# Functional imaging of cortico-limbic predictors of emotion regulation, emotion reactivity, and risk for suicidal ideation and behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · BUTLER HOSPITAL (PROVIDENCE, RI) · 2020 · $564,378

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Suicide rates are on the rise, and recent investments in treatment and intervention have done little to turn the
tide. While studies have identified cross-sectional predictors of suicidal ideation and behavior (e.g. age, gender,
psychiatric diagnosis), the processes that underpin episodic suicide risk – that is, episodes of suicidal ideation
and behavior as they occur in the real world – remain poorly understood. Neuroimaging studies examining
structural and functional alterations present in individuals with suicidal ideation (SI) and behavior (SB) have
implicated elements of a fronto-striato-amygdala circuit underlying executive control and emotion processing as
conferring suicide risk. This circuit involves key regions of interest (ROIs) including the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex (dlPFC), ventral medial PFC (vmPFC)/orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and projections to the thalamus,
amygdala, hippocampus, caudate, and frontotemporal-striatum. This neural circuit may moderate emotional
response through an opponent process model of reactivity to, and regulation of, emotional experiences.
Specifically, initial reactivity to emotion involves bottom-up information processing from sensorimotor inputs to
the amygdala and, ultimately, to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and associated ROIs. Conversely,
regulation of emotional experiences involves top-down information processing, effortful control, higher
cognition, and executive functioning, originating in the PFC and associated ROIs. Our team (1R01MH095786),
is developing an emotion reactivity translational endophenotype for suicide integrating genetics,
psychophysiological monitoring coupled to an emotion reactivity task (i.e. Paced Audio Serial Addition Task),
and real-world symptom and experiential sampling via ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Preliminary
findings suggest that participants who have made a suicide attempt (SA) show greater anger reactivity during
the most stressful part of the PASAT as compared to participants with SI; this response may represent a novel
emotion reactivity marker of suicide risk. We believe that an important next step in understanding emotion
reactivity in suicide is to examine the fronto-striato-amygdala top-down/bottom-up information-processing
model using functional neuroimaging in association with laboratory-based and real-world measures (i.e.
ecological momentary assessment) of emotion reactivity and regulation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9942280
- **Project number:** 5R01MH112674-04
- **Recipient organization:** BUTLER HOSPITAL (PROVIDENCE, RI)
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael F Armey
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $564,378
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-09 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9942280

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9942280, Functional imaging of cortico-limbic predictors of emotion regulation, emotion reactivity, and risk for suicidal ideation and behavior (5R01MH112674-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9942280. Licensed CC0.

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