ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Performance Science
Target Size, Self-Efficacy, and Stress as Determinants of Precision in a Marksmanship Task
Provisionally accepted
- Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany
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Marksmanship is a critical skill for law enforcement and military personnel, serving as a last resort in life-threatening situations to protect civilians, teammates, and oneself. While many studies have examined factors influencing shooting precision, the role of target size as a peripheral feature remains underexplored. This study investigated the effects of target size, shooting self-efficacy, subjective stress, shooting experience, physiological stress, and stress state variability on precision. A total of n = 140 student officers (74% male; M = 23.5 years) completed two live-fire tasks in a shooting simulator, firing ten rounds each at a small (12 cm) and a large (30 × 25 cm) target area with an identical aim point. Measures included emotional stress reactions, self-efficacy, shooting experience, and heart rate variability (RMSSD). Precision was indexed via mean distance to center and shot group radius. Smaller targets significantly enhanced precision (d = 0.36) independent of subjective stress. Self-efficacy predicted performance (r = .39) and was negatively associated with subjective stress (r = −.30) and stress variability (r = −.18). Mediation analysis showed that subjective stress partially explained the link between self-efficacy and precision (17.7%). RMSSD was unrelated to precision, whereas stress variability correlated positively with performance stability (r = .21). These findings suggest that smaller target areas act as peripheral cues that support perceptual-motor alignment during the limb–target control phase. Moreover, psychological attributes such as shooting self-efficacy contribute to performance both directly and via stress reduction. The results identify modifiable factors in shooting precision that can be systematically addressed in marksmanship training.
Keywords: heart rate variability5, Marksmanship1, Military performance6, self-efficacy3, Shooting7, stress4, Target size2
Received: 21 Sep 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ibrahim, Wittig and Herzberg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fabio Ibrahim
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