This National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship will produce one of the first human imaging studies of the neural systems underlying pair-bonding. It will significantly enhance the Fellow?s knowledge of neural circuitry involved in pair-bonding in humans; research skills; and knowledge of neuroscience and functional brain imaging. The Fellow, Ms. Bianca Acevedo, will perform her research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM) with Dr. Lucy L. Brown in the Department of Neuroscience and at New York University (NYU) with Dr. Elizabeth Phelps in the Department of Psychology. AECOM and NYU are premier research institutions and offer comprehensive courses, resources for image analysis, and faculty members with expertise in neural functioning. Further, AECOM has a Postdoctoral Association, which is an excellent resource for the postdoctoral community, providing forums and a social network of peers. Additionally, Dr. Brown has extensive experience in human brain anatomy and functioning and has published several articles on the neural basis of early-stage romantic love and rejection in humans. The proposed study will recruit participants about to enter or just entering a first marriage with an opposite-sex partner to examine the fMRI BOLD response to images of a partner and controls before marriage and approximately 12 months later. Objective 1: To determine how neural reward system responses change over the first year of marriage. Analyses of imaging data will focus on the ventral striatum/pallidum. Regions of interest previously identified in studies of animal pair-bonding will be examined. Objective 2: To investigate the association between neural circuitry underlying pair-bonding and marital outcomes (quality and stability). The researchers predict that brain areas associated with pair-bonding in mammals may show greater degrees of activation for individuals in marriages that remain stable and strengthen (reporting high levels of satisfaction, affection, positive regard, and low conflict) over time. Objective 3: To determine whether changes that occur in neural systems over the transition to marriage are moderated by individual differences in attachment style. For this, the researchers propose to examine the BOLD response to images of a partner before marriage and 12 months after and relate brain activation patterns to individual differences in attachment style. Attachment styles will be assessed via standard interview and self-report measures before marriage. The training objectives of the Fellow?s post-doctoral plan are to enhance her research skills and gain deeper knowledge of neuroscience and functional brain imaging to become a well-trained social neuroscientist. Additionally, through this research the Fellow will gain knowledge regarding the neural circuitry underlying reward, addiction, and pair-bonding in humans providing a solid foundation for a future research program. The Fellow proposes to enhance her research training by: (a) increasing her knowledge of brain anatomy and functioning; fMRI techniques, design, and analysis?through being actively engaged in research and direct consultation with the sponsor, Dr. Brown; (b) being immersed and participating in the scientific community by attending relevant courses, workshops, talks, and conferences; and (c) enhancing her publication record by working closely with the sponsor on writing and submitting manuscripts based on their research. These training goals will help the Fellow achieve her goal, of attaining a faculty position at an academic research institution in order to contribute to scientific knowledge of human relationships, their maintenance and evolution, as well as the neural circuitry underlying these processes.
