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. She has published work on parent-child interactions, bilingualism, and how individual differences mediate brain-behavior associations during early childhood. 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), and the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology (Kucharski Young Investigator Award). She has also been the recipient of grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NICHD/NLM/NIDA).
Selected Publications
SELECTED RECENT ARTICLES
- *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, 43, 100780. PMCID: PMC7200831
- 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, 1-8.
- 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, 19, 144-151.