Studies of Reward Processing and Impulsivity in Nicotine Addiction and Obesity

描述（由申请人提供）：候选人的长期职业目标是检查与冲动和奖励处理相关的神经机制，并评估其对吸烟和暴饮暴食等负面健康相关行为的影响。冲动与对即时奖励的偏好有关，尽管会产生负面的长期后果，这反过来又会导致与健康相关的决策。为了实现她的职业目标，候选人需要加强她的神经影像学技能，并扩大她的科学背景，包括成瘾和肥胖的临床经验。通过K99/R 00机制，她将接受必要的培训，成为转化认知神经科学研究中具有竞争力的独立调查员，因为它与成瘾和肥胖有关。候选人的直接目标是检查尼古丁成瘾，肥胖和健康群体对奖励和惩罚的神经反应。采用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI），指导研究建议使用金钱奖励和自我报告的冲动来澄清尼古丁成瘾和肥胖在神经系统中共享奖励机制的程度。候选人还将研究不同程度的冲动是否会对尼古丁成瘾和肥胖的奖励处理产生不同的影响。在独立研究阶段，候选人将研究当这些相同的群体在较小的立即可用奖励与较大的延迟奖励之间进行选择时，大脑如何反应。独立研究阶段还将包括一组肥胖尼古丁成瘾者，以进一步研究与健康相关的负面行为的共同机制。这些研究经验将为候选人的职业生涯奠定基础，作为一个独立的调查员进行转化研究神经成像的冲动和奖励在健康相关的决策。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate's long-term career goal is to examine the neural mechanisms associated with impulsivity and reward processing, and evaluate their impacts on negative health-related behaviors such as smoking and overeating. Impulsivity is associated with a preference for immediate rewards despite negative long-term consequences, which in turn can lead to poor health-related decision-making. To meet her career goal, the candidate needs to strengthen her neuroimaging skills and expand her scientific background to include clinical experiences in addiction and obesity. Through the K99/R00 mechanism she will receive the training necessary to become a competitive independent investigator in translational cognitive neuroscience research as it relates to addiction and obesity. The candidate's immediate goal is to examine neural responses to rewards and punishments in nicotine addicted, obese and healthy groups. Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the mentored research proposal uses monetary rewards and self-reported impulsivity to clarify the degree to which nicotine addiction and obesity share mechanisms in the neural systems of reward. The candidate will also examine whether varying levels of impulsivity differentially impact reward processing in nicotine addiction and obesity. During the independent research phase, the candidate will examine how the brain responds when these same groups choose between smaller immediately available rewards compared to larger delayed rewards. The independent research phase will also include a group of obese nicotine addicted individuals to further investigate shared mechanisms of negative health-related behaviors. These research experiences will lay the groundwork for the candidate's career as an independent investigator conducting translational research in neuroimaging of impulsivity and reward in health-related decision making.