Exploring the synergistic effectiveness of music and mental imagery to improve motor skill performance in sports: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Prior literature suggests that both music and imagery have beneficial effects on motor skill performance in sport settings. However, evidence for their combined use is still scarce. We conducted a preregistered (PROSPERO protocol number CRD42024538656) systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines where we synthesized and critically appraised studies that have evaluated the efficacy of interventions that combine mental imagery and music (henceforth: MIMUS) on the learning, retention, and improvement of motor skills of athletes and healthy individuals, and compared their impact to imagery only, music only, or other control and treatment conditions. Ten experiments comprising data of 302 participants met the inclusion criteria. Further, we performed a meta-analysis using Bayesian mixed-effects models to quantify the overall evidence for the efficacy of MIMUS interventions, which revealed strong evidence that MIMUS influences post-tests motor skill performance and is overall more effective than imagery-only treatments. We discussed the findings and provided recommendations for an effective use of MIMUS in future interventions based on the consulted literature.