Learning-based rapid disengagement is limited by fear-conditioned stimuli
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Updated: Nov 5, 2026

Disrupting Reconsolidation of Fear Memory in Humans by a Noradrenergic β-Blocker
Published on: December 18, 2014
Junjie Huang1, Manon Mulckhuyse1
1Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Previous work showed that people can implicitly learn to disengage rapidly from a distractor when its location is spatially associated with a target through repetition. The current study investigated whether learning-based rapid disengagement from visually salient distractors extends to emotionally salient distractors. Participants performed an additional-singleton task in which a colour singleton distractor appeared on some trials. One distractor colour was fear-conditioned by pairing it with electric shock (CS+), whereas another colour was not (CS-). Participants searched for the target faster when the distractor appeared at the associated than a non-associated location, consistent with the association modulating target selection. Dwell-time analysis revealed that the associated location shortened dwell time for CS- but not CS+ distractors. These findings suggest that learned distractor-target spatial association can facilitate disengagement from visually salient distractors, while fear-conditioned salience continued to hold attention despite a regularity favouring rapid disengagement.
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