Peter M. Kaskan, Ph.D.

My work seeks to determine the neural circuits by which stimuli become behaviorally relevant, and how that information is represented in the brain, influencing actions and choices, and giving rise to human emotional experiences. The human experience also involves learning about “good” and “bad” stim...

My work seeks to determine the neural circuits by which stimuli become behaviorally relevant, and how that information is represented in the brain, influencing actions and choices, and giving rise to human emotional experiences. The human experience also involves learning about “good” and “bad” stimuli and making choices to overcome aversive stimuli and events, which can involve new learning or cognitive mechanisms of control or reappraisal.
The amygdala is a central node in circuits processing affective stimuli that can elicit emotions. Although the amygdala is closely linked to emotional and mental health, it has been difficult to understand its precise role in certain operations and develop evidence-based interventions in humans because it is involved in multiple, overlapping functions.
These functions likely depend on extensive connections with cortical areas such as the anterior cingulate (ACC), ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC; sometimes called subgenual ACC in the clinical literature), and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).
I use the opportunity afforded by human neurosurgical procedures to record local field potentials (LFPs) and single-unit spiking activity from subcortical areas in human patients undergoing deep brain stimulation and intracranial recordings (iEEG). Clinically implanted electrodes are used to record data and casually manipulate amygdala and ACC circuits by delivering stimulation during behavioral performance.
Dr. Kaskan joined the faculty of Neurological Surgery in September 2020 after training in intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring for deep brain stimulation at the University of Louisville following his postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Neuropsychology at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr Kaskan received a secondary appointment in Neuroscience at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in August 2023. He collaborates with research groups at the University of Iowa, University of Rochester, and Weill-Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Kaskan received his bachelor's degree from Clark University and went on to study at Cornell University and RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Tokyo, Japan. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology (Neuroscience) from Vanderbilt University and completed his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health, with partial support from a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Foundation (2014).