A JMIQ-R study of the effects of different motor skills on motor imagery vividness

Abstract

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to investigate what influence motor skill has on the degree of vividness of motor imagery. [Subjects] The subjects were 40 healthy students. [Methods] The subjects were divided into those with experience of sports in unstable and unpredictable environments, the “open skill” subjects, and those with experience of sports in stable and predictable environments, the “closed skill” subjects. The subjects were evaluated using the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised Japanese Version (JMIQ-R), and the vividness of their motor imagery was investigated and compared. [Results] No significant difference was found in the motor imagery vividness of the open skill and closed skill subjects. [Conclusion] The results suggest that differences in motor skill experience do not affect the vividness of motor imagery, suggesting the possibility that there is no difference in the mental practice effect between open skill and closed skill subjects.