Dot-Probe Task¶

HED Task ID: hedtsk_dot_probe

Also known as: Visual Probe Task, Attentional Probe

A pair of cues (often threat/neutral) is followed by a probe at one cue location; RT difference by cue type indexes attentional bias.

Description¶

The Dot-Probe Task measures attentional bias toward or away from emotionally salient stimuli. On each trial, a pair of stimuli (e.g., one threatening face and one neutral face) appears briefly (typically 500 ms), followed by a probe (dot or arrow) at the location of one stimulus. Participants respond to the probe (detect or classify it). Attentional bias is inferred from faster responses to probes replacing the emotional stimulus (vigilance toward threat) versus slower responses (avoidance). The task is a cornerstone of research on anxiety-related attentional biases and has been central to Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) treatments.

Inclusion test¶

Procedure	Two stimuli (e.g., a threatening face and a neutral face) appear briefly on screen; one is replaced by a probe (dot or letter) that participants locate or classify.
Manipulation	Stimulus valence (threat, positive, neutral); stimulus duration; probe location (congruent with threat vs. incongruent).
Measurement	RT difference between congruent and incongruent probe trials (attentional bias score); vigilance vs. avoidance patterns.

Variations¶

Variation	Description	Justification
Standard Face Dot-Probe	Emotional vs. neutral face pairs; probe replaces one face.	Canonical: face pair followed by probe; measures attentional bias to faces
Word Dot-Probe	Threat vs. neutral words paired horizontally or vertically.	Word stimuli instead of faces; different stimulus type
Pictorial Dot-Probe	IAPS images or photographs as stimuli.	Scene/object pictures; different stimulus class
Detection vs. Classification Probe	Simple probe detection vs. probe identity classification.	Probe identity discrimination vs. simple detection; different response task
Subliminal/Masked Dot-Probe	Brief stimulus presentation with backward masks; tests preconscious bias.	Primes below threshold; changes conscious awareness of cue
Positive Dot-Probe	Happy vs. neutral faces; measures bias toward positive stimuli.	Positive stimuli as cues; different emotional valence of attention capture stimuli

Cognitive processes¶

This task engages the following cognitive processes:

Key references¶

{‘authors’: ‘MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P.’, ‘year’: 1986, ‘title’: ‘Attentional bias in emotional disorders.’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Abnormal Psychology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Abnormal Psychology’, ‘volume’: ‘95’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘15-20’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0021-843x.95.1.15’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(1), 15–20.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843x.95.1.15’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P.’, ‘year’: 1998, ‘title’: ‘A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety’, ‘venue’: ‘Behaviour Research and Therapy’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Behaviour Research and Therapy’, ‘volume’: ‘36’, ‘issue’: ‘9’, ‘pages’: ‘809-848’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00063-1’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (1998). A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(9), 809–848.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00063-1’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H.’, ‘year’: 2007, ‘title’: ‘Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study.’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychological Bulletin’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychological Bulletin’, ‘volume’: ‘133’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘1-24’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.1’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 1–24.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.1’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

Recent references¶

{‘authors’: ‘Kruijt, A., Parsons, S., & Fox, E.’, ‘year’: 2019, ‘title’: ‘A meta-analysis of bias at baseline in RCTs of attention bias modification: No evidence for dot-probe bias towards threat in clinical anxiety and PTSD.’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Abnormal Psychology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Abnormal Psychology’, ‘volume’: ‘128’, ‘issue’: ‘6’, ‘pages’: ‘563-573’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/abn0000406’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Kruijt, A.-W., Parsons, S., & Fox, E. (2019). A meta-analysis of bias at baseline in RCTs of attention bias modification: No evidence for dot-probe bias towards threat in clinical anxiety and PTSD. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(6), 563–573.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000406’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Price, R. B., Kuckertz, J. M., Siegle, G. J., Ladouceur, C. D., Silk, J. S., Ryan, N. D., Dahl, R. E., & Amir, N.’, ‘year’: 2015, ‘title’: ‘Empirical recommendations for improving the stability of the dot-probe task in clinical research.’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychological Assessment’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychological Assessment’, ‘volume’: ‘27’, ‘issue’: ‘2’, ‘pages’: ‘365-376’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/pas0000036’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Price, R. B., Kuckertz, J. M., Siegle, G. J., Ladouceur, C. D., Silk, J. S., Ryan, N. D., … & Amir, N. (2015). Empirical recommendations for improving the stability of the dot-probe task in clinical research. Psychological Assessment, 27(2), 365–376.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000036’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Zvielli, A., Amir, I., Goldstein, P., & Bernstein, A.’, ‘year’: 2015, ‘title’: ‘Targeting Biased Emotional Attention to Threat as a Dynamic Process in Time’, ‘venue’: ‘Clinical Psychological Science’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Clinical Psychological Science’, ‘volume’: ‘4’, ‘issue’: ‘2’, ‘pages’: ‘287-298’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1177/2167702615588048’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., & Koster, E. H. W. (2015). Temporal dynamics of attentional bias. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(5), 772–788.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702615588048’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Schmukle, S. C.’, ‘year’: 2005, ‘title’: ‘Unreliability of the dot probe task’, ‘venue’: ‘European Journal of Personality’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘European Journal of Personality’, ‘volume’: ‘19’, ‘issue’: ‘7’, ‘pages’: ‘595-605’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1002/per.554’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Schmukle, S. C. (2005). Unreliability of the dot probe task. European Journal of Personality, 19(7), 595–605.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1002/per.554’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}