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Role of the Decision-Making Reference Point in Cognition and Psychopathology

Award Number: R21MH126197
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/22/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 11/30/2023

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Role of the Decision-Making Reference Point in Cognition and Psychopathology - Project Summary Mood disorders are characterized by a tendency to subjectively evaluate objectively positive outcomes in a negative light. A fundamental feature of nearly all standard models of decision- making is the idea that the subjective value of any choice option is shaped by one’s internal expectation, or ‘reference point’. Using behavioral decision-making tasks informed by an understanding of how human expectations are set, here propose to test the hypothesis that affective mood impacts the decision-making reference point—the computational instantiation of our expectations—and thus drives shifts in subjective value that mark mood pathologies like major depressive disorder (MDD). In our first Aim we seek to establish that mood correlates with the static state of the reference point in health choosers and that in mood disorders, principally MDD, the level of pathology correlates with the easily and objectively measured reference point. In the second aim we propose to extend these tools to correlate the rate of dynamic reference point resetting with mood state and depressive symptoms in healthy and pathological populations. We hypothesize that developing a neurocomputational framework for understanding the role of the reference point in psychopathology may offer a new construct for use in the RDoC framework.


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: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	2	4/12/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $254,250 )
2023	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	2	1/19/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$25,425
2023	2023	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	2	12/21/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$228,825
														Subtotal = $254,250

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $211,875 )
2022	2022	NEW YORK UNIVERSITY	550 1ST AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10016	NEW YORK	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	12/23/2021	NEW	$211,875
														Subtotal = $211,875

Grand Total All Awards = $466,125

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Role of the Decision-Making Reference Point in Cognition and Psychopathology

Award Number: R21MH126197

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/22/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 11/30/2023

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