# Project 1  Mechanisms of cognitive interference from value-based choice conflict

> **NIH NIH P20** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $300,625

## Abstract

Summary 
This project seeks to elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of aversive experiences that arise from choosing 
between conflicting alternatives. Choice conflict/uncertainty can induce stress as the value and number of 
one's options increase, and these stressful experiences can persist after a choice is made, as the individual 
weighs counterfactual choices. Indecisiveness and intolerance of uncertainty also constitute important 
transdiagnostic factors in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), 
disorders that will affect more than 1 in 20 Americans over their lifetimes. However, the basis for stressful 
experiences of choice conflict, and what their potential may be for negatively impacting ongoing cognition, are 
still poorly understood. We aim to ground conflict-related neural signals and their subjective sequelae 
(increased anxiety and decreased choice confidence) in terms of the evidence accumulated for different choice 
options before and after a decision, measured using fMRI and EEG while human participants choose between 
salient rewards. In order to better understand cognitive impairments that result from heightened uncertainty 
and worry, we will further test whether choice conflict signals interfere with ongoing cognition (as evidenced by 
behavioral and neural measures during a concurrent working memory task); whether this interference is 
enhanced with increasing trait anxiety and diminished by targeted decision strategies; and what patterns of 
neural connectivity give rise to the interference. Providing a more complete account of choice conflict in terms 
of ongoing processes of evidence accumulation will lay the groundwork for understanding varieties of choice 
paralysis. Furthermore, these efforts will contribute directly to our understanding of neural circuits whose 
dysregulation exacerbates negative experiences of choice conflict, providing a transdiagnostic mechanism for 
GAD, OCD, and related disorders. By focusing on the common dysfunctions in neural circuit computations 
across these disorders, this project aligns well with the criteria of the RDoC initiative, and with its goal of 
offering potential mechanistic targets for diagnosis and risk assessment. Such contributions will in turn inform 
approaches to pharmacological and therapeutic intervention aimed at reducing maladaptive responses to 
everyday occurrences of decision conflict in individuals with these disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9994936
- **Project number:** 5P20GM103645-08
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** AMITAI SHENHAV
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $300,625
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-08-15 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9994936

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9994936, Project 1  Mechanisms of cognitive interference from value-based choice conflict (5P20GM103645-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9994936. Licensed CC0.

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