Virtual reality to understand how people with PTSD learn safety versus threat
Official title: Using novel virtual reality tasks to identify neural mechanisms of discrimination learning in PTSD
Funded at University of Rochester · NIH-11224092 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses virtual-reality tasks with adults who have PTSD to see how their brains learn to tell safe places from dangerous or rewarding ones.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Rochester NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Rochester, United States) |
| Project start | December 6, 2022 |
| Project end | October 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $702,204 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH131532-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11224092 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults aged 21 and over with a diagnosis of PTSD who can travel to the study site and tolerate virtual reality and brain imaging procedures are the intended participants.
✕Less likely to help
People under 21, those without trauma exposure, or anyone unable to use VR or undergo imaging (for example due to severe motion sickness or contraindications) are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participation.
What this research studies
If you join, you'll complete virtual-reality tasks that put you in environments with locations that predict safety, threat, or reward. The tasks ask you to use spatial information to learn which areas are neutral versus linked to threat or reward while researchers measure your brain activity with imaging. The study will compare about 80 adults with PTSD to 80 trauma-exposed adults without PTSD to identify differences in the hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex. Results aim to reveal how contextual learning is altered in PTSD and point toward brain-based markers.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could identify brain-based markers that help diagnose PTSD and guide more targeted treatments.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research links discrimination problems and these brain regions to PTSD, but using custom virtual-reality tasks to map spatial discrimination to neural circuits is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Rochester
Rochester, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Suarez-Jimenez, Benjamin — University of Rochester
- Study coordinator: Suarez-Jimenez, Benjamin
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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.