This Program Project will investigate the functional neuroanatomy of the human brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging, electrophysiology, eye tracking, and behavior. This competing renewal focuses upon brain systems that mediate the influence of affective processes upon cognitive control processes. The proposal comprises four projects. Project 1, which is led by Drs. Marty Woldorff and Kevin Pelphrey, will investigate how affect and social context influence brain systems for attention and social perception, particularly those related to the processing of faces, face emotion, and eye gaze. Project 2, which is led by Drs. Kevin LaBar and Roberto Cabeza, will investigate how emotions modulate both explicit (declarative, conscious) and implicit (non-declarative, nonconscious) forms of human memory. Project 3, which is led by Drs. Scott Huettel and Ian Dobbins, will investigate how reward information modulates brain systems for decision making, to elucidate the brain mechanisms that determine how people make decisions, set goals, and determine preferences among stimuli. Project 4, which is led by Drs. Gregory McCarthy and Aysenil Belger, will investigate how affective information influences and is influenced by executive control systems and how this reciprocal interaction determines changes in behavioral performance. These projects will be supported by three Cores. An administrative core (Core A) will provide administrative services and will prepare and maintain institutional review board protocols. The Physics Core (Core B), which is led by Dr. Allen Song, will develop parallel imaging techniques;will create specialized pulse sequences to improve spatial resolution, increase functional sensitivity, and reduce imaging time;will develop efficient de-blurring and re-sampling algorithms to ensure spatial clarity and fidelity;and will develop a multi-contrast approach that improves capillary specificity of fMRI imaging. The Data Acquisition and Analysis Core (Core C) will provide direct services to all investigators to ensure the efficient recruitment of subjects, collection of fMRI data, and conduct of preliminary data analyses. The data analysis activities of this Core will leverage Duke's participation in the NIH/NCRR Biomedical Informatics Research Network. Changes in affect and emotional regulation are frequent and debilitating aspects of neurological disorders such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, ALS, and Alzheimer's disease. An understanding of how affective processing influences essential cognition functions such as attention, memory, decision-making, and executive control will provide new insights into remediatory approaches toward these disorders and into the functioning of the normal human brain.
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