Imagery use and vividness as predictors of cognitive function in collegiate athletes

Cognitive function plays an important role in how athletes regulate attention, process information, and respond to performance demands during training and competition. Collegiate athletes may be particularly reliant on effective cognitive function because they must manage simultaneous academic and athletic demands. Although imagery is widely used in sport settings, less is known about how different imagery characteristics relate to cognitive function in collegiate athletes. The present study examined the associations of imagery use and imagery vividness with cognitive function across memory, attention, and executive domains in 231 Malaysian collegiate athletes. Participants completed self-report measures of imagery use, imagery vividness, and cognitive function. Multiple regression analyses were conducted while controlling for demographic and sport-related variables. The results showed that imagery vividness was consistently associated with better cognitive function, particularly in attention and executive function, whereas imagery use demonstrated comparatively weaker associations. These findings suggest that the sensory quality and clarity of mental imagery may be more closely related to cognitive function than the frequency of imagery use alone. Overall, the study highlights the importance of distinguishing between imagery use and imagery vividness and provides further insight into the cognitive relevance of imagery in collegiate sport settings.