Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a Project Grant totaling $104,349.00 to The Johns Hopkins University (Award Date: April 1, 2026; Completion Date: March 31, 2028) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242). This research project, titled "Attentional Modulation of Neural Activity in Multi-Attribute Decision Making," investigates the neural mechanisms underlying complex, real-world decision-making processes. The primary deliverables include development of a computational model for attention-modulated multi-attribute decisions (AM-MAD) and empirical findings from neuronal activity recordings conducted in both non-human primate subjects (macaques) and human patients undergoing intracranial epilepsy treatment.

The research employs a novel experimental task design that isolates individual attributes of decision options presented sequentially, enabling researchers to monitor attentional focus and neural responses throughout the decision-making process. Key products include peer-reviewed publications documenting findings from pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) neurons that encode action value signals and demonstrate how attentional focus modulates value representation. The work leverages comparative neuroscience data across species and clinical populations to advance mechanistic understanding of decision-making processes, with potential applications for treating cognitive and behavioral disorders associated with decision-making deficits.