Carissa Cascio
- Professor
- Senior Scientist
- **Taking students for 2026-27 academic year**
Contact Info
Lawrence
1415 Jawhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
Biography —
Dr. Cascio’s undergraduate degree in neuroscience is from Baylor University, and her doctoral training was in neuroscience at Emory University. Her work began in sensory systems neuroscience applied to human and nonhuman primates, with an emphasis on tactile perception and functional imaging. She pursued postdoctoral studies at the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center at the University of North Carolina. There, she focused dually on somatosensory processing in individuals with autism, and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) in young children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In 2007, she joined the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of medicine. She was on the faculty at Vanderbilt from 2007-2024, achieving tenure in 2017 and was awarded the James G. Blakemore Chair in Psychiatry in 2022. She was recruited to KU in 2025 and holds the titles of Professor of Psychology and Senior Scientist in the Life Span Institute at KU. Her lab focuses on the neural basis of sensory and affective differences in individuals with autism.
Education —
Specialization
Autism, sensory/perceptual neuroscience, neuroimaging
Research —
Dr. Cascio directs the Laboratory for Affective Sensory Research (LASR), which is housed in Youngberg Hall on West Campus. The lab is focused on the sensory and associated emotional challenges faced by people on the autism spectrum. Autism affects communication and social interactions, and flexibility of behavior.
The lab uses a combination of behavioral and neuroscience methods to learn more about sensation, perception, and emotion in autistic children, teens, and adults, using methods including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), psychophysics, observational measures, and electroencephalography (EEG). A particular area of focus is on sensory input from the skin (touch) and from within the body (interoception). These senses contribute to the sense of self, safety, social connection, and emotional regulation that can be impacted by autism.
Teaching —
Clinical neuroscience
Selected Publications —
Zoltowski AR, Failla MD, Wu F, Convery CA, Lewis B, Woodward ND, Rogers BP, Cascio CJ. (2025). Insular functional connectivity in autistic and non-autistic development. Biol Psychol. 2025 May;198:109043. PMID: 40316132.
Russo N, Cascio CJ, Baranek GT, Woynaroski TG, Williams ZJ, Green SA, Schaaf R; Autism Sensory Research Consortium. A cascading effects model of early sensory development in autism. Psychol Rev. 2025 Jun 5. doi: 10.1037/rev0000558. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40471805.
Zoltowski AR, Failla MD, Quinde-Zlibut JM, Dunham-Carr K, Moana-Filho EJ, Essick GK, Baranek GT, Rogers B, Cascio CJ. (2025). Differences in temporal profile of brain responses by pleasantness of somatosensory stimulation in autistic individuals. Somatosens Mot Res. 2025 Mar;42(1):1-16. PMID: 40304890.
Bress KS, Cascio CJ. Sensorimotor regulation of facial expression - An untouched frontier. (2024). Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024 Jul;162:105684. PMID: 38710425.
Zoltowski AR, Convery CA, Eyoh E, Plump E, Sullivan M, Arumalla ER, Quinde- Zlibut JM, Keceli-Kaysili B, Lewis B, Cascio CJ. (2024). Sensory Processing and Anxiety: Within and Beyond the Autism Spectrum. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39671066.
Williams, Z.J., Suzman, E., Bordman, S.L., Markfield, J., Kaiser, S., Dunham, K.A., Zoltowski, A.R., Failla, M., Cascio, C.J., & Woynaroski, T.G. (2022). Characterizing Interoceptive Differences in Autism: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Case-control Studies. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 53(3):947-962. PMID: 35819587.
Awards & Honors —
Dr. Cascio's research on the neural basis of sensory experiences in autism has been recognized internationally, and she was awarded the Slikfa Ritvo Innovation in Autism Research Award (2012) for pioneering the study of interoception in autism. Dr. Cascio has also been recognized for outstanding mentorship, including the Vanderbilt Brain Institute Mentor of the Year Award in 2023. She was also an elected member of the board for the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Education.
Grants & Other Funded Activity —
R01MH135028 Ultra-high resolution imaging of category-selective visual cortex in autism
Service —
Dr. Cascio's local service included work on the Vanderbilt Neuroscience Graduate Program Admissions Committee, serving as chair of multiple dissertation committees, departmental research compliance expert, and associate director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Neuroimaging Core. Her external service includes peer review for multiple journals and NIH study sections.