Temporal Dynamics of Neurophysiological Patterns as Potential Targets for Treating Cognitive Deficits in Brain Disorders (R21) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The NIH grant opportunity PAR-14-158, titled "Temporal Dynamics of Neurophysiological Patterns as Potential Targets for Treating Cognitive Deficits in Brain Disorders (R21)," focuses on a translational idea: many cognitive functions appear to rely on specific, time-structured patterns of brain activity, and those patterns may be directly modifiable in ways that produce measurable cognitive benefits. Rather than treating cognition as an abstract psychological outcome alone, this program treats cognition as something supported by identifiable neurophysiological dynamics such as oscillatory rhythms (for example theta, beta, gamma activity), cross-frequency coupling (how rhythms at different frequencies interact), spike timing relationships (including phase locking of spikes to ongoing rhythms), coordinated population activity, and related temporal signatures across neural circuits. The central goal is to encourage early-stage, high-impact studies that actively manipulate these electrophysiological patterns during behavior to test whether doing so can improve cognitive performance, especially in the context of neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders where cognition is often impaired.

A key feature of the announcement is its emphasis on causal tests, not just observation. Applicants are expected to use experimental designs that include active manipulations of neural dynamics while animals or humans perform behavioral tasks that index cognition. The program description points to the idea that if particular patterns of neural coordination are not merely correlated with cognition but are actually driving it, then deliberately changing those patterns in real time, or in a targeted way, should change cognitive outcomes. This could include interventions that alter oscillations or synchrony, modify timing relationships across brain regions, or reshape circuit-level dynamics, with the end goal of identifying mechanistically grounded therapeutic targets for cognitive enhancement in brain disorders.

The initiative highlights four main research directions that proposals should address, ideally covering more than one. First, in behaving animals, researchers are encouraged to isolate specific parameters of neural coordination and test which ones, when selectively manipulated, improve particular components of cognition. This invites careful experimental dissection: rather than broadly stimulating a region and hoping cognition improves, the intention is to pinpoint which aspects of coordination matter (for example phase alignment between areas, strength of coupling across bands, or timing precision within ensembles) and link each parameter to defined cognitive operations like working memory, attention, cognitive flexibility, or learning.

Second, the opportunity encourages studies in animals or humans that connect cellular or molecular abnormalities to disruptions in systems-level coordination during behavior. The announcement gives receptor dysfunction as an example, but the broader idea is to bridge levels of analysis: show how a molecular change (such as altered receptor signaling, channel function, or synaptic mechanisms) leads to abnormal temporal dynamics (such as altered rhythm generation or impaired coupling) and how those dynamics relate to cognitive deficits. This is meant to support mechanistic explanations that can guide intervention strategies, potentially informing pharmacologic or neuromodulatory approaches by clarifying what is going wrong in the circuitry when specific molecular pathways are altered.

Third, the program seeks work that links systems-level electrophysiological changes in behaving animals to analogous changes and cognitive improvements in humans, including both healthy participants and clinical populations. This reflects a translational benchmark: if an intervention improves cognition in an animal model by shifting a circuit dynamic in a specific direction, the initiative is interested in whether that same kind of shift can be observed in humans and whether it tracks cognitive benefit. In practice, this could involve identifying electrophysiological biomarkers that generalize across species or experimental contexts, improving confidence that the targeted temporal pattern is a meaningful and potentially actionable treatment target rather than a model-specific artifact.

Fourth, applicants are encouraged to use systems-level computational modeling to develop principled accounts of how oscillatory and other temporal dynamic patterns arise and how they influence cognition across distributed brain networks, including both cortical and subcortical structures. The emphasis here is on models that do more than describe data; the aim is to explain function and mechanism, generating testable predictions about how patterns propagate, how multiple regions coordinate, and why certain temporal organizations support particular cognitive computations. This can help guide experimental manipulation strategies, interpret complex electrophysiological datasets, and clarify which features of neural dynamics are likely to be robust targets for intervention.

Administratively, this is an NIH discretionary grant opportunity using the R21 funding mechanism, which is typically meant for exploratory or developmental projects that can open new directions, establish feasibility, or generate strong preliminary evidence for a novel approach. The listed award ceiling is $200,000, and there is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The opportunity falls under health-related funding activity categories and is associated with CFDA numbers 93.242 (Mental Health Research Grants) and 93.853 (Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders). The opportunity was posted and created on March 14, 2014, with an original and current closing date of May 7, 2017, and it was archived on June 7, 2017, meaning it is no longer accepting applications under that announcement version.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and includes public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations other than small businesses (with small businesses also listed as eligible), state and local governments, special district governments, independent school districts, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and federally recognized tribal governments as well as other tribal organizations. The announcement also explicitly includes various institution types and community-oriented organizations such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations, among others. At the same time, non-U.S. entities are not eligible to apply, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components are not allowed as defined by NIH policy, keeping the work domestically anchored even if it has broad translational relevance.

Overall, PAR-14-158 is aimed at moving the field from recognizing that brain rhythms and coordinated neural timing correlate with cognition to demonstrating which temporal dynamics are causal, how disease-relevant molecular disruptions alter those dynamics, how animal findings can map onto human biomarkers and outcomes, and how computational models can unify these observations into a coherent mechanistic framework that supports new therapeutic development for cognitive deficits.

Browse more opportunities from the same agency: National Institutes of Health

Browse more opportunities from the same category: Health

Next opportunity: Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Success State and Tribal Initiative (SPF PFS)

Previous opportunity: Temporal Dynamics of Neurophysiological Patterns as Potential Targets for Treating Cognitive Deficits in Brain Disorders (R01)

USGrants.org Applicant Portal:

Are you interested in learning about about how to apply for this government funding opportunity? You can create a free applicant account and receive instant access to our applicant portal that many business owners like you have benefited from.

Apply for PAR 14 158

 

[Watch] how do funding administrators access proposals?

Applicants also applied for:

Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (PAR 14 158) also looked into and applied for these:

 

Grant application guides and resources

It is always free to apply for government grants. However the process may be very complex depending on the funding opportunity you are applying for. Let us help you!

Apply for Grants

 

 

Premium leads for funding administrators, grant writers, and loan issuers

Thousands of people visit our website for their funding needs every day. When a user creates a grant proposal and files for submission, we pass the information on to funding administrators, grant writers, and government loan issuers.

If you manage government grant programs, provide grant writing services, or issue personal or government loans, we can help you reach your audience.

Subscribe to Leads

 

Request more information:

Would you like to learn more about this funding opportunity, similar opportunities to "PAR 14 158", eligibility, application service, and/or application tips? Submit an inquiry below:

Don't forget to subscribe to our grant alerts mailing list to receive weekly alerts on new and updated grant funding opportunities like this one in your email.