This National Institute of Mental Health funding opportunity announcement seeks research studies that use dimensional constructs (like brain circuit or physiological pathway) to integrate biology and behavior in the service of advancing the understanding of biological mechanisms and developmental trajectories of eating disorders. Possible research topics include, but are not limited to:
- Deviations from normative adolescent brain development or function during early stages of eating disorders within cognitive, emotional, or reward behaviors and their underlying neural circuits.
- Biological mechanisms underlying changes in attention, perception, or effortful control during early phases of eating disorders or over the course of treatment (e.g., illness to recovery) in adolescents or adults.
- Assessment of changes in cognitive function over the course of weight restoration or treatment to distinguish those neurobiological functions that are sensitive to nutritional and physiological status from those that are not.
- The use of reward processes (e.g., reward expectation, valuation, and termination of reward seeking behavior) and variation in reward circuitry to predict treatment response in eating disorders.
- Using emotion paradigms to measure trajectories in individuals with impairing levels of food restriction, anxiety, or compulsive behaviors.
Budgets are limited to $400,000 in annual direct costs and the maximum project period is five years. Letters of intent are due May 11, 2013, with full applications due June 11, 2013. For more information, see the link below:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-MH-14-030.html