# Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation Flexibility and Success in Everyday Life in Depression

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2024 · $45,566

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Two recently discovered behavioral mechanisms
of depression that are ripe for further exploration include: (1) ineffective use of emotion regulation (ER)
strategies that fail to appropriately modulate emotional states, and (2) inflexible adaptation of behavior to meet
contextual demands. There exists a novel opportunity to integrate these two lines of work to examine
whether individuals with a history of depression show inflexible adaptation of their use of ER strategies to meet
contextual demands (i.e., ER inflexibility), to clarify trait risk factors for depression that confer risk for
depression recurrence. This project plans to utilize existing data from a NIH-funded study that includes
individuals with a history of depression and individuals with no history of a psychiatric disorder. Ecological
momentary assessment (EMA) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected.
 The proposed study's specific aims are to: (1a) develop a theoretically-relevant and ecologically-valid
measure of ER flexibility in everyday life using EMA, (1b) examine whether ER flexibility predicts ER success
in everyday life, (2) elucidate neural mechanisms of real-world ER flexibility by examining static and dynamic
brain functional connectivity during rest, (3) identify cognitive control brain mechanisms underlying real-world
ER flexibility by examining functional activation during an inhibition task, and (4) determine if real-world ER
inflexibility (and its neural correlates) contribute to reduced ER success in individuals with a history of
depression.
 Through developing a measure of real-world ER flexibility, findings from this study will allow us to
examine how people vary their engagement in ER strategies based on contextual demands in everyday life,
and whether this dimensionally relates to successful ER. Findings from this study will also elucidate the precise
neurocognitive underpinnings of real-world ER flexibility, which will provide important insight for novel and
ecologically-valid treatment targets for depression. These targeted treatments could have the potential to
increase ER flexibility and thus improve ER success and reduce risk for depression recurrence. The proposed
study will advance the applicant's training in multimodal data integration; fMRI study design and data
collection, preprocessing, and analysis; advanced statistical measurement and analysis with multilevel EMA
data; and grant-writing. Research training will occur at the University of Southern California, under the
mentorship of well-established interdisciplinary experts. Completion of these training goals will position the
applicant to pursue an independent research career at an R1 institution focused on investigating biobehavioral
mechanisms underlying ineffective emotion regulation in affective disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11066786
- **Project number:** 1F31MH136739-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ellie Pin Xu
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $45,566
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2025-01-01 → 2027-05-15

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11066786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11066786, Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation Flexibility and Success in Everyday Life in Depression (1F31MH136739-01A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/11066786. Licensed CC0.

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