Project Grant R01DK146063

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded New York University a Project Grant of $861,091 on September 4, 2026, under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847).

The recipient will conduct neuroimaging and computational modeling research to identify the neural and decision-making mechanisms underlying loss-of-control eating and obesity. The research applies a novel framework positing that failures in self-control deployment depend primarily on individuals' estimates of the cognitive cost—difficulty or effort—associated with exercising control. The study combines functional MRI, computational modeling, and a self-control decision-making task to test the hypothesis that dysregulated eating and higher body mass indices are maintained by increased perceived cognitive costs of deploying control. The research sample includes adults with obesity who experience loss-of-control eating, defined as a sense of inability to stop eating or control quantity consumed.

Performance occurs in New York, New York, with a period of performance from September 4, 2026, through June 30, 2031. The assistance type is a Project Grant, which funds basic and clinical biomedical research improving understanding of disease mechanisms and leading to improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment across diabetes, digestive, endocrine, metabolic, nutrition, obesity, and related disease areas.