Sabine Kastner

About

Sabine Kastner is a Professor affiliated with the Princeton Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University. Her research program aims to better understand how large-scale networks operate during cognition, with a focus on the visual attention network as a model system. Her work investigates how these networks establish efficient communication and the neural coding used in different network nodes to drive behavior. She studies these processes in two primate brain models, the human and the macaque monkey, employing an integrated approach that combines invasive electrophysiology—such as Electrocorticography in human epilepsy patients and simultaneous multi-site recordings in monkeys—with various brain imaging modalities including functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Her research also explores 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 mechanisms underlying object perception, including studies with patients suffering from object agnosia and amnesia. Kastner has received numerous accolades for her contributions to cognitive neuroscience, including the Warren Medal by the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the Golden Brain Award, the George A. Miller Prize from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Political Science
• Neuroscience
• Social Science
• Sociology
• Gender studies
• Business
• Cognitive science
• Evolutionary biology
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions

  Neuron · 2021 · 337 citations

  DOI

• Accelerating the Evolution of Nonhuman Primate Neuroimaging

  Neuron · 2020 · 124 citations

  DOI

• Dynamic pulvino-cortical interactions in the primate attention network

  Current Opinion in Neurobiology · 2020 · 55 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Differential neural mechanisms underlie cortical gating of visual spatial attention mediated by alpha-band oscillations

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-10-29 · 32 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Selective attention relies on neural mechanisms that facilitate processing of behaviorally relevant sensory information while suppressing irrelevant information, consistently linked to alpha-band oscillations in human M/EEG studies. We analyzed cortical alpha responses from intracranial electrodes implanted in eight epilepsy patients, who performed a visual spatial attention task. Electrocorticographic data revealed a spatiotemporal dissociation between attention-modulated alpha desynchronizatio…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Expansion of a conserved architecture drives the evolution of the primate visual cortex

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2025-01-13 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  Human brain evolution is marked by a disproportionate expansion of cortical regions associated with advanced perceptual and cognitive functions. While this expansion is often attributed to the emergence of novel specialized brain areas, modifications to evolutionarily conserved cortical regions also have been linked to species-specific behaviors. Distinguishing between these two evolutionary outcomes has been limited by the ability to make direct comparisons between species. Here, we addressed t…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Neural mechanisms of attention

  NIH · $5.2M · 2001–2023

• NIH Grant R21EY021078

  NIH · $435k · 2013

• Meso-microscale physiology and dynamics of slow network fluctuations

  NIH · $45.7M · 2017–2028

Frequent coauthors

• Mark A. Pinsk

  Princeton University

  49 shared

• Steven M. Silverstein

  University of Rochester Medical Center

  32 shared

• Michael Arcaro

  California University of Pennsylvania

  31 shared

• Brian P. Keane

  University of Rochester Medical Center

  25 shared

• Ian C. Fiebelkorn

  University of Rochester

  24 shared

• Danielle Paterno

  Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

  23 shared

• Leslie G. Ungerleider

  22 shared

• Yuri B. Saalmann

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  20 shared

Labs

• Neuroscience of Attention & Perception LaboratoryPI

Education

• Ph.D.

  Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

  1994

• M.D.

  Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

  1993

• B.A., History & Philosophy

  Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

  1986

Awards & honors

• Sabine Kastner awarded Warren Medal by Society of Experiment…
• Sabine Kastner to receive the 2024 Golden Brain Award
• Sabine Kastner named as the 2023 recipient of the Cognitive…
• Cohen and Kastner elected to American Academy of Arts and Sc…
• Sabine Kastner receives Award for Education in Neuroscience

Similar researchers at Princeton University

• Jonathan Cohenh-162
• Yael Nivh-81
• Uri Hassonh-74