# Neural Substrates of Affective Style and Emotion Regulation

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $757,717

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This proposal seeks five years of additional funding to examine in depth the structural and functional neural,
behavioral, and cognitive correlates of three fundamental dimensions of the time course of emotion: a) the
rapidity with which an individual recovers from negative affect, b) the duration with which positive affect
persists, and c) the change (e.g. habituation) in affective responses across repeated stimuli presentations.
These three important features of affective chronometry have received very little attention, and their neural
bases and psychological correlates are not well understood. The proposed research will be carried out in a set
of six inter-related aims. The measures described for each will be obtained in the same 350 participants
between the ages of 25-45 years, and include facial EMG measures of corrugator and zygomatic activity and
fMRI activity recorded in response to affective picture presentations. From these measures, metrics of
individual differences in recovery from negative affect, persistence of positive affect, and change across
repeated stimulations will be derived. We will investigate the impact of these affective chronometric measures
on subsequent memory for the stimuli. The Trier Social Stress Test will also be used to assess affective
chronometry through the lens of stress reactivity, quantified via the rise and fall of stress hormones in saliva
and perceived stress. Outside the laboratory, we will obtain day reconstructions and ecological momentary
assessment, or experience sampling, in the context of a simple probabilistic reward and punishment task that
involves winning or losing money. From these measures, we can examine the temporal dynamics of affective
responses in the field. All participants will complete questionnaires and undergo clinical diagnostic interviews
to assess for mental health symptomatology and trait affect, as well as a cognitive battery assessing executive
function and attentional flexibility. Collectively, this incredibly rich dataset will allow us to systematically
characterize the import of these affective chronometric measures for varied domains including emotional
memory, stress reactivity, mental health, cognition, daily emotional experiences, and reward responsivity, while
elucidating the critical functional and structural brain substrates underlying these relationships. Overall, we
predict that faster recovery from negative affect, greater persistence of positive affect, and less response
change across repeated occurrences of positive incentives will be adaptive, associated with well-being and
fewer depressive symptoms, and instantiated in circuits that involve both lateral and medial prefrontal-
amygdala connectivity and lateral and medial prefrontal-ventral striatal connectivity. Support for these
predictions would provide strong evidence that affective chronometry is a critical factor to include in the RDoC
negative and positive valence system domain...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9934232
- **Project number:** 5R01MH043454-30
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard J Davidson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $757,717
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-02-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9934232

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9934232, Neural Substrates of Affective Style and Emotion Regulation (5R01MH043454-30). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9934232. Licensed CC0.

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