Examining the relationship between imagery, cognitive flexibility and self-regulated learning

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between imagery, cognitive flexibility, and self-regulated learning in an athlete sample. The research sample consisted of 325 active athletes (163 female, 162 male) aged between 17 and 35. Data were collected using a demographic information form and three instruments: the "Sport Imagery Questionnaire" developed by Hall et al. (1998) and adapted into Turkish by Kızıldağ and Tiryaki (2012), the "Cognitive Flexibility Inventory" developed by Dennis and Wal (2010) and adapted for sports settings by Yarayan et al. (2023), and the "Self-Regulated Learning in Sport Scale" developed by Wilson et al. (2021) and adapted into Turkish by Yarayan et al. (2023). The instruments were administered through both face-to-face interviews and online surveys with the support of coaches. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Normality assumptions were assessed through skewness and kurtosis values, and values within the ±1.5 range were considered indicative of normal distribution (George & Mallery, 2010). Pearson correlation analysis revealed significant and positive relationships between self-regulated learning and both imagery (r = .619, p <.01) and cognitive flexibility (r = .693, p <.01), suggesting that higher levels of imagery and cognitive flexibility are associated with increased self-regulated learning skills. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to address the main research question, structured in three blocks. In the first block, demographic variables (gender and age) accounted for 12.8% of the variance in self-regulated learning (R² = .128). The second block included experiential variables such as sport type and years of athletic experience, slightly increasing the explained variance to 13.0% (R² = .130). In the final block, the inclusion of cognitive flexibility and imagery substantially increased the model's explanatory power to 60.7% (R² = .607). In this block, both cognitive flexibility (β = .501, p <.001) and imagery (β = .351, p <.001) emerged as significant predictors. Overall, the findings indicate that individual, experiential, and cognitive factors contribute to self-regulated learning at varying levels within athletic contexts.