Context-Dependent Neural Mechanisms of Motor Imagery in Open‑ and Closed‑Skill Athletes Across Competitive Scenarios

This study examined how highly trained open- and closed-skill athletes recruit neural resources during cue-supported motor imagery (MI) under two experimentally cued contexts: peak performance imagery (PPI) and routine training imagery (RTI). Thirty-four athletes (17 per group) completed functional magnetic resonance imaging. In planned group-stratified context contrasts, open-skill athletes showed greater activation for RTI than PPI in the occipital pole, precentral gyrus, thalamus, and cerebellum, whereas closed-skill athletes showed greater activation for PPI than RTI in precentral/postcentral regions and the left middle temporal gyrus. These are simple within-group context contrasts, not an omnibus Group × Condition interaction; accordingly, the findings are not described as a double dissociation. The neutral condition was passive observation rather than non-motor imagery, and post-scan manipulation checks were not collected. The results therefore indicate context-associated differences in cue-supported imagery-related activity but do not isolate motor imagery from all other forms of mental generation. Within these limits, the findings motivate a provisional Context-Sensitive Imagery Flexibility Model (CS-IFM), in which the relative weighting of visuospatial-executive and sensorimotor-representational processes may vary with sport demands and imagery context.