Dr. Kathleen C. Kirasic
Associate Professor

The The Attachment and Cognitive Processes Laboratory at the University of South Carolina is headed by Dr. K. C. Kirasic. Work in this laboratory includes empirical research and theoretical/conceptual work on the causes and consequences of aging related changes in cognitive abilities. In the past, much of the work has been concerned with aging and spatial cognition, primarily the ability to acquire and use information about the spatial attributes of our environment.

While still interested in spatial cognitive processes, the subject focus of Dr. Kirasic's laboratory has shifted away from basic processing issues such as reaction time and working memory. Instead, the laboratory has three primary foci:

1. The importance of Attachment Theory to the process of aging and family relationships as noted in a series of cross-cultural and trans-generational investigations.
2. The impact of Attachment Style on the processing of prose information and its recall and recognition.
3. The relation of Attachment Style and attachment to (geographic) place.

Note: Midlife and related issues also serve as emerging areas of study.

The focus of the lab is primarily developmental in nature and is guided primarily by the theoretical and empirical works of John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth, Mary Main, and Eric Hesse.

If you are interested in this line of research contact:

The Attachment and Cognitive Processes Laboratory
University of South Carolina
KCK@SC.EDU

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Recent Publications
Kirasic, KC (2004). Midlife in Context. McGraw Hill Publishers.

Kirasic, KC (2001). Ageing and spatial behavior in the elderly adult. R. Kitchin and S. Freundschun, editors, Cognitive Mapping: Past, present, and future. Routledge Frontiers of Cognitive Science, Taylor and Francis, pp. 166-178.

Allen, G.L., Kirasic, KC, and Rashotte, M.A. (2001). Age and path-integration skill: Kinesthetic and vestibular contributions to wayfinding. Experimental Aging Research.

Kirasic, KC (2001). Age sensitive spatial abilities, environmental knowledge, and wayfinding: Mediated relationships and missing links. Spatial Cognition and Computation. Kluwer Publications.

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Ongoing Research Activities

• attachment styles and the impact of adoption
• the role of attachment style on cognitive performance
• intergenerational attachment styles in European American and African American families
• a cross-cultural comparison of attachment styles in 3 generations of women: An European American, African American, and Peruvian sample
• attachment styles and attachment to place
• an investigation of attachment styles and grandmothers who mother (their grandchildren)

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