Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Maryland, College Park received a $152,300 Project Grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), awarded August 20, 2026, with a completion date of April 18, 2029. The award funds research investigating the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying perseverance and resilience, with specific focus on how social play deprivation during critical developmental periods disrupts executive functioning and increases addiction risk. The research employs a rodent model to examine relationships between early-life social experiences and adult decision-making, directly addressing gaps in understanding whether juvenile social play actively shapes neurocognitive development or merely correlates with adult cognitive outcomes.

The research deliverables include development and characterization of a novel Multi-Step Perseverance Task (MSPT) that assesses the balance between motivational drive and behavioral inhibition in response to setbacks. The project will involve single-neuron recording from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)—a brain region critical for adaptive behavior—as rats perform the MSPT, with the goal of identifying how neural ensemble firing patterns contribute to psychological constructs mediating effort, perseverance, and resilience. This work addresses the National Institute on Drug Abuse's priority to develop new knowledge on prevention and treatment approaches related to substance use disorder, particularly by elucidating how early adversity and social deprivation influence neurodevelopmental pathways to addiction vulnerability.