Threatening content takes priority over neutral or other emotional stimuli in attentional processing. However, attentional bias toward threats can occur even before the threat is presented, if they are anticipated. This anticipation can lead to avoidance behavior. Across two experiments, we investigated whether predictive cues associated with threatening content elicit avoidance before the threat appears. We used a cued Visual Probe Task in which neutral cues (100, 500, or 1000 ms) predicted the later presentation of either threatening or neutral images; in 50% of trials image or images followed the cue, and in 50% a target-detection task followed. Behavioral and eye-tracking measures assessed how these learned associations shaped attentional allocation.

In Experiment 1 (behavioral N = 33; eye-tracking N = 23), cues and targets appeared in the same spatial locations. Participants were slower to detect targets preceded by threat-predictive cues, and eye-tracking showed gaze shifted farther from these cue locations—particularly at longer cue durations. In Experiment 2 (behavioral N = 51; eye-tracking N = 22), cues appeared centrally while targets appeared in the screen corners. Here, participants detected targets faster following threat-predictive cues, again accompanied by greater gaze distancing from the threat-associated cue. Across both experiments, threat associations did not influence the onset of gaze shifts toward the target, suggesting that avoidance operates early during anticipatory cue processing.

Overall, participants learned to associate threatening content with the predictive cue and avoid its spatial location. These findings suggest that anticipatory attentional avoidance reflects a distinct process emerging from learned threat associations.