Action Observation vs. Motor Imagery on Squat Vertical Jump in Novices

Comparing Action Observation and Motor Imagery Training: A Two-Week Intervention on Squat Vertical Jump Performance

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT07711054

Acronym

AO_MI

Enrollment

100

Registered

2026-07-17

Start date

2023-07-01

Completion date

2024-11-01

Last updated

2026-07-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Healthy Volunteers, Motor Skills

Keywords

Action Observation, Motor Imagery, Squat Vertical Jump, Motor Performance, Priming

Brief summary

This randomized, three-arm study compared the effects of action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI), each delivered as a brief 10-second pre-movement stimulus, on squat vertical jump (SVJ) performance in healthy novice adults, against a control condition, over a two-week, six-session programme. For every jump, an unstimulated basic jump and a post-stimulus jump were recorded with an Optojump optical system, and the cognitive-stimulus effect was quantified as the difference between them.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALAction observation stimulus

linked to Arm 1 \> Ten-second observation of a video model performing the squat vertical jump immediately before each jump.

BEHAVIORALMotor imagery stimulus

linked to Arm 2 \> Ten-second third-person visual motor imagery of the squat vertical jump immediately before each jump.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Masking description

Participants necessarily know whether they observe vs. imagine; they were blinded to the study hypotheses and to the other arms, and jump height was measured objectively.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

17 Years to 23 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Healthy young adult; * normal or corrected-to-normal vision; * completely naive to the squat vertical jump task and to action observation / motor imagery interventions.

Exclusion criteria

* History of neurological, * musculoskeletal, * visual impairment.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Cognitive-stimulus effect on squat vertical jump height	Each of six sessions across two weeks	Within-session difference between the post-stimulus jump height and the unstimulated basic jump height (post-stimulus minus basic jump), in centimetres, measured with an Optojump optical system

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change in squat vertical jump height across sessions	Session 1 to session 6 (two weeks)	Change in post-stimulus squat vertical jump height (cm) from the first to the final training session.

Countries

Lebanon

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 18, 2026