New Research: Intrusive Mental Imagery Is Linked to Competitive Anxiety in Student-Athletes

I'm excited to share that I will be presenting at the GAMeS International Conference for Mental Health and Sport conference this November. Our accepted paper, titled “Mental Images Under Pressure: The Role of Intrusive Imagery in Trait Competitive Anxiety and Confidence in Student-Athletes”, explores how distressing mental imagery may contribute to performance anxiety in athletes.

This research, co-authored with Dr Grace Tidmarsh, Dr Georgia Bird, and Dr Mary Quinton, addresses a key gap in sport psychology: while much is known about the benefits of positive mental imagery, little attention has been given to the unwanted, intrusive images that many athletes experience before competition.

Members of The SPRINT Project will be presenting their research at #GAMeS2025

What Is Intrusive Mental Imagery in Sport?

Intrusive imagery refers to vivid, distressing mental images that enter the mind uninvited, often involving making mistakes, embarrassment, or letting down coaches and teammates. Unlike structured performance imagery, these images can feel uncontrollable and emotionally intense.

While these kinds of images are well-documented in clinical settings (such as PTSD or social anxiety), they’ve rarely been studied in the context of competitive sport. Our study set out to change that by surveying 330 athletes.

In results that I will share at the GAMeS Conference, nearly 1 in 2 athletes (48.2%) reported experiencing debilitative intrusive images. These athletes rated their imagery as significantly more distressing, frequent, and difficult to control. They also reported higher levels of trait anxiety and lower levels of confidence compared to athletes who perceived their images as neutral or facilitative.

If you’re new to the concept of mental imagery in sport, check out our post: Introducing Imagery: A Key Mental Skill for Success in Sport and Life

Intrusive images can be distressing, frequent, and difficult to control.

Why This Matters for Sport Psychology and Mental Health

Our results show that intrusive imagery is not only common among athletes, but also psychologically disruptive. They offer empirical support for the growing need to assess and intervene in the mental images athletes experience, not just the intentional ones they create to enhance performance.

If you’re interested in how positive imagery can be harnessed to counteract these effects, you might like our post on how mental imagery can support football performance or this practical piece on using imagery to beat stress.

This study also lays the groundwork for the PACING intervention (Personalised Anxiety and perceived Control Intervention through Guided Imagery), our guided imagery protocol designed to reduce anxiety and enhance wellbeing in sport.

Want to learn more about PACING? Read our summary of the intervention and newly published paper

Join Me at GAMeS 2025

It’s an honour to be part of GAMeS 2025, where leaders in sport psychology, clinical practice, and elite sport will come together to share cutting-edge research on mental health. I’ll be presenting our work as part of the main programme. Stay tuned to hear more about other presentations by SPRINT Project members and for updates from the conference in November.

For more on this project or to connect about research collaborations, feel free to reach out or explore the rest of the SPRINT Project at www.sprintproject.org.

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Written by Prof Jennifer Cumming, Co-Director of The SPRINT Project and Chartered Psychologist.