# Neural and motivational mechanisms of age-related change in emotion regulation: Administrative Supplement

> **NIH NIH R01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $377,858

## Abstract

Project Summary: In the progression from middle to older-age, healthy adults typically experience improvements
in their emotional functioning, such as increases in positive emotion and greater expertise in managing emotions.
However, not everyone shows these age-related improvements, and the mechanisms that give rise to emotional
functioning changes across adulthood are still poorly understood. The primary goal of this project is to examine
the critical factors that promote positive emotional development in normative aging, and to test whether depression
history might moderate this process as a key trait individual difference marker. To this end, we test our proposed
Value-Based Cognitive Control Model of Emotion Regulation in ADulthood (VBCC-MERiAD). The VBCC-MERiAD
framework suggests a novel insight: that interactions between reward motivation and cognitive control play a
central role in understanding both the normative trajectory of emotional functioning in older adults, and conversely,
why and how individuals with depression histories may get “off track”. Our primary hypothesis is that emotion
regulation (ER) abilities rely upon the integrity of fronto-striatal circuitry (i.e., activity and connectivity between the
lateral prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens / ventral striatum), to successfully utilize reward motivation as a
means of engaging cognitive control (i.e., to update and maintain ER goals). Across three Specific Aims, we will
characterize the mechanisms of ER in middle-aged and older adults (N=220, ages 35-75) using a multi-method
design involving functional neuroimaging measures, laboratory behavioral assessments, and experience sampling
methods, to identify the neural and behavioral indicators of motivation and cognitive control that predict daily
emotional functioning, and potential dysregulation in individuals with depression history. We further propose to
enrich our understanding of the mechanisms of age-related change in ER, by capitalizing on recent advances in
the ability to assess risk of preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-related neurodegeneration through the
use of blood plasma-based biomarkers. Through new collaborations with Dr. Suzanne Schindler and Dr. Brian
Gordon, our partners at both Washington University, Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, we will utilize
state-of-the-art methods, including single-molecule array (Simoa) and mass spectrometry, to comprehensively
assess key blood-based biomarkers related to amyloid (APOE, beta-amyloid), tau (ptau181), and
neurodegeneration (NfL, GFAP), as well as anatomical MRI biomarkers (e.g., cortical thickness). We propose an
Administrative Supplement to provide additional support for us to acquire, process and rigorously analyze AD-
related biomarker data. This Supplement will dramatically enhance the scope and impact of our project, by
enabling us to extend our understanding of both normative and dysfunctional age-related change in emotional
function, by ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10654278
- **Project number:** 3R01AG070139-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Tammy English
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $377,858
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-04-15 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10654278

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10654278, Neural and motivational mechanisms of age-related change in emotion regulation: Administrative Supplement (3R01AG070139-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10654278. Licensed CC0.

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