How worry and acting out relate to different ways people seek information
CRCNS: Computational Foundations for Externalizing/Internalizing Psychopathology
This project uses simple computer decision tasks with children, teens, and adults to link worry (internalizing) and acting-out behaviors (externalizing) to different patterns of searching for information.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Princeton University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Princeton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11145895 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, you would complete short computer-based decision tasks that measure how you gather information from your thoughts versus the outside world. Researchers will use computational models on your choices to create fingerprints of “internal” versus “external” information seeking. The team will enroll people across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to see how these patterns change with age and relate to symptoms like anxiety or aggression. Findings will be based on participants' behavior on the tasks and statistical models rather than giving a treatment during the study.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are children, adolescents, or adults with varying levels of anxiety, worry, or externalizing behaviors (such as aggression), as well as people without these symptoms for comparison.
Not a fit: This project does not provide clinical treatment or medication changes, so people seeking immediate therapy or symptom relief should not expect direct benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help clinicians understand different decision-making patterns behind anxiety and aggressive behaviors so future treatments can be better targeted.
How similar studies have performed: Previous computational psychiatry work has linked internalizing symptoms like worry to altered internal information seeking, while applying these methods to externalizing behaviors is a newer and less-tested direction.
Where this research is happening
Princeton, UNITED STATES
- Princeton University — Princeton, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Daw, Nathaniel Douglass — Princeton University
- Study coordinator: Daw, Nathaniel Douglass
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 below.