DOI: 10.3886/icpsr28683.v4
title: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, 2004-2009
title: Version 4

description: The Neuroscience study is Project 5 of the MIDUS longitudinal study, a national survey of more than 7,000 Americans (aged 25 to 74) begun in 1994. The purpose of the larger study was to investigate the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors in understanding age-related differences in physical and mental health. With support from the National Institute on Aging, a longitudinal follow-up of the original MIDUS samples [core sample (N = 3,487), metropolitan over-samples (N = 757), twins (N = 957 pairs), and siblings (N = 950)] was conducted in 2004-2006. 
The Neuroscience Project of MIDUS 2 contains data from 331 respondents. These respondents include two distinct subsamples, all of whom completed both the Project 1 Survey and the Project 4 biomarker assessment at University of Wisconsin-Madison: (1) longitudinal (n = 223) and (2) Milwaukee (n = 108). The Milwaukee group contained individuals who participated in the baseline MIDUS Milwaukee study, initiated in 2005. 
The purpose of the Neuroscience Project was to examine the central circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style that represent a continuum from vulnerability to resilience, and characterize some of the peripheral consequences of these central profiles for biological systems that may be relevant to health. The primary aims were to: (1) characterize individual differences in both emotional reactivity and emotional recovery using psychophysiological measures such as corrugator electromyography and eyeblink startle magnitude, (2) characterize individual differences in brain morphology, in particular amygdala and hippocampal volume, using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), (3) characterize individual differences in activity within the neural circuitry of emotion regulation using both electroencephalography and fMRI, and (4) test the ability of the central indices in this project to predict the comprehensive array of health, cognitive, psychological, social, and life challenge factors assessed in the other MIDUS projects. 
To probe individual differences in emotional reactivity and recovery (a key component of regulation) the Neuroscience Project examined both psychophysiological and fMRI measures during the presentation of emotional (positive and negative) and neutral pictures, and these same measures during a post-picture period. The logic of this strategy is that continued activation during the recovery period following a negative stimulus is indicative of poor automatic emotion regulation. Respondents in the Neuroscience Project are a representative subsample of the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) survey.
 National respondents in the Neuroscience Project are a representative subsample of the MIDUS 2 survey sample (#4652).
The raw neuro-imaging data are not available through NACDA/ICPSR; please see the README file for more information about how to obtain them.
description: The purpose of the Neuroscience Project was to examine the central circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style that represent a continuum from vulnerability to resilience, and characterize some of the peripheral consequences of these central profiles for biological systems that may be relevant to health.
description: Response Rates: The response rates for each subsample were: (1) longitudinal (67.1 percent) and (2) Milwaukee (53.7 percent).
description: Presence of Common Scales: DPES- Dispositional Positive Emotion Scale; PANAS- Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; RASQ- Reactivity to Affective Stimuli Quesionnaire; STXS- Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; ERQ- Emotional Regulation Questionnaire
description: All respondents participating in MIDUS 2 (ICPSR 4652) or the Milwaukee study (ICPSR 22840) who completed both Project 1 and Project 4 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were eligible to participate in the Neuroscience assessments.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, 2004-2009
description: Adult non-institutionalized population in the contiguous United States. Smallest Geographic Unit: No geographic information is included other than for the Milwaukee cases.
description: cognitive assessment test; self-enumerated questionnaireAll data files in the MIDUS study (both longitudinal and cross-sectional) can be linked using a key variable called M2ID.Only the psycho-physiological and behavioral data are available in this dataset; the structural and fMRI data are available through the MIDUS Administrative Core. Researchers will need to request access which is granted on a case-by-case basis. Users interested in obtaining these data should email icpsr-nacda@umich.edu or follow the contact information on the MIDUS website.The DDI codebook (PDF file) and the XML file (contained in a .zip package) released by ICPSR were provided by MIDUS and were not changed in any way by ICPSR. These original files do not reflect any of the processing done by ICPSR.The title of this study was changed from National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II): Neuroscience Project, to Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, on May 9, 2017.Additional information about the Midlife Development in the United States study can be found at the
MIDUS website.