The effect of simultaneous and alternate action observation and motor imagery combinations on the learning of badminton short serve in children

This study aimed to determine the effect of different combinations of action observation and motor imagery on the learning of badminton short serve (BSS) in typically developed children. Fifty female high school students (mean age of 13.76 ± 1.82 years old and novice in badminton) participated in this study. The participant's motor imagery ability and BSS performance were measured through the Motor Imagery Questionnaire 3 (MIQ-3) and French BSS Test respectively. The participants were randomly allocated to five groups including action observation (AO), motor imagery (MI), simultaneous action observation and motor imagery (S-AOMI), alternate action observation and motor imagery (A-AOMI), and a control group. The participants of each group received their intervention in three sessions per week for six weeks. Both groups performed pretest, retention, and transfer tests. The results revealed that the task performance of all groups, except the control group, significantly improved. Post hoc analyses indicated that the MI group performed significantly better than the control group and the S-AOMI group performed significantly better than the AO group and control group. The A-AOMI group performed significantly better than the AO group, MI group, and the control group. It was concluded that the combination of AOMI may facilitate learning of BSS better than AO or MI alone.