# Social cognition in AUD recovery: Understanding trajectories, consequences, and mechanisms of change for deficits in emotion processing

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2024 · $351,413

## Abstract

Project Summary
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is characterized by attenuated capacities to recognize and interpret the emotional
states of others. Extant cross-sectional studies have described these deficits and confirm their association with
interpersonal difficulties. However, no current data adequately inform the capacity for change in emotion
processing during early abstinence, the putative cognitive/affective mechanisms underlying such change, or
resultant impacts on treatment adherence, relapse, or other clinically-relevant recovery outcomes. The proposed
project addresses these three critical gaps.
The fundamental approach involves longitudinal assessment of emotion processing from treatment initiation to
discharge (~3 months). We will recruit recently-abstinent individuals in residential treatment for AUD. We will
also recruit a matched sample of community controls, facilitating characterization of practice effects. In addition
to longitudinal collection of emotion processing performance, indexed via multimodal computerized assessment
tasks, we will also interrogate non-affective cognitive functions (e.g., inhibitory control) and intrapersonal
measures of affect processing (e.g., emotion regulation). In addition to surveillance of treatment adherence (e.g.,
dropout, readmission), treatment outcome indices will be provided by both patients and clinicians, and will include
post-discharge assessments of functioning (e.g., quality of life; resumption of use).
We will delineate the growth function(s) indexing change in social cognition over the first three months of
abstinence, allowing us to test the hypothesis that these functions improve, as well as describe what constitutes
normal vs. maladaptive rates of recovery. We will employ statistical models facilitating causal inference to test
the hypotheses that alterations in executive functions, intrapersonal affect processing, and mood constitute
underlying mechanisms of AUD-associated deficits in interpersonal emotion processing. We will test the
hypothesis that change in emotion processing will drive subsequent improvements in a range of clinically-
relevant outcomes, and examine putative mediators (e.g., social support) of these relationships.
Execution of the proposed project will provide actionable data guiding identification of at-risk patients for whom
intervention may be most impactful, as well as critical periods for intervention delivery. Results will directly
contribute to the development of interventions designed to enhance emotion processing by facilitating selection
of the most appropriate mechanistic targets. Resulting data will determine the breadth and magnitude of
clinically-relevant recovery outcomes impacted, facilitating estimation of potential intervention efficacy.
Our laboratory has the requisite experience to execute these aims, the ongoing relationships with treatment
facilities required to collect the data, and the expertise to translate findings into social cognitive i...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10942710
- **Project number:** 1R01AA031817-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ben Lewis
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $351,413
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-15 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10942710

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10942710, Social cognition in AUD recovery: Understanding trajectories, consequences, and mechanisms of change for deficits in emotion processing (1R01AA031817-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10942710. Licensed CC0.

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