Curran, Michelle (2008) Imagery - "The Icing on the Cake" A Meta-Analytic Evaluation of the Effect of Imagery on Sport and Exercise. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
There is a plethora of research on the effects of imagery in sport and exercise. The aim of this study was to evaluate objectively the impact of imagery on performance in sport and exercise activity. This was accomplished by engaging in an extensive search of past and present literature combined with meta-analytic statistical procedures. The impact of imagery was quantified in relation to performance, experience level, and type of task. The analyses included a total of 291 effect sizes from 108 studies involving a total of 4,220 participants. The overall weighted mean effect size of 0.53, which is a moderate effect, was significant. These results indicated that imagery has a significant positive effect on performance in sport and exercise. The practical implications of these findings are substantial – identifying a substantial benefit of using imagery in sport and exercise and to improve performance, with this review providing the potential user of imagery with generalizable statistical evidence for the use of this technique rather than support from primary studies only. It is also evident from the results that unpublished studies should be included in a meta-analysis to establish a true effect size. Studies conducted since the previously published meta-analysis in 1994 have yielded higher effect sizes than those conducted prior to that review; overall fixed and random effect sizes are provided with the fixed effect being in the small to moderate range whilst the random effect was in the moderate range. Finally, this review provides evidence that type of task, experience level, research outlet, gender, and age group are all significant moderators of the beneficial effects of imagery.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Peter Terry |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2025 23:12 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Nov 2025 23:12 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52244 |
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