# Social Withdrawal Following Trauma Exposure: a Neuroeconomic Approach

> **NIH NIH K23** · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · 2020 · $169,117

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Impaired social functioning is a frequent and disabling consequence of trauma-related disorders. Although
social withdrawal results in widespread disability in trauma-exposed populations, little is known about the
neurobiological mechanisms underlying this dysfunction. In this project, social withdrawal following trauma
exposure is conceptualized as resulting from dysregulation within brain reward pathways. The applicant
proposes to use a neuroeconomic paradigm, the Trust Task, to probe alterations in social reward functioning in
trauma-exposed populations. Possible contributions of a stress peptide, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating
polypeptide (PACAP), implicated in changes in social behavior following stress exposure, will be identified. The
central hypothesis is that in trauma-exposed populations, the extent of social withdrawal (decreased social
network size) will be predicted by alterations in both Trust Task behavior and abnormal reward-related neural
signaling in the ventral striatum, dorsal striatum, and medial prefrontal cortex. This Mentored Patient-Oriented
Research Career Development Award combines research and training activities to support the applicant's
long-range goal of developing an independent research program applying neuroeconomic paradigms within
dimensional models of anxiety and mood disorders. The first training aim is to develop the applicant's expertise
in research on trauma and PTSD. This will be supported through intensive mentorship, provided by Isabelle
Rosso, Ph.D., an expert on PTSD neurochemistry, and Kerry Ressler, M.D., Ph.D., an expert in the
translational neuroscience of PTSD, both of McLean Hospital/ Harvard Medical School (HMS). The second
training aim is to develop expertise in fMRI paradigm design and analysis of neuroeconomic data. This will be
supported via mentorship by Diego Pizzagalli, Ph.D., an expert in affective neuroscience, and through
consultation with Blaise Frederick, Ph.D., an expert on fMRI, both at McLean Hospital/ HMS, as well as
through consultation with Read Montague, Ph.D., a neuroeconomics expert at Virginia Tech Carilion Research
Institute. The third training aim is to develop expertise in stress neuroendocrinology, including stress peptides
and their interactions with ovarian hormones. This aim will be supported by Dr. Ressler, who originally
identified the relationship between PACAP and PTSD in humans. The program of training has been carefully
planned to position the applicant for research independency by the end of the award period. The contribution of
the proposed research will advance the field by identifying behavioral, neural, and molecular biomarkers for
social anhedonia and social withdrawal in trauma-exposed women. By using neuroeconomic paradigms to
characterize alterations in reward circuitry that contribute to social withdrawal, the proposed research
represents a substantive departure from the status quo. To summarize, the proposed project...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10006853
- **Project number:** 5K23MH112873-04
- **Recipient organization:** MCLEAN HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** ELIZABETH OLSON
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $169,117
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-14 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10006853

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10006853, Social Withdrawal Following Trauma Exposure: a Neuroeconomic Approach (5K23MH112873-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10006853. Licensed CC0.

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