1. helpful & unhelpful visualisation
a series of research studies from UCLA have highlighted:
“in moving oneself from a current situation toward
an envisioned future one, the anticipation & manage-ment of emotions and the initiation and maintenance of problem-solving are fundamental tasks”
imagining studying v’s achieving v’s control in 6 days before exams
imagining working v’s achieving v’s control for “planning fallacy”
remembering sequence of a current problem v’s imagin- ing relief & satisfaction of resolution v’s control group
Taylor SE, Pham LB, Rivkin ID, Armor DA Harnessing the imagination: mental simulation, self-regulation, and coping American Psychologist 1998;53:429-39

2. effects on exam results
over the six days till the exam, process imagining students worked 38% more hours than controls
process imagining students on average got 12% higher marks than controls
process students worked 1.7x more extra hours than outcome students, but achieved 3x more extra marks – they worked both harder and more effectively