Professor

140 Princeton Neuroscience Institute

skastner@princeton.edu

M.D., University of Dusseldorf, Germany, Ph.D., University of Gottingen, Germany

Curriculum Vit? (69.11 KB)

Lab Website: http://scholar.princeton.edu/napl

Summary The goal of my research program is to better understand how large-scale networks operate during cognition. We use the visual attention network as a model network. Our work is guided by the questions how large-scale networks set up efficient communication and which neural code is used in different network nodes to drive behavior. We study these issues in two primate brain models, the human and the macaque monkey, using an integrated and complimentary methods approach of invasive electrophysiology (Electrocorticography in human epilepsy patients [together with Bob Knight, UC Berkeley, and Josef Parvizi, Stanford] and simultaneous multi-site recordings in monkeys) with several brain imaging modalities (functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging). Our studies in the two primate brain models are done in comparison using tasks that elicit common behavior. Additional lines of research in the lab include the neural basis of attentional selection from natural scenes, the functional parcellation of the human parietal cortex, the topographic organization of the human visual system, and the neural basis of object perception (including studies with patients suffering from object agnosia and amnesia together with Marlene Behrmann, Carnegie Mellon).






Representative Publications
Parvizi J, Kastner S (2018). Promises and limitations of human intracranial electrocorticography. Nature Neuroscience 21, 474-483.
Halassa MM, Kastner S (2017). Thalamic functions in distributed cognitive?control. Nature Neuroscience 20, 1669-1679.
Kastner S, Chen Q, Jeong SK, Mruczek REB (2017). A brief comparative?review on primate posterior parietal cortex: A novel hypothesis on the human?toolmaker. Neuropsychologia 105, 123-134.
Buschman?TJ, Kastner S (2015): From behavior to neural dynamics: An integrated theory of attention.?Neuron?88: 127-144.
Arcaro MJ, Pinsk MA, Kastner S (2015): The anatomical and functional organization of the human visual?pulvinar.?J.?Neurosci. 35:?9848-9871.
Wang L,?Mruczek?REB, Arcaro MJ, Kastner S (2015): Visual topographic probabilistic maps.?Cerebral Cortex?25: 3911-3931.??
Peelen?MV, Kastner S (2014): Attention in the real world: Towards understanding its neural basis.?TICS?18: 242-250.? ?
Saalmann YB, Pinsk MA, Wang L, Li X, Kastner S (2012): Pulvinar regulates information transmission between cortical areas according to attentional demands. Science 337: 753-756.
Wang L, Saalmann YB, Pinsk MA, Arcaro MJ, Kastner S (2012): Electrophysiological low-frequency coherence and cross-frequency coupling contributes to BOLD connectivity. Neuron 76, 1010-1020.
Saalmann Y, Kastner S (2011): Cognitive and perceptual functions of the thalamus. Neuron 71: 209-223.