How gender, worry, and anxious thoughts shape fear learning and fear extinction
Official title: The Effects of Biological Sex, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxious States on Threat Acquisition and Extinction Learning
Funded at College of Staten Island · NIH-11487409 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant studies how biological sex, intolerance of uncertainty, and anxious states affect how people learn to fear a threat and then stop fearing it, with goals to improve exposure-based therapies.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R15 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | College of Staten Island NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2024 |
| Project end | May 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2024 |
| Award (this year) | $215,290 |
| NIH project number | 7R15MH134219-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11487409 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults experiencing anxiety or stress-related symptoms who may benefit from exposure-based therapies.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals without anxiety-related symptoms or those not engaging in fear-extinction-based treatments may have limited direct benefit.
What this research studies
The research looks at how fear learning and its extinction are influenced by sex differences, anxiety, and uncertainty tolerance. It uses human participants to explore how anticipatory anxiety (rather than just acute stress) impacts extinction learning, which underpins how exposure therapies work. The study aims to connect these emotional states with the learning processes that underlie treatment for stress and anxiety disorders. Findings could help tailor exposure-based treatments to individual profiles to reduce fear relapse after therapy. The project is conducted at the College of Staten Island with a focus on translating basic fear-learning mechanisms to clinical applications.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could inform personalized exposure therapies that account for sex, anxiety levels, and uncertainty tolerance, potentially reducing relapse in anxiety disorders.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research supports sex- and anxiety-related modulation of fear extinction, but the interactive effects with uncertainty intolerance are less explored and warrant clinical translation.
Where this research is happening
-
College of Staten Island
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Johnson, David Charles — College of Staten Island
- Study coordinator: Johnson, David Charles
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.