the score of an indoor competition compared with technical training alone. The study also closes off the easy explanations, since every archer turned out to be able to form images and reported feeling fully involved. Association and controlled test now contradict each other: contested.
3. 1998 Contested The eight archers of the Italian Olympic team, interviewed a month before Atlanta, describe how they use imagery in competition, and they do not all use it the same way: three see themselves from inside, two see the arrow reach the gold, one sees themselves from outside, four talk to themselves to guide the image and one avoids it because it makes them feel uncertain. It does not measure the score and does not move the status, which stays contested, but it suggests why a group average might show nothing.
4. 2005 Contested A review revisits the 1998 interviews with the eight Italian Olympic archers, and their use of imagery turns out to be anything but uniform: three picture the shot from inside, one from outside and one avoids it because it leaves them unsure of themselves. These are the same data told second-hand: this is not a measurement and does not move the status.
5. 2019 Contested A small Malaysian study adds a supporting result, with the weakest design of the series: six novice boys do four weeks of guided imagery and rise from 73.8 to 81.8 points over ten arrows, while the comparison group is six experienced archers, already close to the maximum, who also improve without imagery. Without novices who simply train, eight points in a month may come from practice. The contrast with the controlled Greek trial of 1991 remains: contested.
6. 2020 Contested A result in favour is added, yet it does not untie the knot. Thirty-four university beginners in Jakarta are split between imagery and progressive muscle relaxation: the imagery group raises its score at ten metres, but so does the other one, and the two final results look alike. With no group doing nothing, a comparison between two techniques that both improve says nothing about whether it is the imagery working or the weeks of practice. In the same year six elite Korean archers do eight imagery sessions guided by electroencephalography: beta waves settle and competitive anxiety falls, but the score is not measured, so the result describes a possible mechanism and leaves the question where it was.
7. 2022 Contested A Malaysian study splits the question in two inside the same work: imagery on its own does not move the score at 70 m (from 254.7 to 271.4; p = 0.153), combined with self-talk it does (from 257.5 to 287.9; p = 0.011). It has no control group and appears in a venue with doubtful editorial standards, so it does not decide the status. A factorial study in thirty-two regional archers adds that imagery and self-hypnosis deliver much the same: 31.13 against 31.12 points with the dumbbell circuit, 10.00 against 13.5 with the bodyweight one.
8. 2023 Contested Twenty-four regional Indonesian archers do ten sessions of imagery or meditation, and the imagery group rises by about a hundred points in the 40-metre test. The result cannot be used as evidence: there is no group doing nothing, no test between the groups, and the paired-test table corresponds to seven archers rather than twelve, in a journal with doubtful editorial standards. The status stays contested.
9. 2025 Contested The clearest result in favour from a journal with no warning flag arrives: thirty-six Turkish beginners aged fourteen to eighteen in three groups, eight weeks with two fifteen-minute sessions a week, and the group adding imagery gains 4.92 points over nine arrows at 18 m while the training-only group loses almost half a point. It is still a single study, not randomised, in beginners, and in the same work the questionnaires on imagery use do not move, which leaves open what changed. The same year brings two more papers that do not move the status. A randomised study on thirty national-level Indian archers gives the imagery group, after twelve weeks, a seventeen-point advantage over the group that simply trains, but all we learn about the shooting test is that it was the regulation number of arrows, and the journal has doubtful editorial standards, so it cannot decide the status. The other republishes the 2020 data on the Jakarta beginners with an extra analysis that contradicts them, and counts as the same study. Alongside the null results already on the record, the status stays contested.
10. 2026 Contested Four weeks of imagery take ten competitive Indian archers from 85.1 to 100.5 points, while the technique-only group goes from 83.5 to 84.3. A gain of fifteen points in four weeks is itself a reason for caution, the shooting test is not described and the journal has doubtful editorial standards: the contrast with the 1991 Greek work remains open.

Related

Related articles

• 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.
• Mental skills training in archery: what the measurements on archers showWhat has been measured on archers' mental training: score, confidence, anxiety, programme length, mock competitions and each of the tools in turn.
• The pre-competition week in archery: what the studies sayThe week before an archery competition: the taper, the load of a competition day, nerves, social media, sleep and food, and what has been measured.

Research lines

• 52 studiesMental training: what has been tested on archers since 1979
• 19 studiesArousal, relaxation and individual zones

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA larger working memory does not make an archer more accurate3 studies · 79 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA longer quiet eye improves shooting accuracy3 studies · 58 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA mental profile tells archers apart from athletes in other sports only in part5 studies · 550 archers measuredStatus since 2018
• ReportedA mental training programme improves the elite archer's mood1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023
• ReportedA mental training programme reduces burnout in elite archers1 study · 16 archers measuredStatus since 2023

See all claims on mind and attention