Age Differences in the Vividness of Youth Sport Performers’ Imagery Ability

Abstract The Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VMIQ-2; Roberts et al., 2008) is a recent addition to tools developed for investigating movement imagery ability. To date, few studies have adopted this measure within youth sport cohorts, as a result little is known about the vividness aspect of imagery ability in samples of 21 years of age and younger. Participants included 169 youth sport performers between 12 and 21 years of age (M = 16.62, SD = 3.02), representing 14 sports at 4 levels of competitive engagement. Participants completed the VMIQ-2 and were grouped according to age, competitive level, and gender. Significant differences between the VMIQ-2’s subscales were demonstrated with participants recording greatest imagery vividness for internal visual imagery and least vividness for external visual imagery. Significant age differences existed for kinesthetic imagery between the 12-13 and 20-21 age groups, with the 20-21 group recording greater imagery vividness than their younger counterparts. The results demonstrate age can influence imagery vividness with youth sport performers recording higher vividness for internal visual imagery compared to kinesthetic and external visual imagery. Future investigations should attempt to determine why age cohort differences in vividness of imagery occur.