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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1435446
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Cognitive Era in Sports Performance: Mental Fatigue, Cognitive Training, and Psychological Ergogenic SubstancesView all 11 articles
Effect of Imagery Intervention to Increase Motivation for Participation in Physical Activity among Undergraduate Female University Students
Provisionally accepted- 1Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
- 2Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan
- 3University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 4Faculty of Sports and Exercise Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 5Riphah International University, Faisalabad Campus, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
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Imagery is an extensively studied topic in sports and exercise psychology and is considered an intervention strategy to modify behavior related to exercise performance. In this study, we examined the effect of a Motivation imagery (MI) intervention and a general physical activity imagery (GPAI) intervention on motivation for Physical Activity in 20 undergraduate female students of The Islamia University Bahawalpur aged between 18 to 25 years (20.5500 ±1.76143).Ten participants, assigned at random, practiced the MI intervention, with motivation-related content while, the other 10 participants practiced a GPAI intervention with no motivation-related content. The intervention's impact was evaluated using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to measure the physical activity levels of participants, while the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS) was utilized to evaluate both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The independent t-test analysis revealed a significant difference (p < .05) between the MI and GPAI conditions in both intrinsic motivation and PA. Specifically, there was a greater increase in intrinsic motivation for Weeks 0 to 12 in the MI condition compared to the GPAI condition. Additionally, a greater increase in PA for Weeks 0 to 12 was observed in the MI condition compared to the GPAI. There was no significant difference in extrinsic motivation in MI condition as compared to GPAI conditions. These results supported the proposition that an imagery intervention focused on motivation was an effective cognitive-behavioral technique that led to an increase in intrinsic motivation, as well as promoting active participation in physical activities.
Keywords: imagery intervention, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, physical activity, female
Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Habib, Mumtaz, Savila and Farooqi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Muhamamd Badar Habib, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
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