The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 94 of the 94 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Phenomenological Characteristics of Attentional Biases Towards Threat: A Critical Review
Open accessAbstract
Although research has consistently revealed the presence of a general attentional bias towards threat, empirical and theoretical ambiguity exists in determining whether attentional biases are comprised of facilitated attention to threat, difficulty in disengagement from threat, or both, as well as whether attentional biases reflect automatic or strategic processes. This paper reviews empirical investigations across 4 common assessment tasks: the Stroop (masked and unmasked), dot probe, visual search, and the Posner tasks. Although the review finds inconsistencies both within and between assessment tasks, the evidence suggests that attentional biases towards threat are comprised of each of the phenomenological characteristics addressed in this paper. Contemporary theoretical models of attentional biases in anxiety are summarized and critically reviewed in light of the current evidence. Suggestions for future research are addressed, including a need to investigate the psychometric properties of the assessment tasks, to utilize consistent theoretically driven operationalizations of attentional biases, and to provide a temporal description of the characteristics of attentional biases towards threat.
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“For example, their distinction may help explain the lack of correlation between AB indices from the visual-probe and modified Stroop tasks (Cisler et al., 2009;Dalgleish et al., 2003;Mogg, Bradley et al., 2000), which engage spatial orienting and inhibitory processes to differing degrees.”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as Cisler et al., 2009
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“AB indices of orienting to threat and threat-distractor interference are often uncorrelated (Cisler et al., 2009)”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as Cisler et al., 2009
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Cites
Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions
Stroop, J. R. (1935) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0054651 · Cited by 18,622
Posner, M. I. (1980) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/00335558008248231 · Cited by 9,670 · cited 2×
“In the Posner paradigm (Fox et al. 2001; Posner 1980), participants focus on a fixation point located between two rectangles.”
Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: a meta-analytic study.
Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.1 · Cited by 3,721
Contributions of the Amygdala to Emotion Processing: From Animal Models to Human Behavior
Phelps, E. A., & LeDoux, J. E. (2005) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.09.025 · Cited by 3,203 · cited 2×
“Further evidence of attentional biases as consequences of anxiety or fear come from studies demonstrating positive correlations between amygdala activation, a neural structure strongly implicated in the fear response (Öhman and Wiens 2005; Phelps and LeDoux 2005), and attentional biases (Anderson and Phelps 2001; Monk…”
Attentional bias in emotional disorders
MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.95.1.15 · Cited by 3,152
Attentional bias in emotional disorders.
MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. R. (1986) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.95.1.15 · Cited by 2,553
Emotion drives attention: Detecting the snake in the grass.
Öhman, A., Flykt, A., & Esteves, F. (2001) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.466 · Cited by 2,542
The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology
Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.120.1.3 · Cited by 2,420
Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders
Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (2005) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916 · Cited by 2,100
Cognitive Psychology and Emotional Disorders
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Eye-tracking and cognitive patterns in post-traumatic stress disorder: a scoping review
Diotaiuti, P., Spica, G., Siena, F. D., Cavicchiolo, E., de Souza, L. C., Andrade, A., & Mancone, S. (2026) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008066.2026.2703319
Metadata
- Authors
- Cisler, J. M., Bacon, A. K., & Williams, N. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cisler, Josh M.
- Venue
- Cognitive Therapy and Research
- Published
- 2007-08-16
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 221-234
- ISSN
- 0147-5916 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2819
- PMC
- PMC2901130
- OpenAlex
- W1980139803
- Cited by
- 306
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 4.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2009-09-02)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Cognitive Therapy and Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018869)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Keywords
- anxiety, attentional capture, Stroop task, dot-probe task, visual search, Posner task, anxiety models
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