Individual differences in behavior driven by self-reinforcement of suboptimal strategies
Official title: Individual differences through self-reinforcement of suboptimal strategies
Funded at Princeton University · NIH-11378451 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A science project at Princeton aims to understand why people differ in behavior by looking at how small initial differences shape each person’s reward learning in a complex world.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Princeton University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Princeton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | August 21, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $2,296,000 |
| NIH project number | 4DP1MH136573-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11378451 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are individuals whose behavior varies in complex environments and who may benefit from personalized behavioral or cognitive strategies.
✕Less likely to help
People with behavior patterns driven by factors outside of environment and learning processes may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This project explores why individuals develop different behavior patterns even in the same environment. It focuses on how dopamine neurons in the brain help form reward associations, and how small initial differences can lead to large, divergent outcomes over time. Researchers will record dopamine neuron activity to see how each animal (and by extension people) learns what features of the environment are rewarding. The work combines ideas from complex systems theory with neuroscience to reveal how personal experiences sculpt behavior. The findings could tell us why two people respond differently to similar circumstances and how these differences emerge.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Understanding how individual differences arise could inform personalized approaches to education, mental health, and behavior modification.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research shows that dopamine-based reward learning can vary across individuals, supporting the potential for these findings to generalize.
Where this research is happening
-
Princeton University
Princeton, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Witten, Ilana — Princeton University
- Study coordinator: Witten, Ilana
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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.