ALFRED W. KASZNIAK, Ph.D., ABPP(CN)

Head, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona

Professor, Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neurology, University of Arizona

Director, Neuropsychology, Emotion, and Memory Lab

RESEARCH FOCI

My research program is aimed at increasing our understanding of human brain systems involved in both cognition and emotion. Specifically, my laboratory and clinic research currently involves four different, although related, domains of interest: (1) Neuropsychological aspects of aging; (2) Neuropsychological aspects of age-related disorders of the central nervous system; (3) The neuropsychology of consciousness and self-awareness; and (4) Emotion.

Neuropsychological aspects of aging:

This research has focused upon age-related changes in explicit and implicit memory, and upon metamemory (self-awareness of one's own memory functioning and abilities), particularly in relation to differential contributions of frontal-subcortical vs. hippocampal system functioning.

Neuropsychological aspects of age-related disorders of the CNS:

This research has focused upon characterizing the nature of memory and language impairments in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, upon neuroradiologic and electrophysiologic correlates of these impairments, and upon the clinical assessment and management of dementing illness. Recent studies explored the electrophysiological correlates of masked repetition priming in Alzheimer's disease, examined the predictive validity of neuropsychological approaches to the differentiation of dementia and depression in older age, studied the psychophysiology of emotion in Alzheimer's disease, and evaluated the efficacy of innovative residential programs for the care of persons with Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropsychology of self-awareness:

This research has focused upon self-awareness of memory and other cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease, and upon neuroimaging correlates of memory self-monitoring in healthy younger and older adults. Recent studies have involved examination of structural (MRI) and functional (fMRI) brain imaging correlates of performance on feeling-of-knowing and tip-of-the tongue tasks, and the behavioral consequences (e.g., accident risk) of impaired self-awareness of deficit.

Brain systems and individual variability in emotion and emotion regulation:

This research has evaluated emotional cue (e.g., facial expression, visual emotional scenes) comprehension in Alzheimer's disease, in patients with select focal cortical lesions, and in patients with particular psychiatric conditions (e.g., alexithymia), and psychophysiological response to emotional stimuli in these groups as well as healthy younger and older adults. In addition, the laboratory is currently studying dissociations between emotional experience, expression (e.g., facial EMG) and autonomic physiology (e.g, skin conductance response) in persons with structural damage to frontal regions (e.g., orbitomedial versus dorsolateral lesion location), and is examining emotion-related startle potentiation in healthy younger and older adults and those with Alzheimer's disease.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

OTHER ACADEMIC-RELATED POSITIONS

FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS, & AWARDS

CURRENT GRANT SUPPORT

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (from 145 articles, chapters, & books)

Kaszniak, A.W. (1986)  The neuropsychology of dementia.  In I. Grant, & K.Adams (Eds.), Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders  (pp. 172-220).  New York: Oxford University Press.

Kaszniak, A.W., Wilson, R.S., Fox, J.H., & Stebbins, G.T. (1986).  Cognitive assessment in Alzheimer's disease: Cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives.  Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 13, 420-423.

Bayles, K.A. & Kaszniak, A.W. (1987).  Communication and cognition in normal aging and dementia.  Boston:  College Hill/Little Brown.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1987).  Neuropsychological consultation to geriatricians: Issues in the assessment of memory complaints.  The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 1, 35-46.

Allender, J.A., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1989).  Processing of emotional cues in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type.  International Journal of Neuroscience, 46, 147-155.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1990).  Psychological assessment of the aging individual.  In J.E. Birren & K.W. Schaie (Eds.),  Handbook of the psychology of aging (3rd. ed., pp. 427-445).  New York: Academic Press.

Bondi, M.W., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1991).  Implicit and explicit memory in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.  Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 13, 339-358.

McGlynn, S.M., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1991).  When metacognition fails: Impaired awareness of deficit in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 3, 184-189

Kaszniak, A.W.,  Keyl, P., & Albert, M. (1991). Dementia and the older driver. Human Factors, 33,  527-537.

Schacter, D.L., Kaszniak, A.W., Kihlstrom, J.F., & Valdiserri, M. (1991).  The relation between source memory and aging. Psychology and Aging, 6, 559-568

Bondi, M.W., Kaszniak, A.W., Bayles, K.A., & Vance, K.T. (1993).  The contributions of frontal system dysfunction to memory and perceptual abilities in Parkinson's disease.  Neuropsychology, 7, 89-102.

Butters, M.A., Kaszniak, A.W., Glisky, E.L., Eslinger, P.J., & Schacter, D.L. (1994).  Recency discrimination deficits in frontal lobe patients.  Neuropsychology,  8, 343-353.

Kaszniak, A.W., & Christenson, G.D. (1994).  Differential diagnosis of dementia and depression.  In M. Storandt  & G. R. VandenBos (Eds.), Neuropsychological assessment of dementia and depression in older adults:  A clinician's guide  (pp. 81-117).  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Nussbaum, P.D., Kaszniak, A.W., Allender, J.A., & Rapcsak, S.Z. (1995).  Depression and cognitive deterioration in the elderly: A follow-up study.  The Clinical Neuropsychologist., 9, 101-111.

Trosset, M.W., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1996).  Measures of deficit unawareness for predicted performance experiments. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2, 315-322.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1996).  Techniques and istruments for assessment of the elderly.  In S.H. Zarit & B.G. Knight (Eds.), A guide to psychotherapy and aging: Effective clinical interventions in a life-stage context. (pp. 163-219).  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Kaszniak, A.W., & Zak, M.G. (1996).  On the neuropsychology of metamemory: Contributions from the study of amnesia and dementia.  Learning and Individual Differences, 8, 355-381.

Bondi, M., Salmon, D., & Kaszniak, A.W. (1996)  The neuropsychology of dementia.  In I. Grant, & K.Adams (Eds.), Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders  (2nd ed., pp. 164-199).  New York: Oxford University Press.

Lane, R., Kaszniak, A., Ahern, G., & Schwartz, G. (1997).  Is alexithymia the emotional equivalent of blindsight?  In A.J.J.M. Vingerhoets, F.J. vanBussel, & A.J.W. Boelhouwer (Eds.), The (non)-expression of emotion in health and disease (pp. 131-138).  Tilburg, The Netherlands: Tilburg University Press.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1997).  Forward.  In P.D. Nussbaum (Ed.), Handbook of neuropsychology and aging (xi-xii).  New York, NY: Plenum Press.

Lane, R.D., Ahern, G.L., Schwartz, G.E. & Kaszniak, A.W. (1997).  Is alexithymia the emotional equivalent of blindsight?  Biological Psychiatry, 42, 834-844.

Rapcsak, S.Z., Kaszniak, A.W., Reminger, S.L., Glisky, M.L., Glisky, E.L., & Comer, J.F. (1998).  Dissociation between verbal and autonomic measures of memory following frontal lobe damage. Neurology,  50, 1259-1265.

Schnyer, D.M., Allen, J.J.B., Kaszniak, A.W., & Forster, K.I. (1999).  An ERP examination of masked and unmasked repetition priming in Alzheimer’s disease: Implications for theories of implicit memory.  Neuropsychology. 13, 323-337.

Kaszniak, A.W., Reminger, S.L., Rapcsak, S.Z., & Glisky, E.L. (1999).  Conscious experience and autonomic response to emotional stimuli following frontal lobe damage.  In S. Hameroff, A.W. Kaszniak, & D. Chalmers (Eds.), Toward a science of consciousness III:  The third Tucson discussions and debates (pp. 201-213).  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1999).  Neural correlates - introduction. In S. Hameroff, A.W. Kaszniak, & D. Chalmers (Eds.), Toward a science of consciousness III:  The third Tucson discussions and debates (pp. 85-86).  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1999).  Emotion - introduction. In S. Hameroff, A.W. Kaszniak, & D. Chalmers (Eds.), Toward a science of consciousness III:  The third Tucson discussions and debates (pp. 197-199).  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Rapcsak, S.Z., Reminger, S.L., Glisky, E.L., Kaszniak, A.W., & Comer, J.F. (1999).  Neuropsychological mechanisms of false facial recognition following frontal lobe damage.  Cognitive Neuropsychology, 16, 267-292.

Kaszniak, A.W. (1999).  Consciousness.  In D. Levenson, J.J.Ponzetti, & P.F. Jorgensen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of human emotions (pp. 140-144).  New York: Macmillan.

Lane, R.D., Nadel, L., Allen, J.J.B., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  The study of emotion from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience.  In  R. Lane, L.  Nadel, G. Ahern, J. Allen, A. W. Kaszniak, S. Rapcsak, & G. E. Schwartz, (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of emotion. (pp. 3-11).  New York: Oxford University Press.

Lane, R.D., Nadel, L., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  The future of emotion research from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience. In  R. Lane, L.  Nadel, G. Ahern, J. Allen, A. W. Kaszniak, S. Rapcsak, & G. E. Schwartz, (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of emotion. (pp. 407-410).  New York: Oxford University Press.

Rapcsak, S.Z., Galper, S.R., Comer, J.F., Reminger, S.L., Nielsen, L., Kaszniak, A.W., Verfaellie, M., Laguna, J.F., Labiner, D.M. & Cohen, R.A. (2000).  Fear recognition deficits after focal brain damage: A cautionary note. Neurology, 54, 575-581.

Rapcsak, S.Z., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  Searching for the neural correlates of consciousness: Clues from face recognition research.  Brain and Cognition , 42, 37-40.

Duke, L.M., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  Executive control functions in degenerative dementias: A comparative review.  Neuropsychology Review, 10, 75-99.

Kaszniak, A.W., & Newman, M.C. (2000).  Toward a neuropsychology of cognitive aging.  In S.H. Qualls & N. Abeles (Eds),  Psychology and the aging revolution: How we adapt to longer life  (pp. 43-67).  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Newman, M.C., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  Spatial memory and aging: Performance on a human analog of the Morris Water Maze Task.  Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 7, 86-93.

Manber, R., Allen, J.J.B., Burton, K., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  Valence-dependent modulation of psychophysiological measures: Is there consistency across repeated testing? Psychophysiology., 37, 683-692.

Lane, R.D., Sechrest, L., Riedel, R., Shapiro, D.E., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2000).  Pervasive emotion recognition deficit common to alexithymia and the repressive coping style.  Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 492-501.

Reminger, S.L., Kaszniak, A.W., & Dalby, P (2000).  Age-invariance in the asymmetry of stimulus-evoked emotional facial muscle activity.  Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 7, 156-168,

Montgomery, E.B., Koller, W.C., LaMantia, T.J.K., Newman, M.C., Swanson-Hyland, E., Kaszniak, A.W., & Lyons, K. (2000).  Early detection of probable idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: I. Development of a diagnostic test battery.  Movement Disorders, 15, 467-473.

Kaszniak, A.W. (2001).  Emotion and consciousness: Current research and controversies.  In A.W. Kaszniak (Ed.), Emotion, qualia, and consciousness. (pp. 3-21).  London: World Scientific.

Kaszniak, A.W. (2001).  Some future directions in the study of emotion and consciousness. In A.W. Kaszniak (Ed.), Emotion, qualia, and consciousness. (pp. 517-545). London: World Scientific.

Newman, M.C., Allen, J.J.B., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2001).  Tasks for assessing memory for temporal order versus memory for object in aging. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 8, 72-78.

Rapcsak, S.Z., Nielsen, L., Littrell, L.D., Glisky, E.L., Kaszniak, A.W., & Laguna, J.F. (2001). Face memory impairments in patients with frontal lobe damage. Neurology, 57, 1168-1175.

Kaszniak, A.W. (2002). Neuropsychology.  In D.J. Ekerdt, R. A. Applebaum, K. C. Holden, S. G. Post, K. Rockwood, R. Schulz, R. L. Sprott,  & P. Uhlenberg (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Aging.  New York: Macmillan Reference USA

Rapcsak, S.Z., Nielsen, L., Glisky, E.L., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2002). The neuropsychology of false facial recognition.  In L.R. Squire & D.L. Schacter (Eds.), Neuropsychology of memory (3^rd ed., pp. 130 - 142). New York: Guilford.

Kaszniak, A.W. (2002). Dementia.  In V.S. Ramachandran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the human brain (pp. 89-100).  San Diego, CA: Elsevier Science (USA).

O'Connor, M.-F., Allen, J.J.B., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2002). Autonomic and emotion regulation in bereavement and depression. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 52, 183-185.

Laurance, H.E., Thomas, K.G.F., Newman, M., Kaszniak, A.W., Nadel, L., & Jacobs, W.J. (2002).  Older adults map novel environments but do not place learn: Findings from a computerized spatial task.  Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 9, 85-97.

Keil, K., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2002). Examining executive function in individuals with brain injury: A review. Aphasiology, 16, 305-335.

Kaszniak, A.W. (2003). Anosognosia.  In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of cognitive science (pp. 160-163). London: Macmillan.

Schnyer, D.M., Verfaellie, M., Alexander, M.P., LaFleche, G., Nicholls, L., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2004). A role for right medial prefrontal cortex in accurate feeling of knowing judgments: Evidence from patients with lesions to frontal cortex.  Neuropsychologia, 42, 957-966.

Reminger, S.L., Kaszniak, A.W., Labiner, D.M., Littrell, L.D., David, B.T., Ryan, L., Herring, A.M., & Kaemingk, K.L. (2004). Bilateral hippocampal volume predicts memory function in complex partial epilepsy, Epilepsy and Behavior, 5, 687-695.

Kristensen, C.H., Parente, M.A. deM.P., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2005). Transtorno de estresse pós-traumático: Critérios diagnósticos, prevalência e avaliação. In R Caminha (Ed.),  Transtornos do estresse pós-traumático (pp.15-36). Brazil: Casa do Psicólogo.

Kristensen, C.H., Gauer, G., Giovenardi, M., Parente, M.A. deM.P., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2005). Avaliação neuropsicológica no transtorno de estresse pós-traumático. In R Caminha (Ed.), Transtornos do estresse pós-traumático (pp.123-132). Brazil: Casa do Psicólogo.

O’Connor, M.-F., Allen, J.J.B., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2005). Emotional disclosure for whom? A study of vagal tone in bereavement,  Biological Psychology, 68, 135-146.

Pannu, J.K., Kaszniak, A.W., & Rapcsak, S.Z. (2005).  Metamemory for faces following frontal lobe damage.  Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11, 668-676.

Schaie, K.W., Caskie, G.I.L., Revell, A.J., Willis, S.L., Kaszniak, A.W., & Teri, L. (2005). Extending neuropsychological assessments into the primary mental ability space.  Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 12, 245-277.

Trujillo, L.T., Peterson, M.A., Kaszniak, A.W., & Allen, J.J.B. (2005).  EEG phase synchrony differences across visual perception conditions may depend on recording and analysis methods. Clinical Neurophysiology, 116, 172-189

Burton, K., & Kaszniak, A.W. (in press). Emotional experience and facial muscle activity in Alzheimer’s disease. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition

Nielsen, L., & Kaszniak, A.W. (in press). Conceptual, theoretical, and methodological issues in inferring subjective emotional experience: Recommendations for researchers.  In J.J.B. Allen & J. Coan (Eds.), The Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pannu, J.K., & Kaszniak, A.W. (in press). Metamemory experiments in neurological populations: A review.  Neuropsychology Review.