# Individual Differences in Epigenetic Regulation of Emotional Learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $14,477

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This proposal is intended to offer scientific training to an undergraduate identified through the NIDA Summer
Research Internship Program. The research project focuses on identifying common neurobiological substrates
that may confer vulnerability both to addiction and to frequently co-occurring disorders such as post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). Pavlovian conditioning procedures will be used to distinguish “sign-tracking” rats that
tend to attribute high levels of motivational significance to discrete predictive cues while largely ignoring
context, from “goal-tracking” rats that make more use of context to appropriately modify their emotional
responses. Sign-tracking rats are more prone to cue-triggered addiction- and PTSD-like behaviors than goal-
trackers. The neurobiological basis of these behavioral traits will be explored by testing for differences between
sign- and goal-trackers in functional connectivity within key limbic circuits known to mediate motivated
behavior, namely pathways from ventral hippocampus to nucleus accumbens. Neuronal activity will also be
manipulated using viral vectors to test for a causal influence on conditioned motivational responses to
appetitive and aversive cues and contexts. These experiments will test the hypothesis that goal-trackers have
an increased capacity to use contextual information derived from hippocampal inputs to appropriately modify
subcortical responses to cues associated with emotionally salient events. The project will train a promising
scientist and help clarify potential neurobiological pathways to addiction and frequently co-occurring disorders,
which is a significant public health priority.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10399807
- **Project number:** 3R01DA044960-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Jonathan David Morrow
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $14,477
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-05-31 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10399807

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10399807, Individual Differences in Epigenetic Regulation of Emotional Learning (3R01DA044960-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10399807. Licensed CC0.

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