# Effects of adolescent social isolation on adult decision making and corticostriatal circuitry

> **NIH NIH K01** · RUTGERS THE STATE UNIV OF NJ NEWARK · 2024 · $179,874

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a particularly important period in social and cognitive development, characterized 
in part by rapid increases in exploration, social interaction, and neural connectivity. Social 
isolation in adolescence has a clear, profound impact on a wide range of behavioral and 
physiological endpoints extending into adulthood. The overarching research goal of this 
proposal is to elucidate how adolescent social isolation in male and female mice alters value-based 
decision making in adulthood, as well as the underlying corticostriatal circuitry driving these 
complex goal-directed behaviors. This work is timely and vitally important as COVID-19 has 
subjected an increasing number of adolescents to social isolation through school closures and 
stay-at-home orders.

A first aim of this proposal is to use operant tasks to systematically investigate how adolescent 
social isolation impacts how mice later value reward benefits and integrate expected costs during 
decision making. Preliminary data suggests that adolescent social isolation amplifies reward value, 
but specific aspects of decision-making behavior will be disentangled with computational modeling 
of value-based choice. The second aim builds on this behavioral work to test the hypothesis that 
adolescent social isolation disrupts corticostriatal circuitry and striatal output during adult 
value-based decision-making. A distributed neural network is engaged during decision- 
making, and the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) is a key node in this network. Prefrontal inputs to the 
DMS from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are critically involved 
in action selection and outcome valuation, respectively. All three of these nodes 
undergo maturation and refinement during adolescence, and adolescent social isolation 
disrupts this development. However, how this impacts adult corticostriatal function remains 
unknown. Using in vivo electrophysiology, local field potential (LFP) and single- unit recordings 
will be used to test how adolescent social isolation affects synaptic strength and connectivity 
from these cortical regions to the DMS during value-based decision-making behavior.

This work proposed in the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will provide Dr. Elizabeth 
Holly with training in computational modeling of decision-making behavior and in vivo 
electrophysiology, which will be an important part of the foundation of her independent research 
career. By completion of this Award, the goal is for Dr. Holly to transition to a tenure-track 
faculty position and apply for an R01. The mentorship team Dr. Holly has assembled will ensure her 
successful training in these techniques, and prepare her to transition to her own independent 
research laboratory.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874760
- **Project number:** 5K01MH127306-05
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS THE STATE UNIV OF NJ NEWARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth N. Holly
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $179,874
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-03-15 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874760

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874760, Effects of adolescent social isolation on adult decision making and corticostriatal circuitry (5K01MH127306-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10874760. Licensed CC0.

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