Try these:
x= 1:0.01:40;
y = cos(x);
L1 = y <= 0.5; % Logical Index: y <= 0.5
figure
plot(x,y)
hold on
plot(x(L1), y(L1), 'o')
hold off
L2 = abs(y) < 0.5; % Logical Index: y <= 0.5 & y >= -0.5
figure
plot(x,y)
hold on
plot(x(L2), y(L2), 'o')
hold off
Experiment to get different results.