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

July 16, 2026 updated by: Ahmad Rifai Sarraj, Lebanese University

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

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.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Lebanon
      • Beirut, Lebanon
        • Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

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.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Action Observation (AO)
Before each jump, participants watched a standardized 10-second video of a model performing the squat vertical jump.
Behavioral: Action observation stimulus
linked to Arm 1 > Ten-second observation of a video model performing the squat vertical jump immediately before each jump.
Experimental: Motor Imagery (MI)
Before each jump, participants performed 10 seconds of third-person (external) visual motor imagery of the squat vertical jump.
Behavioral: Motor imagery stimulus
linked to Arm 2 > Ten-second third-person visual motor imagery of the squat vertical jump immediately before each jump.
No Intervention: Control
Before each jump, participants viewed a blank black screen for 10 seconds with no imagery or observation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Cognitive-stimulus effect on squat vertical jump height
Time Frame: 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
Each of six sessions across two weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

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

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Lebanese University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 14, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 17, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 16, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CE-EDST-1-2017
  • 10.5281/zenodo.21358369 (Registry Identifier: Zenodo)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified participant data are openly available in Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21358369).

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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