# The impact of early life unpredictability on reward processing, learning, and memory

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2023 · $35,647

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Adverse early life experiences can have remarkably enduring negative consequences on mental health, with
numerous, varied psychiatric conditions sharing this developmental origin. Yet, the mechanisms linking
adverse experiences to these conditions remain poorly understood. One complication that impedes progress in
this area is that prior work has often aggregated over many distinct aspects of adversity, potentially creating a
barrier to identifying specific mechanisms for therapeutic intervention. The proposed research addresses this
gap by focusing on one particular dimension of early life adversity – caregiver unpredictability — aiming to
understand how neural systems may rationally adapt in response to this adversity, and the neuro-
computational consequences of this adaptation. We have proposed a computational model that demonstrates
how neural systems that follow statistically-optimal adaptation principles can, when faced with an unpredictable
early life environment, produce impaired reward learning, diminished expectation of reward, and memory
deficits – all of which are previously identified outcomes of early-life unpredictability, and are also common
symptoms of psychiatric conditions associated with early-life unpredictability. Translating the model into its
hypothesized neurobiological underpinnings generates novel predictions regarding how early-life
unpredictability should alter interactions between reward and memory systems. Namely, we predict that early-
life unpredictability will alter reward’s effect on core mnemonic computations (pattern completion and
separation), and that this will in turn affect how memory guides decisions for reward. We will directly test these
predictions across two experiments using a multi-pronged approach integrating computational modeling of
behavior with high-resolution functional neuroimaging of medial temporal lobe substructures and their
coactivation with reward regions. In doing so, we aim to precisely identify how early-life unpredictability alters
reciprocal interactions between reward and memory. In Aim 1, we will determine how early-life unpredictability
shapes the influence of reward on memory. In Aim 2, we will determine the impact of early-life unpredictability
on memory-guided decisions for reward. Findings from the proposed studies will determine whether behavioral
deficits in reward processing and memory following early-life unpredictability can be understood as the
consequence of rational adaptation to the structure and statistics of the early life environment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10826333
- **Project number:** 1F31MH134620-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Nora Harhen
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $35,647
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10826333

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10826333, The impact of early life unpredictability on reward processing, learning, and memory (1F31MH134620-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10826333. Licensed CC0.

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