Behavioral Tasks Targeting Brain Systems Relevant to Anhedonia (R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required) | PAR 20 235

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 235

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant opportunity "Behavioral Tasks Targeting Brain Systems Relevant to Anhedonia" (Funding Opportunity Number PAR-20-235) is an R01 research grant call focused on building and validating behavioral tasks that reliably engage brain circuits involved in anhedonia. Anhedonia generally refers to reduced interest in, anticipation of, or pleasure from rewarding experiences, and it is a key feature across multiple mental health conditions. The central aim of this FOA is not to test a treatment or prove clinical benefit, but to create strong, quantitative task-based tools that researchers can later use to study the functional components of anhedonia and to support future treatment-development efforts.

A defining feature of the projects NIH wants under this announcement is that the behavioral tasks must be linked to brain system engagement using neuroimaging methods (or other brain measures with comparable spatial resolution). In practice, that means applicants are expected to show that the task actually recruits neural circuitry relevant to anhedonia, rather than only demonstrating that the task produces a behavioral effect. Although the announcement does not lock applicants into a single modality, the emphasis on spatial resolution signals that approaches like fMRI and similarly detailed brain-mapping methods are most aligned with the intent, as long as the chosen method can convincingly localize and characterize the relevant brain systems.

This FOA sits in a specific NIH category: Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH). Projects must involve human participants and must qualify as a clinical trial under the NIH definition, while still being basic research in purpose. In other words, the studies are expected to prospectively assign participants to different conditions, meaning the research design includes experimental manipulation of independent variables (for example, changing reward probabilities, altering effort requirements, varying reinforcement schedules, manipulating expectation, or modifying task parameters that probe reward learning and motivation). The outcomes measured can be behavioral and/or biomedical, but the driving goal must be understanding fundamental mechanisms of brain function related to anhedonia in healthy individuals or in people with disorders, rather than demonstrating improvement in health status.

NIH is also signaling that these are mechanistic studies intended to be responsive to the BESH policy and guidance (referenced through NOT-MH-19-006). The key point is that these projects are not supposed to be framed as intervention trials designed to improve patient outcomes, establish clinical efficacy, or clarify the mechanism of action of a treatment in order to change health. Instead, the work should be framed as foundational science that develops and validates tasks capable of probing the underlying functional constructs relevant to anhedonia, creating measurement tools that can be carried forward into later translational or clinical work.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations such as state, county, city, and special district governments; public and private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and additional entities categorized as "Others." The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant groups and institution types, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This breadth is consistent with NIH's interest in encouraging wide participation and supporting research capacity across diverse institutional settings.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding, uses the grant funding instrument, and falls under the health funding activity category (CFDA 93.242). The FOA was created on June 15, 2020, and the original closing date listed is September 7, 2023. The provided source data does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, which typically means applicants should rely on the FOA and NIH Institute/Center guidance for budgeting expectations and likelihood of funding, and craft proposals that are well-justified and realistic for an R01 mechanism.

Overall, this announcement is best understood as an NIH push to strengthen the measurement science around anhedonia by developing behavioral tasks that are tightly anchored to brain circuitry. The deliverable NIH is effectively asking for is a set of experimentally manipulable, neurobiologically grounded task measures that can serve as dependable quantitative tools for future research on the functional constructs tied to anhedonia and, eventually, for informing treatment development downstream.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Behavioral Tasks Targeting Brain Systems Relevant to Anhedonia (R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-06-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-09-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 20 235

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