How the brain tells safe signals from scary or rewarding ones
Official title: Neural circuitry of safety, fear and reward cue discrimination
Funded at Indiana University Indianapolis · NIH-11256779 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work looks at how brain circuits help people tell safety signals apart from scary or rewarding signals, which could help people with anxiety or PTSD.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Indiana University Indianapolis NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Indianapolis, United States) |
| Project start | March 2, 2018 |
| Project end | December 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $642,613 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH110425-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11256779 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who have trouble feeling safe or who experience excessive fear or hyperarousal—for example those with PTSD or anxiety disorders—would be the most relevant group.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose problems are unrelated to fear, safety signaling, or emotional regulation (for example isolated physical injuries) are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
If you find it hard to tell when a situation is truly safe, this research aims to explain why that happens in the brain. Researchers will use well-established conditioning tasks and neural recordings to compare how safety, fear, and reward cues are represented and discriminated. The team will focus on brain areas such as the infralimbic cortex and basolateral amygdala and trace the circuits that promote safety signaling and inhibit fear. The goal is to identify neural pathways that could be targeted to make therapies that rely on safety cues more effective.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to better therapies that reduce inappropriate fear responses and improve outcomes for people with PTSD or anxiety.
How similar studies have gone: Prior animal and human imaging research has linked the infralimbic cortex and amygdala to fear and safety learning, but the precise circuits for cue discrimination and conditioned inhibition remain to be mapped.
Where this research is happening
-
Indiana University Indianapolis
Indianapolis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sangha, Susan — Indiana University Indianapolis
- Study coordinator: Sangha, Susan
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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.