Pre-Performance Visualization: What Research Says About Mental Rehearsal

You have probably stood moments before something important and wished you felt more ready. Maybe it was a presentation, a match, an audition, or a difficult conversation. Your hands were a little unsteady, your mind was racing, and you wondered whether you could pull it off.

Athletes face this moment constantly, and many of them use a simple tool to steady themselves: they close their eyes and mentally rehearse what they are about to do. This practice, often called pre-performance visualization or imagery, has been studied for decades across sports, public speaking, and even everyday memory tasks.

If you are curious about how guided visualization sessions can support your own preparation routine, the research offers some genuinely useful starting points. Let us look at what the evidence says and how you can apply it.

What Pre-Performance Visualization Involves

Pre-performance visualization is the practice of mentally walking through an upcoming task before doing it. Athletes and performers use it to rehearse movements, sequences, or situations in their minds, often incorporating as many senses as possible — what they would see, feel, and hear in the real moment [1].

In sports, imagery occupies an essential place in the psychological preparation of athletes and is recognized as one of the key factors in realizing an athlete's potential in competitive situations [1]. It is not limited to elite competitors, though. The same principle of mentally rehearsing a task before performing it has been applied to public speaking and everyday memory tasks as well [2, 3].

A related concept is the pre-performance routine, a sequence of thoughts and actions an athlete completes before executing a skill. In an interview study with elite golfers and their coaches, the golfers reported that using a pre-performance routine improved their feeling of control prior to performing [4]. Visualization often forms the mental core of such routines.

What the Research Shows

A 2025 multilevel meta-analysis by Liu and colleagues analyzed 86 studies with 3,593 athletes and found that imagery practice enhances athletic performance, including agility, muscle strength, and sport-specific skills [5]. The review also found that combining imagery practice with one or two additional psychological skills trainings was more effective than imagery practice alone [5].

Another meta-analysis by Lochbaum and colleagues, published in 2023, examined 44 articles with 55 independent samples and found a positive, moderate relationship between pre-event self-efficacy and sports performance, with a mean effect size of r = 0.31 [6]. The effect was stronger for elite athletes (r = 0.40) than for sub-elite athletes (r = 0.28), though the authors noted that high self-efficacy might not always improve impending performance [6]. Visualization, or what researchers call imaginal experiences, has been identified as one source of self-efficacy that can contribute to this relationship [6].

Lin and colleagues studied 55 fin swimmers and found that imagery training can help athletes improve their performance and significantly reduce their anxiety during competition [7]. The researchers noted that athletes can still make mistakes due to internal and environmental factors, but strengthening strategic and technical imagery training helped swimmers perform at a higher level and improve overall satisfaction with their competition process [7].

Outside of sports, Ayres and colleagues found that standard and performance visualization were generally more effective than other interventions for reducing self-reported negative thinking related to speech anxiety [2]. And Faytell and colleagues found that visualization improves time-based prospective memory performance for groups who are unlikely to demonstrate notable time-based memory deficits [3].

How to Practice It: Principles From the Evidence

What should you actually imagine? Research and expert practice suggest a few principles that make visualization more effective. These come from studies across multiple sports and performance contexts [1, 5, 8].

First, make it vivid and multi-sensory. Athletes with higher athletic achievement tend to have stronger imagery abilities, and guided imagery interventions have been shown to significantly increase both imagery ability scores and performance indicators [1]. The more detailed your mental rehearsal — incorporating sight, sound, feeling, and even the emotional tone of the moment — the more closely it mirrors the real experience.

Second, keep sessions short and consistent. The meta-analysis by Liu and colleagues found that engaging in imagery practice for approximately ten minutes, three times weekly over a span of about one hundred days, produced the strongest performance gains [5]. You do not need marathon mental sessions. Brief, regular practice appears to be the sweet spot.

Third, combine visualization with other preparation strategies. The same meta-analysis found that integrating imagery practice with one or two additional psychological skills trainings was more effective than imagery alone [5]. This might mean pairing visualization with breathing exercises, self-talk, or a physical warm-up routine.

Fourth, focus on the process, not just the outcome. In the fin swimming study, researchers emphasized that strengthening strategic and technical imagery — rehearsing the specific movements and decisions involved — helped athletes perform at a higher level [7]. Visualizing yourself executing each step well may be more useful than simply picturing a successful result.

• Use multiple senses: imagine what you see, hear, and physically feel during the task
• Keep sessions around ten minutes, three times per week, for sustained practice
• Pair visualization with another preparation technique like breathing or self-talk
• Focus on rehearsing the process and specific actions, not just the final outcome

Visualization and Confidence

Confidence is one of the most commonly studied outcomes of visualization, and the evidence is encouraging. Blanco-Ariza and colleagues conducted an 8-week study with young adult football players and found that an experimental group combining plyometric training with visualization tasks showed significant improvements in competitive self-confidence (p <.017), compared to a control group that did the same physical training without visualization [8].

The experimental group also showed significant improvements in vertical jump performance (p =.047) and 50-meter sprint speed (p <.034) [8]. The researchers suggested that combining physical exercises with visualization tasks may contribute to better motor learning and self-confidence to face competition [8].

This aligns with the broader finding that pre-event self-efficacy has a positive, moderate relationship with sports performance [6]. While confidence alone does not guarantee a better outcome — the prediction intervals in that meta-analysis ranged from debilitating to facilitating performance — it is a meaningful factor that visualization can help build [6].

Beyond Athletics: Everyday Applications

Visualization is not only for competitive athletes. The same mental rehearsal principles can apply to presentations, interviews, performances, and challenging conversations. The study by Ayres and colleagues on speech anxiety is a good example: visualization was more effective than other interventions for reducing self-reported negative thinking before speaking [2].

The study by Faytell and colleagues also points to a broader application. They found that visualizing future task performance improved prospective memory — the ability to remember to do something at the right time — for certain groups of adults [3]. This suggests that mentally rehearsing when and how you will complete a task may help you follow through on it.

The key is to treat visualization as a complement to preparation, not a replacement for it. The fin swimmers in Lin's study still made mistakes due to internal and environmental factors, even with imagery training [7]. Visualization can support your readiness, but it does not eliminate the real-world variables that affect performance.

Building Your Own Pre-Performance Routine

If you want to try pre-performance visualization, start small. Pick one upcoming task — a meeting, a workout, a creative project — and spend a few minutes beforehand mentally walking through it. Notice what you see, what you hear, and how your body feels as you imagine each step.

Keep it realistic. You are not trying to picture a flawless performance. You are rehearsing the actions and decisions involved, so that when the moment arrives, your mind has already been there. The golfers in the pre-performance routine study reported that their routines improved their feeling of control [4], and that sense of control is something anyone can cultivate.

Be consistent. The strongest effects in the meta-analysis came from roughly ten-minute sessions, three times a week, sustained over about one hundred days [5]. That level of commitment is not required to get started, but it gives you a sense of what a meaningful practice looks like over time.

Finally, if you are dealing with significant anxiety, performance blocks, or other concerns that interfere with your daily life, consider speaking with a qualified professional. Visualization and guided audio can support wellbeing, but they are not a substitute for professional care.

Key takeaways

• Spend about ten minutes, three times a week, mentally rehearsing the specific actions of an upcoming task.
• Use multiple senses in your visualization — what you see, hear, and physically feel — to make the rehearsal more vivid.
• Pair visualization with another preparation strategy like breathing or self-talk for stronger effects.
• Focus on rehearsing the process and specific steps rather than only picturing a successful outcome.
• If anxiety or performance concerns are significant, speak with a qualified professional alongside any visualization practice.

If you would like a guided starting point, Hypnothera offers visualization sessions designed to walk you through mental rehearsal step by step. Explore visualization sessions

Sources & Further Reading

1. Volgemute K, Vazne Z, Malinauskas R (2025). The benefits of guided imagery on athletic performance: a mixed-methods approach. Frontiers in psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1500194
2. Ayres J, Hopf T (1992). Visualization: Reducing speech anxiety and enhancing performance. Communication Reports. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934219209367538
3. Faytell MP, Doyle KL, Naar-King S et al. (2017). Visualisation of future task performance improves naturalistic prospective memory for some younger adults living with HIV disease. Neuropsychological rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2015.1122636
4. Rupprecht A, Tran U, Gröpel P (2021). The effectiveness of pre-performance routines in sports: a meta-analysis. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2021.1944271
5. Liu Y, Zhao S, Zhang X et al. (2025). The Effects of Imagery Practice on Athletes' Performance: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis with Systematic Review. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050685
6. Lochbaum M, Sisneros C, Cooper S et al. (2023). Pre-Event Self-Efficacy and Sports Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Sports (Basel, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.3390/sports11110222
7. Lin HH, Lin TY, Ling Y et al. (2021). Influence of Imagery Training on Adjusting the Pressure of Fin Swimmers, Improving Sports Performance and Stabilizing Psychological Quality. International journal of environmental research and public health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182211767
8. Blanco-Ariza J, Reigal-Garrido RE, Domínguez-González JA et al. (2024). Effects of Mental Visualization on Plyometric Performance and Self-Confidence of Football Players. Perceptual and motor skills. https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125241272724