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Its amazing that I'll reach the top much less fatigued than if I watch my progress up the hill the entire journey.

My Exercise friend I mentioned employed a tactic that took this Psychological component you mentioned into effect in his aerobic/weighted workout classes he taught. I don't know if there is a name for it, but I do the same thing when hiking a steep hill. I look once for the top, then like you I watch the trail immediately in front. It does make a big difference. I'll ask him if there's a name for this or it's just something he picked up along the way.

In his combo classes we would do aerobics and then some resistance exercises afterward, using dumbbells or just body weight. He would be talking about proper form while counting reps to himself. After a count of 8, he would start counting down the reps, starting at the top and going down. Counting down seems " easier" than counting  up, so people hang in longer knowing they just have to do a few more reps ;)
I asked why he didn't just count to 16 or whatever number he wanted us to do? He said that it was a mental thing. Especially when your tired or theres a long term physical/mental effort needed. Even though we were doing 2x the reps he counted, it " felt" like we were only doing 8 reps, a big difference after a hard class. Same with climbing a long steep grade.

It has the mental effect of stressing your body in anticipation of the effort you'll need to accomplish the task. Same if your looking down a long stretch of lake on a paddling trip. Sometimes you think you'll never get there. I just concentrate on looking at my immediate surroundings and find that you get to your goal sooner than you thought initially and with much less fatigue.