I am a cognitive neuroscientist with research interests in perception, attention and memory in both neurologically-intact individuals and patients with neurocognitive disorders. I received my B.A. in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross in 1992, and my Ph.D. in experimental psychology with emphasis in visual psychophysics from Brown University in 1998. I then completed my postdoctoral training in cognitive neuropsychology at Brown University.
| Venkatesan UM, Festa EK, Ott BR, Heindel WC. "Differential Contributions of Selective Attention and Sensory Integration to Driving Performance in Healthy Aging and Alzheimer's Disease." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 24, no. 5, 2017, pp. 486-497. |
| Festa, Elena K., Katz, Andrew P., Ott, Brian R., Tremont, Geoffrey, Heindel, William C. "Dissociable Effects of Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment on Bottom-Up Audiovisual Integration." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 59, no. 1, 2017, pp. 155-167. |
| Landy KM, Salmon DP, Galasko D, Filoteo JV, Festa EK, Heindel WC, Hansen LA, Hamilton JM. "Motion discrimination in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer disease." Neurology, vol. 85, no. 16, 2015, pp. 1376-1382. |
| Kane, Amy E., Festa, Elena K., Salmon, David P., Heindel, William C. "Repetition priming and cortical arousal in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease." Neuropsychologia, vol. 70, 2015, pp. 145-155. |
| Ott BR, Davis JD, Papandonatos GD, Hewitt S, Festa EK, Heindel WC, Snellgrove CA, Carr DB. "Assessment of driving-related skills prediction of unsafe driving in older adults in the office setting." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 61, no. 7, 2013, pp. 1164-9. |
| Festa, E. K., Ott, B. R., Manning, K. J., Davis, J. D., Heindel, W. C. "Effect of cognitive status on self-regulatory driving behavior in older adults: an assessment of naturalistic driving using in-car video recordings." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, vol. 26, no. 1, 2013, pp. 10-8. |
| Heindel WC, Festa EK, Ott BR, Landy KM, Salmon DP. "Prototype learning and dissociable categorization systems in Alzheimer's disease." Neuropsychologia, vol. 51, no. 9, 2013, pp. 1699-708. |
| Matthews N, Welch L, Festa E, Clement A. "Remapping time across space." Journal of Vision, vol. 13, no. 8, 2013, pp. 2-2. |
| Davis JD, Papandonatos GD, Miller LA, Hewitt SD, Festa EK, Heindel WC, Ott BR. "Road test and naturalistic driving performance in healthy and cognitively impaired older adults: does environment matter?." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 60, no. 11, 2012, pp. 2056-62. |
| Festa, Elena K., Heindel, William C., Ott, Brian R. "Dual-task conditions modulate the efficiency of selective attention mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease." Neuropsychologia, vol. 48, no. 11, 2010, pp. 3252-61. |
| Daiello LA, Ott BR, Festa EK, Friedman M, Miller LA, Heindel WC. "Effects of cholinesterase inhibitors on visual attention in drivers with Alzheimer disease." Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, vol. 30, no. 3, 2010, pp. 245-251. |
| Ott BR, Heindel WC, Papandonatos GD, Festa EK, Davis JD, Daiello LA, Morris JC. "A longitudinal study of drivers with Alzheimer disease." Neurology, vol. 70, no. 14, 2008, pp. 1171-1178. |
| Ott, B. R., Festa, E. K., Amick, M. M., Grace, J., Davis, J. D., Heindel, W. C. "Computerized maze navigation and on-road performance by drivers with dementia." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, vol. 21, no. 1, 2008, pp. 18-25. |
| Gitten JC, Winer JL, Festa EK, Heindel WC. "Conditional associative learning of spatial and object information in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder." Child Neuropsychology, vol. 12, no. 1, 2006, pp. 39-56. |
| Festa, Elena K., Ott, Brian R., Heindel, William C. "Considering phasic alerting in Alzheimer's disease: comment on Tales et al. (2006)." Neuropsychology, vol. 20, no. 6, 2006, pp. 757-60; discussion 761-2. |
| Festa, Elena K., Insler, Rachel Z., Salmon, David P., Paxton, Jessica, Hamilton, Joanne M., Heindel, William C. "Neocortical Disconnectivity Disrupts Sensory Integration in Alzheimer's Disease." Neuropsychology, vol. 19, no. 6, 2005, pp. 728-38. |
| GRACE, JANET, AMICK, MELISSA M., D'ABREU, ANELYSSA, FESTA, ELENA K., HEINDEL, WILLIAM C., OTT, BRIAN R. "Neuropsychological deficits associated with driving performance in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 11, no. 6, 2005, pp. 766-75. |
| Festa-Martino E, Ott BR, Heindel WC. "Interactions Between Phasic Alerting and Spatial Orienting: Effects of Normal Aging and Alzheimer's Disease." Neuropsychology, vol. 18, no. 2, 2004, pp. 258-268. |
| Festa-Martino E, Welch L. "Motion capture depends on signal strength." Perception, vol. 30, no. 4, 2001, pp. 489-510. |
| Festa EK, Welch L. "Recruitment mechanisms in speed and fine-direction discrimination tasks." Vision research, vol. 37, no. 22, 1997, pp. 3129-43. |
Broadly defined, my research examines the mechanisms mediating perception, attention, and memory in both healthy individuals and patients with neurocognitive disorders. I am particularly interested in sensory integration, and how it interacts with attention and memory. My research is not only concerned with informing models of normal cognition, but also developing diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the early-detection and treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders.
My current research focuses on understanding the differential effects of healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease on sensory integration, attention and memory using both behavioral and electrophysiological (EEG) methodological approaches. I am particularly interested in how these data inform neural models of normal cognition. As part of several grant projects, I have also been examining the efficacy of neurofeedback training in improving affective and cognitive functioning in aging and dementia, and investigating the relationship of cognitive impairments and driving performance in elderly adults. The findings from these projects may ultimately lead to the development of novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic tools for the early-detection and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
"Feature Integration and Attention in Alzheimer's Disease", National Research Service Award (F32-AG05843), $113,160, 06/01/00 05/31/03
"Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease", Brown University Brain Science Program's Pilot Research Award, $5,000, 04/01/06 03/31/07
"Efficacy of qEEG Neurocognitive Training in Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease", Alzheimer's Association, $239,362, 09/01/07 - 08/31/10
“Cognitive Assessment and Prediction to Promote Individualized Capability Augmentation and Reduce Decrement”, SBIR-NNX16CJ08C, $59,439, 06/08/16 – 12/08/17
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | PhD | Brown University |
| 1994 | ScM | Brown University |
| 1992 | BA | College of the Holy Cross |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Amso, Dima | Associate Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| Badre, David | Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| Davis, Jennifer | Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Clinician Educator |
| Grace, Janet | Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Human Behavior |
| Heindel, William | Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| Ott, Brian | Professor of Neurology |
| Papandonatos, George | Professor of Biostatistics (Research) |
| Shenhav, Amitai | Assistant Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| Song, Joo-Hyun | Associate Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| Welch, Leslie | Associate Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences |
| CLPS 0010 - Elementary Psychology: An Introduction to Mind and Behavior |
| CLPS 0010 - Mind, Brain and Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Approach |
| CLPS 0450 - Brain Damage and the Mind |
| CLPS 1420 - Cognitive Neuropsychology |
| CLPS 1480B - Cognitive Aging and Dementia |
