RAPID: Emotional and neural influences on decision-making in the context of COVID-19

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Emotions color and shape the way people perceive the world and thus how they make decisions and form memories; and those emotional impacts in turn can depend upon specific brain structures and functions. These effects are especially consequential in the context of the emotionally charged decisions and actions needed to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. To address these issues, in combination with data on pre-pandemic behavior and brain architecture, this project will measure how emotional state during the COVID-19 pandemic alters decision-making, and how that varies with the structure of the brain's dopamine system. Improved understanding of decision making in the context of the pandemic may enable us to design new interventions and information formats that will increase preparedness and resilience. The effects of emotions on decisions and memory have both been posited to depend on the brain’s dopamine system, which is involved in processing emotions and rewards. The project will determine the extent to which dopamine system anatomy and function predict changes in decision-making and memory in the current context of the pandemic. This project leverages a recently completed neuroimaging study that includes structural, functional, and diffusion-weighted data, which characterized the dopamine system in a group of 50 participants who completed a series of cognitive and behavioral tasks assessing impulsivity, inhibitory control, and value-directed memory formation. To assess the emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on decision-making, these same cognitive and behavioral tasks will be made available online to the same group of participants from the previous study. The degree to which emotional state, and pre-existing dopamine system anatomy, predicts differences in decision-making and memory formation relative to baseline will be tested. Dopamine system anatomy is predicted to moderate the relationship among emotions, cognition, and behavior. Overall, the project will contribute to an understanding of how brain and emotion combine to impact behavioral responses to COVID-19.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.