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Interactive development of reinforcement learning and adaptive memory

Award Number: R01MH126183
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/15/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

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Interactive development of reinforcement learning and adaptive memory - PROJECT SUMMARY Anxiety and depression are increasingly recognized as disorders that are developmental in origin. While vulnerability to anxiety and depression is heightened prior to adulthood, the developmental factors that give rise to this increased risk are not well understood. Two characteristic learning and memory biases are implicated in the etiology of anxiety and depression: preferential processing of negatively valenced information and a tendency to form overly general memories and value associations. Despite their apparent clinical relevance, studies to date linking these learning and memory biases to psychiatric risk have relied largely on recollective measures that do not enable the study of how they may arise over development through value-based learning and memory encoding processes. In this proposal, we will leverage computational modeling and neuroimaging approaches to elucidate how mechanistic relations between learning computations and memory formation underlie valence and overgeneralization biases across development from childhood to adulthood. Aim 1 will characterize how valence biases in learning change over development, how they influence incidental memory for episodic details of valenced outcomes, and how they arise through neural computations. Aim 2 will characterize, across development, how generality of learned representations adapts across contexts, how the specificity of memory representations changes with time, and how neural representations support the use of multiple levels of abstraction to guide learning and memory. Aim 3 will characterize how valence and generalization biases change longitudinally with age and assess their relation to real-world autobiographical memory and clinical symptomatology. The significance of the proposed research lies in its potential to: 1) provide a theoretical account relating valence and generalization biases in value-based learning and corresponding biases in episodic and autobiographical memory; 2) elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these biases; 3) delineate normative longitudinal developmental changes in these processes from childhood to adulthood; and 4) establish whether computational phenotypes capturing these biases predict anxious and depressive symptomatology.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $717,658 )
2026	2026	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S FL 11	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	5	12/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$71,765
2026	2026	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S FL 11	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	5	12/22/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$645,893
														Subtotal = $717,658

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $733,825 )
2025	2025	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	12/20/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$660,444
2025	2025	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	4	12/31/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$36,692
2025	2025	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	002	4	9/23/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$110,073
														Subtotal = $733,825

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	5/14/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $754,213 )
2023	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	5/2/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$754,213
														Subtotal = $754,213

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $768,715 )
2022	2022	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	2	5/6/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$768,715
														Subtotal = $768,715

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $784,565 )
2021	2021	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	70 WASHINGTON SQ S	NEW YORK	NY	10012	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	6/10/2021	NEW	$784,565
														Subtotal = $784,565

Grand Total All Awards = $3,758,976

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Interactive development of reinforcement learning and adaptive memory

Award Number: R01MH126183

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/15/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

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