Threatening stimuli are thought to induce impulsive responses, but Emotional Go/Nogo task
results are not in line with this. We extend previous research by testing effects of task-relevance
of emotional stimuli and virtual proximity. Four studies were performed to test this in healthy
college students. When emotional stimuli were task-relevant, threat both increased commission
errors and decreased RT, but this was not found when emotional stimuli were task-irrelevant.
This was found in both between-subject and within-subject designs. These effects were found
using a task version with equal go and nogo rates, but not with 90%-10% go-nogo rates.
Proximity was found to increase threat-induced speeding, with task-relevant stimuli only,
although effects on accuracy were less clear. Threat stimuli can thus induce impulsive
responding, but effects depend on features of the task design. The results may be of use in
understanding theoretically unexpected results involving threat and impulsivity and designing
future studies.