Natalie Hiromi Brito is a developmental psychologist who examines how early social and cultural contexts shape the trajectory of neurocognitive development, with the goal of better understanding how to best support caregivers and create environments that foster healthy child development. Specifically, her work examines links between the early home environment and the development of attention, memory, and socio-emotional skills during the first three years of life. Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Dr. Brito spent two years as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar and two years as a postdoctoral research fellow within the Division of Developmental Neuroscience at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Brito has received numerous awards for her work, including recognition from the Association for Psychological Science (Rising Star Award), NYU Steinhardt (Gabriel Carras Research Award), the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology (Kucharski Young Investigator Award) and American Psychological Association (Boyd McCandless Award). She has also been the recipient of grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NICHD/NIMH).
Selected Publications
SELECT ARTICLES
- Querdasi, F., Vogel, S., Thomason, M.E., Callaghan, B., & Brito, N.H. (2023). A comparison of the infant gut microbiome before vs. after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports.
- Brandes-Aitken, A., Pini, N., Weatherhead, M., & Brito, N.H. (2023). Maternal hair cortisol predicts periodic and aperiodic infant frontal EEG activity longitudinally across infancy. Developmental Psychobiology
- Brandes-Aitken, A., Metser, M., Braren, S., Vogel, S., & Brito, N.H. (2023). Neurophysiology of sustained attention in early infancy: Investigating longitudinal relations with recognition memory outcomes. Infant Behavior and Development
- Werchan, D., Thomason, M.E. & Brito, N.H. (2022). OWLET: An automated, open-source method for infant gaze tracking using smartphone webcam recordings. Behavior Research Methods
- Werchan, D., Brandes-Aitken, A., & Brito, N.H., (2022) Signal in the noise: Dimensions of predictability in the home auditory environment are associated with neurobehavioral measures of infant sustained attention. Developmental Psychobiology
- Lemus, A., Vogel, S., Greaves, A., & Brito, N.H. (2022). Maternal anxiety is associated with increased behavioral synchrony in the early postnatal period. Infancy.
- Brito, N.H., Werchan, D., Brandes-Aitken, A., Yoshikawa, H., Greaves, A., & Zhang, M. (2022). Paid Maternal Leave and Infant Brain Function at 3-months of age. Child Development.
- Shuffrey, L., Thomason, M., & Brito, N.H. (2022). Improving perinatal maternal mental health starts with addressing structural inequities. JAMA Psychiatry.
- Scott, L., & Brito, N.H. (2022). Supporting Healthy Brain and Behavioral Development During Infancy. Policy Insights from Behavioral and Brain Science.
- Nketia, J., Amso, D., & Brito, N.H. (2021). Towards a more inclusive and equitable developmental cognitive neuroscience. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
- Kozak, K. Greaves, A., Waldfogel, J., Angal, J., Elliott, A.J., Fifer, W.P., & Brito, N.H. (2021). Paid Maternal Leave is Associated with Better Language and Socioemotional Outcomes During Toddlerhood. Infancy
- Vogel, S., Brito, N.H., & Callaghan, B. (2020). Early life stress and the development of the infant gut microbiome: Implications for mental health and neurocognitive development. Current Psychiatry Reports
- Brito, N.H., Greaves, A., Leon-Santos, A., Fifer, W.P., & Noble, K.G. (2020). Associations between Bilingualism and Memory Generalization During Infancy: Does Socioeconomic Status Matter? Bilingualism: Language & Cognition.
- Brito, N.H., Troller-Renfree, S.V, Leon-Santos, A., Isler, J., Fifer, W.P., & Noble, K.G. (2020). Associations between the home linguistic environment and neural activity during infancy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
- Brito, N.H., Elliott, A.J., Isler, J.R., Rodriguez, C., Friedrich, C., Shuffrey, L., & Fifer, W.P. (2019). Neonatal EEG as a Biomarker for Later Neurodevelopmental Disorder Risk during Toddlerhood. Developmental Psychobiology.
- Brito, N.H., Fifer, W.P., Amso, D., Barr, R.F., Bell, M.A., Calkins, S., Flynn, A., Montgomery-Downs, H.E., Oakes, L.M., Richards, J.E., Samuelson, L.M., & Colombo, J. (2019). Beyond the Bayley: Neurocognitive Assessments of Development during Infancy and Toddlerhood. Developmental Neuropsychology.
- Brito, N.H. & Noble, K.G., for the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics Study. (2018). The independent and interacting effects of socioeconomic status and dual language use on brain structure and cognition. Developmental Science.
- Brito, N.H. (2017). Influence of the home linguistic environment on early language development. Policy Insights from Behavioral and Brain Science.
- Brito, N.H., Fifer, W.P., Myers, M., Elliott, A.J., & Noble, K.G. (2016). Associations among family socioeconomic status, EEG power at birth, and cognitive skills during infancy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
