Federal Grant Award Summary

This $716,669 Project Grant, awarded June 1, 2026, by the National Institute on Drug Abuse through the Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs (CFDA 93.279), supports a longitudinal research study examining metacognition circuit impairments in opioid use disorder (OUD). The research will deliver foundational neuroscience and clinical evidence regarding how second-order cognitive deficits—specifically metacognitive underconfidence—correlate with anterior prefrontal cortex functional abnormalities and predict treatment outcomes in individuals with heroin or fentanyl addiction. Building upon prior cross-sectional findings, this five-year study (completion February 28, 2031) will provide prospective data linking metacognitive impairments to illicit opioid use relapse and quality-of-life outcomes among medication-assisted opioid treatment (MOUD) participants in a community-dwelling sample.

The research deliverables include neuroimaging data (functional magnetic resonance imaging), cognitive assessment results, and longitudinal clinical outcomes tracking comparing opioid-abstinent individuals, those with continued illicit opioid use despite MOUD, and matched healthy controls. Stony Brook University, through The Research Foundation For The State University of New York, will conduct all research activities at its Stony Brook, New York facilities. This study directly supports NIDA's mission to develop new knowledge and approaches for understanding, preventing, and treating drug addiction through investigation of neural mechanisms underlying addictive behavior.