# Characterizing and modulating neurocognitive processes of learning to trust and distrust in aging

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2022 · $123,240

## Abstract

Project Summary (Supplement). This supplement aims to bring Dr. Marilyn Horta, who is from an
underrepresented background in the sciences at our institution and in the US, to work under the parent grant
R01AG072658. This project offers an ideal context for Dr. Horta's research and career development given her
goals of becoming an independent, productive researcher in aging and decision neuroscience. Dr. Horta would
have the opportunity to (i) expertise in the identification and optimization of neurocognitive processes of learning
to trust and distrust in particularly vulnerable and currently understudied older adult populations (i.e., individuals
with chronic pain; disadvantaged groups); (ii) skills in advanced statistical analysis of behavioral and
neuroimaging data; and (iii) enhanced presentation and academic writing abilities. Dr. Horta will work closely
with her mentoring team that spans across the three parent grant sites and includes balanced expertise in in
cognitive and socioemotional experimental aging and neuroimaging analysis (Dr. Ebner), computational
modeling of reinforcement and learning (Dr. Wilson), decision neuroscience (Dr. Lighthall), and clinical pain and
aging (Dr. Fillingim). On her initiative, Dr. Horta has successfully obtained pilot funding to investigate decision
making among older adults with chronic pain, a particularly vulnerable and currently understudied older adult
group regarding trust-related decision making. Integrating her clinical expertise in chronic pain populations under
the parent grant, Dr. Horta will significantly contribute to all three parent grant aims. In particular, she will advance
Aim 1, which is to confirm age deficits in learning to trust in an adult lifespan sample and determine the extent
to which social cues of trustworthiness bias trust-related decisions and learning in older adults, by differentiating
chronic pain status among the parent grant sample; and with her newly learned skills in computational modeling
under the supplement will be able to isolate specific learning biases (e.g., social cue, loss aversion, and recency)
under consideration of chronic pain status. Further, Dr. Horta's training in advanced neuroimaging data analysis
will directly contribute to Aim 2, which seeks to confirm altered neurocircuitry underlying age-associated learning
deficits; again, extending this work to chronic pain. Finally, findings from the analyses under Aims 1 and 2 will
directly inform Aim 3 toward identifying the best target for training the malleability of the neurocircuitry underlying
trust-learning deficits in vulnerable older adults.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10622831
- **Project number:** 3R01AG072658-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Natalie C Ebner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $123,240
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2027-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10622831

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10622831, Characterizing and modulating neurocognitive processes of learning to trust and distrust in aging (3R01AG072658-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10622831. Licensed CC0.

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