Measuring athlete imagery ability: the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire

Based on literature identifying movement imagery, observation, and execution to elicit similar areas of neural activity, research has demonstrated movement imagery and observation to successfully prime movement execution. To investigate whether movement and observation could prime ease of imaging from an external visual imagery perspective, an internal visual imagery perspective, and kinaesthetic modality, 36 participants (M\(_{age}\) = 20.58; SD = 3.11; 18 female, 18 male) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 under four modes of delivery (movement prime, external observation prime, internal observation prime, and image-only). Results revealed ease of imaging was significantly greater during the movement and observation prime conditions compared to the image-only condition (p < .05). Specifically when priming external visual imagery and internal visual imagery, observation only facilitated ease of imaging when the perspective was congruent with the imagery perspective. Results support the utilization of movement and observation to facilitate ease of imaging, but highlight the importance of considering visual perspective when using observation.