Since the centre-stage effect is partly driven by a sense that what is the middle option is most popular, it makes sense that we could enhance the effect by actively highlighting its relative popularity amongst a set of options.

Begin with overall popularity
When we don't know, we often want to be informed by the decisions of others. The centre option being highlighted as the top seller or most popular is reassuring and greatly reduces choice regret and exhausting comparisons between unfamiliar options.

Get specific for pros
Even when we do know, we can always do with a little extra filtering. As we become more experienced, we need social proof to become more relevant to our particular needs.

For instance, a sports website may know that you're a trail runner, based on a preference or past purchase. On the homepage, the user is shown a set of 5 newly-released trail running shoes.

All shoes are relevant to the customer, but the middle option is highlighted as the most popular / has the highest ratings amongst trail runners.

Evolve what's shown based on behaviour
The beauty here is that the options shown and what's central / recommended can change with their purchases and preferences over time.