# Project 3: Emotions

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $208,845

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
This project applies basic affective science methodology to assess socioemotional functioning in patients with
frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). By measuring multiple emotion processes
(reactivity, regulation, and recognition), types (positive, negative, self-conscious emotions), and response
systems (subjective experience, expressive behavior, peripheral physiology, emotional language), we obtain
an unusually comprehensive and fine-grained assessment of socioemotional functioning. Using this approach,
we have identified particular aspects of socioemotional functioning that distinguish among FTD-spectrum
disorders, AD, and normal aging. This assessment has also been well-suited for establishing links with
anatomical data derived from structural neuroimaging and post-mortem neuropathology. In the next project
period, we will expand this research to include: (a) psychiatric patients with major depressive disorder (MDD)
and bipolar affective disorder (BD), which also produce changes in socioemotional functioning and can be
difficult to distinguish from dementia in late life; (b) additional measures of social/interpersonal functioning in
the realms of emotional reactivity (pride, an emotion that arises from complex social comparisons), regulation
(social down-regulation of response to stress associated with presence of caregiver), and recognition
(continuous ratings of one's own emotions, recognizing comfortable interpersonal distance); (c) new measures
of autonomic nervous system functioning (stomach activity) and visceral awareness (gastric filling); (d)
longitudinal assessments of patients' real-world socioemotional functioning; and (e) additional imaging
measures (PET assays of tau and amyloid accumulation and circuit-focused assessment of functional
connectivity. We will pursue three specific aims: Aim 1. Social/Interpersonal functioning. We will utilize our
expanded assessment of social/interpersonal functioning to characterize social/interpersonal functioning in
FTD-spectrum disorders, AD, MDD, and BD; Aim 2. Difficult diagnoses. We will identify optimal groups of
predictors from our laboratory-assessment of socioemotional functioning for distinguishing among patients with
FTD, AD, MDD, and BD. Aim 3. Brain-behavior relationships. We will delineate brain circuitry associated
with deficits in specific aspects of emotional reactivity, regulation, and recognition. Innovations of this project
include: (a) applying basic affective science methodology to characterize social and emotional functioning in
patients with dementia and mood disorders; (b) using classification analysis techniques with strong criterion
measures (state-of-the-art clinical diagnoses, and, when possible, autopsy-confirmed diagnoses) to identify
optimal groups of predictors for increasing diagnostic accuracy; and (c) studying brain-behavior relationships
using fine-grained measures of emotional reactivity, regulation, and recognition linked wit...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10169206
- **Project number:** 5P01AG019724-20
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert Wayne Levenson
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $208,845
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-09-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10169206

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10169206, Project 3: Emotions (5P01AG019724-20). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10169206. Licensed CC0.

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