Project Grant K01AA032018

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) under the Alcohol Research Programs (CFDA 93.273) provides $165,279 to the University of Washington to conduct research aimed at understanding the neural markers of incentive salience for alcohol cues and how contextual factors may influence the relationship between these neural mechanisms and real-world alcohol use behaviors.

The research will leverage a combined laboratory-ambulatory study design to characterize the brain-behavior mechanisms underlying incentive salience for alcohol and how features of everyday drinking environments may moderate this association. The study will utilize fMRI, ERP, and ambulatory biosensor technology to capture both neuroimaging measures of incentive salience as well as real-world alcohol use patterns. This innovative experimental paradigm is expected to provide critical insights into the contextual factors that shape the relationship between neural processes and actual alcohol consumption, which can inform theoretical models, clinical assessment, and prevention/intervention efforts related to alcohol use disorder. The award period runs from May 15, 2025 to April 30, 2030.