{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T00:12:57Z","timestamp":1790208777621,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780358400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Psychological momentum is a dynamic system that characterizes the psychological states of individuals progressing toward or regressing from goal attainment. As research has largely relied on controlled laboratory settings or artificial scenarios, empirical evidence from actual athletic competitions remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively elucidate how play content, game stages, and player expertise interact to dictate the micro-dynamics of momentum among actors during a real match.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Real-time measurements were conducted with 25 male high-school volleyball players during practice matches to ensure high ecological validity. Participants used voice recorders during natural intervals between rallies to verbally rate their momentum fluctuations. A dataset comprising 2,103 observations was analyzed using a linear mixed model to evaluate the fixed effects of expertise, game stage, play content (active success versus opponent error), and rally outcomes. Because the model did not include the lagged dependent variable, the first-order autoregressive [AR(1)] residual covariance structure was used only to address potential serial correlation in the residuals across adjacent rallies, rather than to model temporal carryover in psychological momentum itself.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Scoring through a team\u2019s active success yielded significantly higher momentum improvements than scoring through an opponent\u2019s error across all game stages. In the late stages of a set, conceding a point because of a self-induced error resulted in a significantly more severe deterioration of momentum than conceding a point through an opponent\u2019s active success. Furthermore, advanced players exhibited a significantly greater decrease in momentum following lost points than intermediate players.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings suggest that momentum fluctuations are highly sensitive to players\u2019 internal attributions of events, particularly the high mutability and regret associated with late-stage errors. Advanced players\u2019 acute sensitivity to conceded points highlights the phenomenon of proxy agency and the risk of proxy dilemmas among less experienced teammates. Practically, coaches can mitigate this overreliance and enhance self-agency by assigning specific, specialized roles, such as defensive pillars or high-set providers, to every player, ensuring that all participants can exercise personal agency and earn mutual trust within the team.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1839311","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T05:42:38Z","timestamp":1780378958000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Active success drives momentum, but late-stage errors destroy it: a real-time analysis of volleyball"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yusuke","family":"Asai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sport Cultural Studies, Hokkaido University of Education","place":["Hokkaido, Japan"]},{"name":"Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology","place":["Kyoto, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tomoyasu","family":"Okuda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sport Cultural Studies, Hokkaido University of Education","place":["Hokkaido, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Noriyuki","family":"Shide","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Humanities, Hokusei Gakuen University","place":["Hokkaido, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Noriyuki","family":"Kida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Kyoto Institute of Technology","place":["Kyoto, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"218","DOI":"10.1027\/1016-9040\/a000270","article-title":"Implications of proxy efficacy for studies of team leadership in organizational settings","volume":"21","author":"Alavi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur. Psychol."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1745-6916.2006.00011.x","article-title":"Toward a psychology of human agency","volume":"1","author":"Bandura","year":"2006","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2436271","DOI":"10.1080\/24748668.2024.2436271","article-title":"The psychological (ab)use of timeouts in professional tennis","volume":"26","author":"Blything","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. J. Perform. Anal. Sport"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychsport.2017.02.002","article-title":"Rethinking the relationship between momentum and sport performance: toward an integrative perspective","volume":"30","author":"Briki","year":"2017","journal-title":"Psychol. Sport Exerc."},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"389","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychsport.2012.11.009","article-title":"How psychological momentum changes in athletes during a sport competition","volume":"14","author":"Briki","year":"2013","journal-title":"Psychol. Sport Exerc."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"475","DOI":"10.2466\/pms.1997.84.2.475","article-title":"The projected performance model: relating cognitive and performance antecedents of psychological momentum","volume":"84","author":"Cornelius","year":"1997","journal-title":"Percept. Mot. Skills"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2732","DOI":"10.1080\/02640414.2018.1477419","article-title":"Time-out! How psychological momentum builds up and breaks down in table tennis","volume":"36","author":"Den Hartigh","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Sports Sci."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1080\/24733938.2019.1665704","article-title":"Psychological momentum in football: the impact of a last-minute equalizer in a knock-out match","volume":"4","author":"Den Hartigh","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Med. Footb."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/j.erap.2009.10.003","article-title":"Decision-making in basketball and handball games: a developmental perspective","volume":"60","author":"Fruchart","year":"2010","journal-title":"Eur. Rev. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"377","DOI":"10.1123\/jsep.32.3.377","article-title":"The dynamics of psychological momentum in sport: the role of ongoing history of performance patterns","volume":"32","author":"Gernigon","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1037\/a0036406","article-title":"Psychological momentum: why success breeds success","volume":"18","author":"Iso-Ahola","year":"2014","journal-title":"Rev. Gen. Psychol."},{"key":"ref12","first-page":"e345","article-title":"Momentum and elite performance","volume":"3","author":"Iso-Ahola","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat. Sci."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"391","DOI":"10.2466\/pr0.1980.46.2.391","article-title":"\u2018Psychological momentum\u2019: a phenomenon and an empirical (unobtrusive) validation of its influence in a competitive sport tournament","volume":"46","author":"Iso-Ahola","year":"1980","journal-title":"Psychol. Rep."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.93.2.136","article-title":"Norm theory: comparing reality to its alternatives","volume":"93","author":"Kahneman","year":"1986","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1123\/tsp.5.3.211","article-title":"Perceptions of psychological momentum and their relationship to performance","volume":"5","author":"Miller","year":"1991","journal-title":"Sport Psychol."},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1123\/jsep.20.4.421","article-title":"Coming from behind: on the effect of psychological momentum on sport performance","volume":"20","author":"Perreault","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.1037\/0096-3445.126.4.323","article-title":"Crediting causality","volume":"126","author":"Spellman","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Exp. Psychol. Gen."},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1080\/1612197X.2004.9671732","article-title":"Efficacy, affect, and teams: is momentum a misnomer?","volume":"2","author":"Stanimirovic","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1123\/jsep.10.1.92","article-title":"Psychological momentum and performance inferences: a preliminary test of the antecedents-consequences psychological momentum model","volume":"10","author":"Vallerand","year":"1988","journal-title":"J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"548","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.92.4.548","article-title":"An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion","volume":"92","author":"Weiner","year":"1985","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1331","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2019.01331","article-title":"When you watch your team fall apart \u2013 coaches' and sport psychologists' perceptions on causes of collective sport team collapse","volume":"10","author":"Wergin","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1839311\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T05:42:39Z","timestamp":1780378959000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1839311\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]]},"references-count":21,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1839311"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1839311","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]]},"article-number":"1839311"}}