Understanding Motivation in Brain Disorders
Official title: Assessment of approach-avoidance motivation in neuropsychiatric disorders
Funded at Georgia State University · NIH-11121104 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project is creating a new, easy-to-use task to better understand how motivation, both approaching rewards and avoiding threats, works in people with anxiety, depression, psychosis, and other brain-related conditions.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Georgia State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2022 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $725,854 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH130663-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11121104 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for future studies using this task would likely be adults aged 21 and older experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression, psychosis, or other related neuropsychiatric conditions.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who do not have neuropsychiatric conditions or who are not experiencing issues with approach-avoidance motivation may not directly benefit from this specific research.
What this research studies
We are developing a special behavioral task that helps us see how people react to situations where they might gain a reward or face a threat. This task, called an approach-avoidance task, is designed to be user-friendly and help us understand the underlying brain systems involved in motivation. Our goal is to make sure this task is reliable and accurate in identifying challenges related to anxiety, depression, and psychosis. By doing so, we hope to provide a clearer picture of how these conditions affect a person's motivation and behavior.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to a widely available tool that helps doctors and researchers better understand and diagnose the motivational challenges faced by individuals with various neuropsychiatric conditions.
How similar studies have gone: This project builds upon extensive preliminary research by the lab to optimize task parameters, suggesting a foundation of prior work, though the specific task validation is a novel focus.
Where this research is happening
-
Georgia State University
Atlanta, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tone, Erin Brooke — Georgia State University
- Study coordinator: Tone, Erin Brooke
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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.