Research data · Fear and avoidance
Looming stimulus
From 2021 to 2025, 92 animal research papers mentioned the looming stimulus in their title or abstract, ranking it 59th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 2.0 times the 45 papers of 2011 to 2015. Between the same two periods, all the animal research papers that mention any of the 90 tests we count grew more slowly, to 1.2 times as many.
Papers by year
Animal research papers that mention the looming stimulus, by year, 2001 to 2026
The 2026 bar counts papers added to PubMed by November 8, 2026.
- Papers in a full year
- 2026 so far
Show the counts for each year
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 2 |
| 2002 | 4 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | 7 |
| 2007 | 3 |
| 2008 | 3 |
| 2009 | 5 |
| 2010 | 5 |
| 2011 | 4 |
| 2012 | 13 |
| 2013 | 10 |
| 2014 | 13 |
| 2015 | 5 |
| 2016 | 8 |
| 2017 | 9 |
| 2018 | 11 |
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 15 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2022 | 19 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 17 |
| 2025 | 24 |
| 2026 (part year) | 19 |
Papers that mention the looming stimulus, by species, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | 6 | 1 |
| 2021 | 4 | 1 |
| 2022 | 11 | 1 |
| 2023 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | 10 | 3 |
| 2025 | 11 | 1 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 92 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.
Species
“Other animals” counts papers that use none of the species this chart names.
Strains and genetic lines
Strain names come from the MeSH terms PubMed adds when it indexes a paper. PubMed has indexed 85 of the 92 papers, so each bar is a share of those 85.
A paper indexed under two of these headings, such as knockout mice and a strain, counts under both.
Disease models in papers that mention the looming stimulus
Each bar is one disease model, with how many of the 92 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention the looming stimulus use it, and what share that is. The model comes from the paper's MeSH terms, the subject headings the National Library of Medicine adds when it indexes a paper. A paper without MeSH terms gets its model from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, if PubTator 3 finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one model.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 by disease model
Tests mentioned alongside the looming stimulus
Each bar is one test, with how many of the 92 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention the looming stimulus also mention it, and what share that is.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests
To count the papers that mention three or more tests together, start from the looming stimulus in the test battery tool.
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention the looming stimulus and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
Microglial trogocytosis and the complement system regulate axonal pruning in vivo.
Elife, 2021. 81 citations.
OFF-transient alpha RGCs mediate looming triggered innate defensive response.
Curr Biol, 2021. 56 citations.
Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci, 2023. 43 citations.
Brain-wide visual habituation networks in wild type and fmr1 zebrafish.
Nat Commun, 2022. 41 citations.
Synaptic gradients transform object location to action.
Nature, 2023. 40 citations.
How we counted
A count is the number of animal research papers whose title or abstract mentions one of the test's search terms. It is not a count of experiments, labs or animals.
A paper that mentions the looming stimulus only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 2 reviews. For 7 of the 92 papers, PubMed's indexing gave no species, so the species came from PubTator 3 finding one in the title or abstract.
The test's search terms are in the test list download. The full method, with each source and its terms of use, is on our main page, Behavioral tests in published research.
More fear and avoidance tests
These fear and avoidance tests also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025. Each test with 30 or more papers gets one.
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Looming stimulus in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/looming-stimulus
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_looming_stimulus_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Looming stimulus in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/looming-stimulus},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Apparatus for the looming stimulus
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