Association Between Daily Media Viewing Time and Motor Imagery Perspective in Adults

This study examined whether daily exposure to visual media is associated with individual differences in motor imagery perspective. Based on previous research on motor cognition, it was hypothesized that longer daily video-viewing time would be associated with reduced vividness of first-person (internal) imagery and enhanced vividness of third-person (external) imagery. A total of 182 adults (mean age = 28.4 ± 8.7 years; 51% female) completed an online survey assessing daily media viewing habits, exercise frequency, and the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VMIQ-2). A priori power analysis (G*Power 3.1; f² = 0.08, α = .05, 1 − β = .90) indicated a minimum required sample size of 128 participants. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses showed that total video-viewing time was negatively associated with first-person vividness (r = − .30, p < .001) and positively associated with third-person vividness (r = .27, p = .001), even after controlling for age, sex, and exercise frequency. These results suggest that habitual exposure to observer-framed visual content is associated with a stronger reliance on observer-based perspectives during mental simulation. The findings provide preliminary behavioral evidence linking media consumption and motor imagery representation.