{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T06:04:19Z","timestamp":1789365859741,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"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":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n To evaluate whether multiple object tracking (MOT) predicts clay pigeon shooting performance, and to illustrate how multicollinearity between demographic covariates can mimic suppressor effects.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n Twenty shooters completed a MOT task (2\u20136 targets). Zero-order and partial correlations, hierarchical regression, LOOCV, VIF diagnostics, and power analysis were computed. Two specifications were compared: Specification A (age + training years, multicollinear) and Specification B (age only, VIF\u202f&lt;\u202f2.5).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Age and training years were near-perfectly correlated (r\u202f=\u202f0.928). Under Specification A\n \n \n r<\/mml:mi>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.928<\/mml:mn>\n ;<\/mml:mo>\n VIF<\/mml:mi>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 11.7<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n , MOT-5 and MOT-6 appeared as nominally significant partial correlates (r_partial \u2248 0.49,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.03, uncorrected), a classical suppression pattern. Under Specification B, these effects attenuated to non-significance (\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&gt;\u202f0.13). The training coefficient reversed sign (B\u202f=\u202f\u22122.12 despite r\u202f=\u202f+0.65), consistent with multicollinearity distortion. Power analysis indicated N\u202f\u2248\u202f68 would be required to detect the residual effect (f\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.15), though this estimate is illustrative given the small sample.\n \n \n AUC<\/mml:mi>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.660<\/mml:mn>\n f<\/mml:mi>\n 2<\/mml:mn>\n =<\/mml:mo>\n 0.12.<\/mml:mn>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n \n The apparent suppressor effect is consistent with multicollinearity between age and training years rather than genuine prediction, though the small sample (\n N<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f20) precludes definitive conclusions. Routine VIF, bootstrap stability checks, and power analysis are recommended to avoid artifacts in small-sample sports cognition research.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1908043","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T05:39:49Z","timestamp":1789364389000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["When suppressor effects may reflect multicollinearity artifacts: a cautionary tale from multiple object tracking and clay pigeon shooting performance"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Kai","family":"Jin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education, Southeast University","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pingze","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education, Southeast University","place":["Nanjing, China"]},{"name":"Liaoning Provincial Sports Bureau","place":["Shenyang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuo","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Information and Software Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"name":"Electric Power Research Institute, State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd.","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xupeng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S1440-2440(99)80180-7","article-title":"Visual characteristics of clay target shooters","volume":"2","author":"Abernethy","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. 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