The DOI matches its Crossref record; 30 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Does Imminent Threat Capture and Hold Attention?
Abstract
According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture and holding effects. Cues presented in an attentional task were simultaneously provided with a threat value through an aversive conditioning procedure. Response latencies showed that threatening cues captured and held attention. These results support recent views on attention to threat, proposing that imminent threat captures attention in everyone.
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“Other studies showed that after the association with an aversive event, initially neutral cues caused both facilitated attentional engagement (Koster, Crombez, van Damme, Verschuere, & de Houwer, 2004) and delayed disengagement (Preciado et al., 2017; van Damme, Crombez, & Notebaert, 2008).”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Koster, Crombez, van Damme, Verschuere, & de Houwer, 2004
In the citing paper
“Even though these studies demonstrated a strong bias in selecting threat-signaling stimuli, it should be realized that during many, if not all, of these experiments, participants were instructed or encouraged to attend the threat-related stimulus either because it was part of the task (e.g., Koster et al., 2004) or because it was part of the pre-experimental conditioning session (e.g., Mulckhuyse,”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Koster et al., 2004
Citations
Cites
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“A second line of studies have applied an emotional modification of the exogenous cueing task (Posner, 1980), which provides a less problematic measure of attentional capture because only one stimulus is presented each time (see Derryberry & Reed, 1994).”
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The face in the crowd revisited: A threat advantage with schematic stimuli.
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- 10.1080/02724980042000462 · DOI · Paper page
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Items 301–313 of 313
Lojowska, M., Gerbracht, J. M., Engelmann, J. B., Roelofs, K., & Mulckhuyse, M. (2025) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-025-01275-3
Aversively conditioned context enhances visual size illusion via stimulus-specific neural networks
Zhu, J., Yang, Y., Chen, L., & Luo, W. (2025) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.113125 · Cited by 1
Does fear conditioning via mental imagery influence subsequent attention?
Grégoire, L., Ochoa, L., Pancholy, S. A., Hepburn, L., Greening, S. G., & Anderson, B. A. (2025) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2025.2586680
THE EFFECTS OF ANXIETY ON VISUAL ATTENTION FOR EMOTIVE STIMULI IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Kelly, L. (2014) · University of Derby Online Research Archive. (University of Derby)
Attention Bias Training for Youth with Anxiety from a Rural Latine Community
Chang, S. W., Rozenman, M. S., Ramos, G., Delgadillo, D. R., & Chavira, D. A. (2026) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-025-01956-7
Digital media is using negativity to steal our attention — here’s how to reclaim it
Shipman, M. L., & Pierce-Messick, Z. J. (2026) · doi:10.64628/aam.kye4skctc
Facing your expectations: perceived characteristics of illusory faces in symmetrical visual noise
Peterson, L. M., Sarna, K., Špehar, B., & Clifford, C. W. G. (2026) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.250570
Liao, L., Xie, X., Wu, Y., Wen, Y., Wei, N., & Yang, J. (2026) · Engineering Construction & Architectural Management · doi:10.1108/ecam-10-2025-1704
The interplay of action selection and attention allocation in response to social threat
Vilarem, E. (2017) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/3c09a85dz8323z47dazb88bz6d66af348726
Cognitive control in the presence of a gun
Silva, K. J., & Schmeichel, B. J. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2610948123
An insight into the temporal dynamics of affective picture processing
Stolarova, M. (2007)
Metadata
- Authors
- Koster, E. H. W., Crombez, G., Van Damme, S., Verschuere, B., & De Houwer, J.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Venue
- Emotion
- Published
- 2004
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 312-317
- ISSN
- 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
- 1931-1516
- OpenAlex
- W2014431249
- Cited by
- 312
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 5.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Keywords
- attentional capture, threats, aversive conditioning, threat value, visual cues, white noise, response latency, emotion and attention
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Cues, Facial Expression, Humans, Reaction Time, Visual Perception
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