The passive (screening) and active (antiscreening) roles of the target electrons in the electron loss process is reviewed. The semiclassical approximation is used to show that the screening and antiscreening modes are related to the form in which the coherence of the various parts of the target electron cloud is considered in the electron loss process. These concepts are applied to projectile electron loss in 2.0‐MeV/u C5++He collisions. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.