# Emotion Regulation in Depression and the Aging Brain

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 2021 · $397,683

## Abstract

Emotion processing skills (EPS), include 1) attention to emotions; 2) basic perception of emotions; and 3)
strategies that people use to regulate their emotions. Studies from our group and others have shown that these
three constructs occur at different stages of emotion processing. EPS are impacted by demographic variables,
including age and sex, as well as neuropsychiatric illnesses, including Major Depression, and
neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. As people age in good health, they demonstrate
generally improved perception for and attention to positive stimuli, poorer perception for and attention to
negative stimuli, and different patterns of emotion regulation (ER) skills. In addition to age, EPS are moderated
by sex. For example, in studies of young adult and adult populations, females tend to demonstrate stronger
facial emotion perception skills relative to males, yet more frequently engage in potentially maladaptive ER
strategies during times of stress (i.e., rumination) that may contribute to sex differences in depression
prevalence. Patterns of sex differences in EPS during late-middle and older age are less clear, and it remains
unknown how EPS worsen during abnormal aging processes, such as in the case of depressive
symptomatology and neurodegenerative disease. The currently funded R01 Award aims to a) characterize sex
as a moderator of ER during late middle and older age (55-79); b) illustrate how ER is moderated by abnormal
affective aging (e.g., depression), and c) measure executive functioning (EF) as a partial mediator of ER (EF
declines with age and depression, and is known to be critical to successful ER). As an exploratory aim, we aim
to model interactions of sex and disease. We study these constructs multi-modally, using self-report,
behavioral, and neuroimaging tools, in line with the Research Domain Criteria. This Supplement would enable
us to add a sample of individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) and early Alzheimer’s
disease (AD) to the existing protocol. The sample will be stratified for depression symptom severity, age, and
education, similar to the original proposal, as well as with regard to cognitive severity categorization (aMCI
versus early AD) . The sample will be drawn from the SBU Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease
(CEAD).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10288749
- **Project number:** 3R01MH116033-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara L. Weisenbach
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $397,683
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-05-24 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10288749

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10288749, Emotion Regulation in Depression and the Aging Brain (3R01MH116033-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10288749. Licensed CC0.

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