Acute effects of guided imagery on archery shooting performance, heart rate variability, and ERP responses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the acute effects of PETTLEP-based guided imagery on shooting performance and psychophysiological responses in archery athletes. Although imagery training has been widely applied in sport psychology, evidence regarding its simultaneous acute effects on autonomic regulation, cortical cognitive processing, and shooting performance, particularly in archery, remains limited. Therefore, this study employed an integrated approach to shooting performance and psychophysiology, examining HRV and ERP. Twelve young archery athletes participated in a within-subject pre-post experimental design. Heart rate variability parameters, including the SDNN, RMSSD, and mean heart rate, were recorded using ECG, whereas the ERP P3 amplitude and latency were obtained using EEG. Shooting performance was evaluated based on the accuracy score and shooting precision. The results showed that imagery significantly increased SDNN (p = 0.006) and RMSSD (p = 0.001) and decreased the mean heart rate (p = 0.009), indicating parasympathetic nervous system dominance and a more optimal state of relaxation. Shooting precision also improved significantly, as reflected in a reduced single radial deviation, whereas shooting accuracy improved but did not change significantly. Moreover, the ERP P3 amplitude and latency showed small but non-significant changes. These findings indicate that the acute effects of guided imagery are more pronounced on autonomic regulation and motor stability than on higher-level cognitive processing. Overall, guided imagery provides meaningful acute benefits that can be utilized as a pre-performance preparation strategy for archery athletes and has the potential to be integrated into psychophysiology-based training systems. Future studies should include larger sample sizes, control groups, and longer intervention periods to further explore the neural mechanisms and longterm effects of imagery training in archery.