The goal of the proposed research is to understand and develop successful means of behavior change that could assist in treatment compliance broadly for a range of health problems, as well as specific treatments for disorders characterized by poor choices, such as obesity and addiction. To achieve this goal, we will combine techniques and insights from neuroeconomics and affective neuroscience. Specifically, we will use behavioral economic paradigms and models to isolate and quantify specific individual factors that influence decisions, including the rate at which future rewards are discounted in value and the relative sensitivity to loss or risk when assessing value. We will link these specific decision variables to specific components of emotion that may contribute to the value computation, such as the arousal response to a loss or gain. We will then build on recent advances in affective neuroscience examining means to change emotion -- including cognitive emotion regulation techniques and pharmacological manipulations - to explore how these impact the different decision variables. Finally, we will examine how another common emotional response known to impact health decisions, namely stress, alters both the specific decision variables and the effectiveness of the proposed techniques used to alter emotional responses and choice behavior.

Public Health Relevance

It is not uncommon for individuals to make decisions that can be detrimental to their health and well-being, such as in obesity and addiction. The proposed research will combine insights from the science of decision making and emotion to develop new means to encourage behavior change.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG039283-03
Application #
8318144
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-R (50))
Program Officer
Nielsen, Lisbeth
Project Start
2010-09-30
Project End
2015-08-31
Budget Start
2012-09-01
Budget End
2013-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$373,331
Indirect Cost
$125,831
Name
New York University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041968306
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10012
Lempert, Karolina M; McGuire, Joseph T; Hazeltine, Danielle B et al. (2018) The effects of acute stress on the calibration of persistence. Neurobiol Stress 8:1-9
FeldmanHall, Oriel; Otto, A Ross; Phelps, Elizabeth A (2018) Learning moral values: Another's desire to punish enhances one's own punitive behavior. J Exp Psychol Gen 147:1211-1224
Lempert, Karolina M; Lackovic, Sandra F; Tobe, Russell H et al. (2017) Propranolol reduces reference-dependence in intertemporal choice. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 12:1394-1401
Lenow, Jennifer K; Constantino, Sara M; Daw, Nathaniel D et al. (2017) Chronic and Acute Stress Promote Overexploitation in Serial Decision Making. J Neurosci 37:5681-5689
FeldmanHall, Oriel; Dunsmoor, Joseph E; Kroes, Marijn C W et al. (2017) Associative Learning of Social Value in Dynamic Groups. Psychol Sci 28:1160-1170
Lempert, Karolina M; Speer, Megan E; Delgado, Mauricio R et al. (2017) Positive autobiographical memory retrieval reduces temporal discounting. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 12:1584-1593
Lempert, Karolina M; Phelps, Elizabeth A (2016) The Malleability of Intertemporal Choice. Trends Cogn Sci 20:64-74
FeldmanHall, Oriel; Glimcher, Paul; Baker, Augustus L et al. (2016) Emotion and decision-making under uncertainty: Physiological arousal predicts increased gambling during ambiguity but not risk. J Exp Psychol Gen 145:1255-1262
Sokol-Hessner, Peter; Raio, Candace M; Gottesman, Sarah P et al. (2016) Acute stress does not affect risky monetary decision-making. Neurobiol Stress 5:19-25
Murty, Vishnu P; FeldmanHall, Oriel; Hunter, Lindsay E et al. (2016) Episodic memories predict adaptive value-based decision-making. J Exp Psychol Gen 145:548-558

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