Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded McLean Hospital Corporation a Project Grant totaling $179,096 on June 18, 2026, under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to support research investigating the neurocognitive mechanisms of negative retrieval bias in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The research will be conducted through May 31, 2031, at McLean Hospital's research facility in Belmont, Massachusetts. The primary deliverable is the development and application of the Parceling Recognition Into Strength and Motivation (PRISM) task to distinguish between two competing mechanisms—false familiarity versus motivated retrieval—that may explain how depression disrupts emotional memory processing. Using the Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) and model-based neuroimaging approaches, the research will characterize whether depression affects the quality of negative memories or the decision processes by which such memories are retrieved and acted upon.

This grant supports fundamental research to advance understanding of the mechanisms driving emotional memory deficits in depression, with implications for both basic science and future treatment development. By clarifying whether depression-related memory biases stem from strengthened negative memory representations or from motivational biases in how negative information is evaluated, the work aims to identify evidence-based targets for therapeutic intervention in Major Depressive Disorder.