Snipers under stress: mentally simulated motor actions are resistant to acute stress in police officers

Abstract Motor imagery (MI) is a sensorimotor process allowing to mentally simulate a motor action and is widely used to enhance performance in domains such as rehabilitation, sport, and professional training. Although MI is increasingly incorporated into stress-management interventions, the reciprocal relationship, that is, the effect of acute stress on MI remains paradoxically poorly understood, particularly in ecologically valid settings. The present study investigated this issue in professional police officers performing physically and mentally a precise handgun manipulation task under graded stress conditions (psychological stress). Fourteen participants (mean age = 36.57 ± 2.10 years) was exposed to controlled, work-related stress scenarios designed to closely reflect real operational demands, while stress markers and temporal features of executed and imagined movements were recorded. Our results clearly indicate that motor imagery was preserved despite significant increases in stress levels, as the temporal characteristics of both executed and imagined movements remained stable across experimental conditions. These findings indicate that MI is resilient to acute psychosocial stress and support its relevance as a reliable training and performance-optimization tool in high-demand occupational settings.